Dear God, take away this judgment that sits like a dark cinder inside my chest.

I see others through such a bitter lens – let me shatter this dark glass and see the warm, yellow glow all around me.

Set me free. Let me love.

(Letter #1339)

Dear God, let my field of labor be inside myself. Let all my efforts turn towards improving those things within me that are flawed and wanting.

These garden plots within me need continual weeding, lest they become overgrown.

Let me take care with my inner life, dear Lord.

(Letter #1338)

Dear God, give — let me give and give again. When I run out and have emptied my reservoirs and turned out my pockets, let me dig yet deeper and give.

O! How miserly am I. I hoard. I lay by stores to protect my future. Yet there is never enough for me to have complete security — and so I give away nothing. I place myself before others.

If I am to be a source of love and light, Lord, let me learn to give.

I have so far to go.

(Letter #1337)

Dear God, I say I desire to do your will; I pray for this. What stops me?

Sloth keeps me idle. Fear freezes me in place. Pride holds me back from opening myself to criticism. Gluttony drives me to hoard my resources, that I may enjoy them abundantly later.

When I pray: relieve me of the bondage of self, that I better do thy will – these things, then, are what make those chains. My pride, my self-regard, my flaws.

Lord, let me shed these things like an unneeded cloak. At the end of a long day, I drop my worn garments to the ground in a pile. These flaws in my nature, that I wear like armor through the day, let me drop them.

Naked, let me labor in the sunshine, doing your simple chores.

(Letter #1336)