Dear God, let me have simplicity today. Let me shed complication, avoid building contraptions of dependence, and cleave to the singular thing that I know to be true.

What is here, now, before me, tangible – this is what I may occupy my hands with. What may be tomorrow, what others may think even now, what could have been or ought to be – fictions. I think about such things as fantasy and escape from the real.

Lord, let me have focus today. Let me be present in this body, here where it rests, acting as I ought in the current circumstances.

Here, today, now, my sole occupation is rightly this: to seek and do your will for me.

What would you have me do, here and now? Whom would you have me help and how, here and now? What words would you have me speak, here and now?

Lord, let asking these simple questions be my sole occupation today. Let the answering of them be my devoted craft. Thy will be done.

(Letter #1023)

Dear God, worry and fear are so often with me. I awaken frightened of all I face in the day. How many times before this morning have I felt same, and returned to you to ease my apprehension? If I focus on your will for me, the worry dissipates for a moment here, a moment there.

I would have thought the lesson would be learnt by now – yet worry still is my unwelcome companion.

Is this your will for me? How can I see this affliction as a gift? Let me view my inner life in such a way that I become grateful. How, Lord, can I become grateful for my fears?

The repetition of your lessons, at least, brings with it improvement. I awaken with trivial worries and I know immediately to redouble my efforts to seek your will. Perhaps this is preparation for greater tests to come. Or perhaps it is meant to show the way to others. Perhaps, finally, it is to keep me close to you.

Lord, please reveal to me your will today, and let me set about to act upon it. Let me help others today.

(Letter #1022)

Dear God, let my intentions today be single. Let me seek solely to do your will.

All my plans, my stratagems, my worries, my contingencies – let these all fall away. Let me see your presence around every corner, and ask in any situation: what would you have me do, O Lord?

I build castles in my mind as easily as I do nightmares but in all cases I rule these imaginary landscapes. My fantasies are all bereft of you and I am alone in them. Alone to rise or fall. What an impoverished inner life. Lift me away.

Lord, today, let me know you are with me.

(Letter #1021)

Dear God, my inner life is littered with shortcomings. My thoughts, even when not overtly selfish, are almost always self-absorbed. So rarely do I honestly think of others’ welfare, even when in the midst of taking helpful actions.

Lord, let me direct energy toward those around me. Fill me with love, let it blot out the selfishness that preoccupies my inner life. Let me singly think about spreading your love to others.

(Letter #1020)