Dear God, whisper in my ear. Speak to me quietly, softly. The day is filled with clamor and noise, yet I hear your low voice, intimately on my shoulder. Let me listen for it. Let me be attentive to your still, small voice.

The day so often ends with nothing for me to show for it, but a list of trivia. Let me choose mindfully my actions today, that at day’s end I might set them down on a list of which I may say, “Here are the fruits of an intentional life.”

Let my every act today, and every period of rest, be directed by you. Let me act with intention. Let me not float through the day, like a leaf in the river. Let me move with purpose, with your purpose, under instructions whispered secretly in my ear.

Let me hear and act, O Lord.

(Letter #964)

Dear God, I feel you lifting me up. I am buoyed by your love. I spend so much time and energy reflecting on my shortcomings. And yet you love me as your child. Let me cast aside my self-recrimination, my self-administered punishment, my catalog of defects. Let me hold my head up and glide through this world, secure in the knowledge of your love for me.

I honestly seek improvement. Faith and experience tell me this is sufficient, if I but act on this desire. I act as if I am that improved person whom you would have me be, and my inner life becomes a reflection of that.

Let your light enter me, O Lord. Let me feel your light. Let me feel the weight of regret and remorse fall off of me, as if they were heavy burdens, easily dropped.

Let me shed my encumbrances, let me stand before you, empty-handed. I am your child, walking among brothers and sisters. What could I need to carry when your love is all around?

Lord, let me walk lightly through this day unspotted, enwrapped in your glowing love. Let me seek and do your will.

(Letter #963)

Dear God, let me fill this day with positive action. I too often surrender to idleness and complaint. Or worse, worry and conflict. These are all self-indulgent, selfish ways of being.

You have made me, O Lord, you have made this world, you have delivered this day. Am I to squander it all?

Acting selfishly, sitting idly, thinking darkly: this delivers me unto the evening with regret, shame, and remorse.

Guide my thoughts, dear God. Bring me a motive force, impel me to act rightly. Let me be a light today. Let the day close with the knowledge that your will has been done.

Grant me, Lord, the satisfaction that is due an obedient child. Grant me willingness and power to do your bidding today. Let me not pursue my own designs, but yours.

(Letter #962)

Dear God, I say I seek you, but what does this mean? What actions do I take that make it so?

If I am honest, I do little more than wish for you, O Lord. I hope your presence might be felt. But there is little I can point to that constitutes seeking.

Lord, let me be more active in my search for you. Let me stop more frequently to listen for guidance. Let me take action contrary to my instincts more often. Let me submit to spiritual discipline in greater measure.

These are the ways I seek you. Not through passive daydreaming, but through practical action.

I am on an expedition, an explorer for you. Let me not rest idle, hoping the goal might wander over my way. Let me journey towards you. I know all you ask is that I take but one honest step in your direction and you will be there to carry my burden.

Let me step your way.

(Letter #961)

Dear God, if I am to be a being of love, then let me act as such. Let love grow within me and spread from me to all my fellows. Let me act as a loving soul in every situation.

Lord, show me my highest and best use. Let me not expend my energies on selfish trivia, on inconsequential and childish pursuits. Let me act only as you would have me act. Let every step, every movement, every interaction, be according to your will. Let my every word be one you would have me speak.

Let me build your palace according to your design.

Let me be willing to be the worker you require, O Lord. I am tempted in so many ways to sit idle, to gossip, to complain.

But no. Let my way be one of love.

(Letter #960)

Dear God, when I am alone with myself, as I am now, let my thought life be productive. Let it bend to your will. Let it follow your leading. Guide me, that I may not fall into dissolution and idleness. Move me to build with the empty time you deliver to me. I have so many unpursued plans. Given the opportunity to coast, I so easily will take it.

God, grant me the willingness to hear your call. Let me not believe the self-congratulatory voice that tells me how fine I am, how good my intentions are, how piously I behave. For I can bring pride to bear in every nook and cranny of my life.

God, make me right-sized. Let me have an enduring awareness of how imperfect I am.

Today I will have many opportunities to pursue a lower path, or a higher one. I will have the opportunity to be lazy, self-centered, and prideful. I will at the same time have the opportunity to be assiduous, giving, and to seek humility. Let me choose the latter.

Let me act as if I am a better man. Perhaps practice will make it so.

(Letter #959)

Dear God, what I perceive as suffering is illusion. I awaken to worries and pressures: illusion. I anticipate negative consequences: illusion. I recall past hurts: illusion. In almost every case, I confuse discomfort and disappointment for something far worse.

Lord, let me bask in this realization, for it opens the door to true peace. I am alive and whole, with faith in you and therefore with purpose. All else is ephemera.

Lord, let me see clearly what is real. Use me as an instrument of light today. Let me bring love to the world. Let me help those around me. Blot out my incessant thoughts of self.

Let the seeking and doing of your will for me be my sole pursuit today.

(Letter #958)

Dear God, you shower me with gifts; there is abundance all around. Like an obstinate child I ignore them and believe myself impoverished. Where is that toy on which I had pinned my hopes?

Lord, let me open my eyes and see rightly. I live in a palace and there are riches strewn all around. The very definition of abundance.

As I step through the day, let each footfall bring me awareness of your gifts. Health. Family. Community. Love.

You shine down on the world and this is the source of life and love. Let me soak it in.

Let me do your will today. Show me where my foot should next fall.

(Letter #957)

Dear God, how can I act rightly today? Every moment brings with it a decision. I can be driven by selfish motivations, or I can seek your will. Let me be willing to do the latter.

Grant me knowledge of the right action as I face these choices. Grant me willingness to be the person you have intended me to be.

Thy will be done today.

(Letter #956)

Dear God, you move the levers of this world, direct the doings of each soul. Your will presides over all. When I consider the scope of this, your work in my life seems minor. Yet this is the realm in which I meet you: that of my day to day thoughts and actions.

The greatest power I have seen you visit upon the world is not some global feat; but it is in the inexorable improvement of my attitude.

You have taken me from ignorance and obstinance to awareness and willingness. Awareness of my shortcomings, awareness of my non-centrality. Awareness of my assets. Awareness, after all, of my place.

And you have delivered to me willingness. Willingness to improve, willingness to place others' welfare before my own. Willingness to work. Willingness, after all, to seek and to do your will.

This is the miracle, O Lord. That I seek you, even as the world and my selfishness tell me no. After all, yet I seek you.

Let me seek you today. Let me grow in my willingness to do so. Let me act as you would direct. Let me be grateful for the miracle of your dominion over me.

(Letter #955)