Beauty

Letter 4367

Walking, I spied a smooth, round stone. It caught my eye with its regularity.

I watched a starling perch on a small branch, hop to another, and fly away. I was struck by its perfect ordinariness.

I saw a moose browsing at the far end of the field, almost still as it stopped and looked into the distance. Its majesty overcame me.

❖

Beauty lives in different forms and I do not have to walk long to find it.

Consider:

Can I see beauty today?

Reading:

❖ “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” — John Keats

❖ “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” — Mary Oliver

❖ “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” — Psalm 19:1

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Small Growth

Letter 4366

It is hard to know what a green shoot will grow into — a bush, a tree?

This feeling of quickening as the weather turns and I smell spring in my nostrils — what will it become?

Is this a small new beginning, a turning of the tide, the first movement of a mighty symphony? Something else? My heart cannot know, it beats simply for the moment.

❖

Let me experience this new beginning fully, Lord.

Consider:

Can I feel this new beginning without the need to know where it will lead?

Reading:

❖ “Great oaks from little acorns grow.” — Traditional Proverb

❖ “And suddenly you know: It is time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” — Meister Eckhart

❖ “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.” — Mark 4:26–27

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Pressing On

Letter 4365

One thing I do — I press on.

A far goal, dispiriting days — yet I press on.

The temptation to run, the past dogging my heels — I press on.

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This road is the same one that began in mist and ends in vistas, that rolls through dark first patches and bright meadows. On this path — I press on.

Let me press on, Lord. Let me grateful for the perseverance you have bestowed.

Consider:

Can I press on?

Reading:

❖ “I will persist until I succeed.” — Og Mandino

❖ “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb

❖ “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:14

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Candle

Letter 4364

It is bright noon, my candle stands ready to be lit when my room darkens.

You know me, today and even tomorrow. Tomorrow’s needs, tomorrow’s growth, tomorrow’s sorrow and joy.

Tomorrow will become today, all I can really know and see.

❖

I am an unlit candle.

Let me claim your power today, Lord.

Consider:

Can I learn to wait?

Reading:

❖ “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.” — Henry Ward Beecher

❖ “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” — Thích Nhất Hạnh

❖ “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” — Matthew 6:34

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.