Self-pity drives me to seek rescue from the most trivial of days. What may befall me? A neighbor will visit. An errand must be run. These are the things from which I shrink.

You, Providence, will supply. Will it be in the form of relief, or of energy to meet conditions?

The sun rises, Lord. I will greet it.

(Letter #2,347)

Is peace the goal or the means to draw nearer to you?

In this Alpine meadow, far from the din of the village square, my heart relaxes and I feel you next to me.

Would the crowded market be equally worthy as the placid lakeshore, if my ears were trained to hear you even there?

I wait and pray for conditions to change that I may be with you. I dared not think that, all along, you were inviting me to change to meet conditions.

Let me feel your presence even in chaos, Lord.

(Letter #2,346)

Day by day and year by year, I have become rooted into earth. The wind bends me but I remain.

Let the songbirds come and sit singing on my branches; let my neighbors find shelter underneath.

Let them build a swing upon me and laugh together, Lord. How better to pass the day than to listen?

Your sentry, unseen.

(Letter #2,345)

My lips say, “peace, peace.” What does my life say?

Do I bring peace or chaos with me?

Let me be a balm to my fellows, and heal the breaches around me.

If I am to bring peace, I must be it. Let me be peace.

(Letter #2,344)