Dear God, the day begins and I am already needy. Parched, on a wasteland, I await instructions and I strain to hear your voice.

Are you whispering, dear Lord? Are your messages to me writ on flimsy paper, easily torn or missed? I listen and do not hear. Wind howls and blows dust and leaves.

Lord, let me wait with patience and acceptance. The wind will stop, the rain will come, your voice I will hear. I will learn again to listen.

Let me not march without direction.

(Letter #1474)

Dear God, I face a day with the most inconsequential tasks, yet even now I would evade my duties and sit alone, at the bottom of my silent seabed. None visit me here: no detractors, no authorities, and yet no friends nor companions.

I can string together days here, coddled and alone, and life will pass.

Lord, quicken my heart. Let me rise and go out from here. Fill me with the willingness to be diligent today, at the smallest of tasks.

Today is the day in which my practice shall be small.

(Letter #1473)

Dear God, I look forward to days without obligation, I rush through my tasks, I give only partial attention to chores. I pursue idleness and imagine it will be restorative. Yet evening comes and I look back and see nothing, the idle hours lost.

Lord, my body grows stronger through use. My mind sharper through practice. My relationship with you deeper through persistent seekfulness.

Let me, even on a day without obligation, be diligent in my seeking. Grant me vision to distinguish between idle times and restful times.

(Letter #1472)

Dear God, I see what I look for. Direct my vision. Order my thoughts that the world about me may flourish.

Let me think love: humility, generosity, acceptance, diligence.

Humility: let me rest anonymous.

Generosity: let me build up others.

Acceptance: let me rejoice in your workings.

Diligence: let me seek and do your will consistently.

Let me think love, look for love, see love growing around me like coral – alive, miraculous, diverse in its expression.

Your will is surely that we thrive, O Lord. Let me look for it.

(Letter #1471)