Dear God, let me do more. Let me see how much farther there is for me to go.

I congratulate myself on the small progress I make here and there, yet in truth it is all so trivial. My habits are in order, yet my mind remains unruly. My behavior is not filled with transgressions, yet my will is so selfish. Even as I present a placid countenance, my intentions seethe and boil.

O my Lord, discipline my interior! Burn away this self-regard, this willfulness.

Set me aflame, dear Lord. Grant me energy, let me set about offering joy to all the world. Let this effort crowd out my inner self, this fiction. Let me become nothing but faith, nothing but devotion.

You are balm to the world, Lord. How dare I withhold your spirit? Let me work and work again, harder, to pass on your warmth.

(Letter #1176)

Dear God, how have you already saved me? How indeed have you already arranged the day for my benefit? Let me see everything around me as a gift from you. Let me look and look again, moment by moment, and see your sunlight shining upon me. Warming me.

When I do not see you, it is my own vision at fault. When I feel I am in darkness, it is only because my eyes are closed.

Let me open my eyes to you. There you are, warmly loving me in each instant.

Lord, let me awaken.

(Letter #1175)

Dear God, I sit in secret and call to you, seek you. I cry out for you.

When you draw near, I am exhilarated. The feeling overwhelms me and I want more. But it is a fruitless chase. I cannot force your arrival. Days, weeks become deserts as I search and wait for you, praying ever harder yet without true surrender, chasing after the exhilaration of your presence.

Lord, let me relax everything that is contracted. Let me open. Let me trust that you are coming, quietly, without trumpets and drama.

Let me learn to shun the exhilaration I used to seek. Give me, instead, quiet dependence.

The windswept mountaintop, O Lord, is no longer for me. Let me take joy in this quiet room. Draw near to me here.

(Letter #1174)

Dear God, let me listen for you today. I distract myself with my own thoughts. I inwardly pursue my individual aims wherever they take me. My thoughts go so far afield.

Lord let my thoughts center on seeking you. Let me not distract myself.

Thy will be done today.

(Letter #1173)