Dear God, I am worried, anticipating obligations that I am to face tomorrow. I am looking past today, not considering what presents itself in the here and now. In this way I squander what I do have, wasting it on a fiction.

Lord, I cannot improve my lot through worry, not repair my past through remorse. Let me live today.

Let me be present to this life you have granted me, and not push away the gift like a sullen child.

Thy will be done.

(Letter #1061)

Dear God, let me try my best to be a being of love. The greatest gift I might pass on to others is a glimpse of what you have bestowed on me: peace. From you I have received peace of mind. Even amidst troubles, deep down I know I am unmoved.

Let me please give to those around me some small measure of comfort. I see so many who are agitated, fearful, angry, envious, frustrated — let my own such emotions dissipate. Let the calm you bestow upon me become a beacon to others. All can have your gift of peace. Let me try, today, to live such that others might believe this is so.

Let me gaze around me with equanimity and love. Let others’ vexations and worries flow around me, leaving me unbespotted. Let me cling to you as you glide over the landscapes and their battles. Carry me, apart from the muck of the world. Let others see, that they may hope.

Let me try to deserve the grace that holds me aloft.

(Letter #1060)

Dear God, let me attend to all the small tasks you set for me today. Let me not seek large efforts nor dramatic actions, but instead small, quiet acts of devotion. The life I live today is my craft. I can fashion this day’s doings with care and detail, like a clockwork. There are hidden, carefully-wrought mechanisms inside that none shall see, worked at painstakingly. I know they are there.

Let me pursue a quiet, secret devotion today.

(Letter #1059)

Thanksgiving

Dear God, let me live a grateful life today. Let me accept all that entails. Let me shoulder my duty of giving. Let me give. Let me provide support and love to others. Let me not take. Let me overcome my nature. Let me draw near to you today.

You have refashioned me. Let me live thankfully in this new self.

(Letter #1058)