Dear God, let me be an oasis. Let me attract with my cool water, shade, soft earth. Let those who come find rest and be restored.

The harsh sunlight beats down so many. They are exposed, raw, restless. They cover their heads in rags and slow to a crawl.

Let me offer cool water, O Lord. Let me offer shade.

Many fear the sun, yet you have constructed me to thrive in the light. Look down upon me; the more exposed I am the more erect I stand. How did this happen, when before I, too, shrank from such exposure?

Lord, you granted me grace to see how nourishing is your sunlight. I walk under the same light as do all. As they come to rest with me, Lord, let me pass on your love.

If you are love, then love is You. Let me pass on love, that all who walk in the desert may see it with new eyes.

We are your desert people, Lord. This landscape is indeed a wonder to behold and contains unimagined life. Show it to me, that I may share with my brothers and sisters.

(Letter #1194)

Dear God, let me do more than intended. Let me act in each moment, holding back nothing. Your will for me is to sow love, I know this. You litter my days with opportunity to shine your love all around. Holding aloft a lantern. In every room there are corners to be lit. Let me be the one to do so.

Yet I hold back. I pace myself. I protect myself. I choose which deeds to pursue and which not, when to act and when to rest. O the willfulness, expressed as inertia and reluctance.

Lord, let me meet your will. If you call me to spread love then let me do so without cease. In small matters and large, Lord, let me enthusiastically pass on your good news, your love, your light.

I think I hold the lantern; yet let me be the lamp itself. You fashioned me; let me express the will of my maker.

(Letter #1193)

Dear God, will you burn away all resentment, all self-righteousness, all self-pity? I judge my surroundings so harshly, and thus cheapen your glorious works. These things I wish to change, they are gifts prepared just for me. And yet I judge. Such a hideous act.

Lord, let me breathe in love, and breathe it out again. Over and over.

Where I would judge, let me love. Where I would dwell on my justified self-pity, let me love. Where I would puff myself up with prideful self-righteousness – let me, after all, love.

All around me, even in a solitary room, are infinite opportunities for curiosity. Let me look with fascination on what you have created. Let me welcome each creature that enters my sight.

Lord, O Lord, make me the person that you would have me be.

(Letter #1192)

Dear God, I arrange my life and affairs so carefully. Consistency and comfort, security and ease. I beam with pride at the structure thus built. Look! No winds blow the walls over; no intruder can open the window.

You kick it all over like a pile of sticks, and I scurry to re-stack them.

Let me become willing to learn the lessons you teach. How will you enter my life today? What next will you call me to do? Surely it is not something already on my agenda. Let me view the blowing winds with calm interest.

Let me, Lord, embrace every new challenge you send to me. You are filing away my rough edges, polishing me smooth, building new strengths. How could I possibly deserve such loving attention and care? Yet too often, I regard your love and tests as intrusion and calamity.

Your way may be hard and stony, but you lead me along it that I may look upon other difficult pathways with equanimity.

Let me see rightly.

(Letter #1191)