Dear God, I too often live in a world of plans and worries. My mind occupies itself with the spinning clockwork of future stratagems, arranging cascades of response and upcoming decisions. It is exhausting, dear Lord.

Yet this moment overflows itself with moments and events. I breathe. The air shifts. The chair presses against my legs. I feel each of these things and more, if only I notice, if only I live here in this moment. There is plenty right here to occupy my spinning thought.

Lord, let me be filled with the present. Let today crowd out tomorrow.

(Letter #1380)

Dear God, I mouth these words: love, love. Acceptance. Thy will. But how forthrightly do I mean them? In truth, lurking within me even amidst my prayers, is a selfish intent. I say I seek your will, dear Lord, yet always it is on my own terms.

Let me see the unfolding world as complete in itself. Your will is already expressed, regardless of whether I may seek to aid or hinder it. Alignment of my will with yours is of benefit to me, not you, dear Lord.

Lord, when I say, Love, let me mean it to my core. When I abandon my own will, let me do so utterly, with no reserve.

Let me burn my ships in the harbor, dismantle the bridge behind me, burn through my last ounce of fuel! I know and feel your support when my need is stark.

Now, Lord, let me turn my attention to small things and bring the same attitude of desperation. Let me depend upon you completely, even to guide me through the day’s minutiae.

Let me not struggle, no, not even against the gentlest reins.

(Letter #1379)

Dear God, when I call upon you, when I cry out – you always answer. Even silence is a form of answer: it tells me I have all that I need already. A creeping feeling of ease is an answer. Joy is an answer. A new trial or challenge is an answer.

Lord, let me hear all you say to me today. Let me discern all the ways you love me, as flawed as I am.

Good news. Let me pass on the good news. Thy will be done.

(Letter #1378)

Dear God, I say I seek humility. Let me become willing to bear all that this implies.

Let me welcome failure and trial, not with a glum resignation but instead with enthusiasm. Each hardship is a new lesson, new progress.

Let me see the world as filled with opportunities to grow closer to you.

(Letter #1377)

Dear God, uneasy thoughts float through my mind. Misgivings bump against one another like balloons. Have I done enough, prepared enough? Yet these worries are more dull aches than sharp pains.

Lord, if I worry simply because it is my habit to do so, will you then direct my thinking elsewhere? Improve my thought life, O Lord. Bring it into alignment with reality.

Let the dull ache of worry dissipate, let my mind become full of optimism. Let me become eager to do your will today.

(Letter #1376)

Dear God, let me seek to be more than just a receiver of your grace. I wish for relief from my troubles, a balm for the parts of me that are ground down, raw. This is what I cry out for when I ask for help.

Lord, let me not seek to be soothed, but to become a channel of support to others. Let me seek strength, not for myself, but so I may be more useful to others.

Even in my prayers, let my own desire for well-being be placed last.

(Letter #1375)

Dear God, let me recognize today how abundantly you support me. I look ahead to challenges and hope for small measures of success – why do I not expect great bounty?

By anticipating only meager support, I tragically limit my outlook. Around me is no wasteland but a teeming forest. Life overflows all around, resources drip from every branch.

Lord, let me breathe deeply and smell the morning. Let my heart quicken and my legs tremble as before a race. Let me run eagerly through the woods and drink from the clear pools.

(Letter #1374)

Dear God, make me kind today. Strike charity into my heart. Let me spread your love, not just in word and intention, but also in deed. Me not just speak love, but do love.

(Letter #1373)

Dear God, grant me knowledge of your will for me, and the willingness and power to carry it out. Let me have an understanding of how you would have me behave.

What, Lord, shall I do? What, Lord, shall I say?

O my sweet Lord — guide me. I am so lost.

(Letter #1372)

Dear God, let me be one who acts, who is a doer of your will.

Let me not sit in idle contemplation, paralyzed – but let me act. Grant me industry today.

(Letter #1371)