Dear God, let me take the harder road.

Let me throw aside cushions and bedding, let my labors strengthen my back and arms.

I am here for your use, dear Lord. Set me to work.

(Letter #1329)

Dear God, O! Let me give everything away.

All my energy, resources, and love – give. I am so miserly. I pace myself and protect myself. And yet you deliver me all I need and more.

Why then do I hoard? Let me fulfill your economy, and spread the joy you deliver to me.

Let me expend my resources right down to the bone. When I am empty you will fill me.

Thy will be done.

(Letter #1328)

Dear God, let me see clearly. Wipe away the mist from the glass.

I wrap myself in illusion and fantasy. I misperceive my place in the world, I misunderstand the messages you place before me in plain sight, I misinterpret events, I misuse the hours of the day.

Lord. Focus my thoughts and correct my motives. Grant me willingness and courage to act. Let me see and do your will today.

(Letter #1327)

Dear God, I am industrious, but in a limited way. I work hard at my own pursuits – this gives satisfaction. Yet where is my resolve when faced with outside requirements, with unpleasant labors? Then I become idle.

Let me become a creature of effort, my dear Lord. Let me work and work again to act on your behalf. Let me be willing, in all things, to do a little more.

Guide my hands, O Lord, not just my heart.

(Letter #1326)

Dear God, show me the path you would have me walk. Let me be willing to follow it into all circumstances. Let me keep walking, irrespective of its turnings, shedding fear and sloth.

I am so prone to sit, idle and indolent. Let me walk with purpose today.

(Letter #1325)

Dear God, I walk in your sunlight today. You shine on me, on all of us. There is enough light to go around. It is not diminished through use. There are no portions.

You offer each of us, me and all my fellows, enough and even more. When I have had enough sunshine, you do not then withhold – you keep shining.

Lord, let me be your beacon. Let me shine and keep shining. Let me give more than asked and then give again. Let me pass along each gift, hoarding none. Let me remember, when I am in shadow, that tomorrow your sun will rise again. Let me give away all my light today.

(Letter 1324)

Dear God, I feel you here with me. You press against me, the very air on my skin. Each footfall echoes: it is your steps with mine. You arm on my shoulders. You whisper to me. I hear the sound but cannot make out the words.

Lord, give me ears to hear and eyes to see.

When you point, Lord, let me see the way. Move my feet along your pathway. Let me understand your instruction.

Make me willing, O Lord, to believe this: All is well.

(Letter #1323)

Dear God, like a race horse trembling before the starting gate, I am eager to act. Ready to go. Yet if I look with care at myself, I am rudderless. I bound off in all directions and scatter myself.

Lord, direct me into usefulness. I am ready to serve. Let me do so.

Grant me knowledge of your will for me, and the power to carry it out.

(Letter #1322)

Dear God, on quiet days I fear dissolution and dissipation. I fear I will waste the day, with nothing to show.

Lord, grant me a right attitude toward industry. Let me not idolize labor, but instead use it as devotion to you. Let me seek your will for me and act when you call me. If I am a tool of your will, let me be content to remain unused. At such times let me sharpen my edges and prepare.

Thy will be done today. Make me willing, O Lord.

(Letter #1321)

Dear God, this storehouse of burden and pain has become a perverse treasure. In this hall I catalog wrongs, I polish my woes, I lay up supplies of difficulty. Trial and trouble, I collect it all.

Lord, what a misuse of the time you grant me. I have but this day, and I fill it with such useless pursuits, compounding my natural human frustrations and fears into calamity and crisis.

Let me burn down the storehouse. Let these collected troubles and bitterness turn to ash and blow away. They do not serve me, they do not serve you.

Lord, let me see this day rightly. Let me see my tasks rightly. Let me be useful today – casting aside all these thoughts and worries that stand in the way of this. My worry, my resentment, my wrath make me unuseful. They make me a taker from the world. Dismantle my selfish ways, O Lord, and make me useful.

(Letter #1320)