Sunshine

Letter 4417

In the early dawn I make my rounds. Garden, barn, field, walls and fences.

There is a path along the meadow with a grand vista. I pause along the way to take it in.

Another spot gives me a view of the abattoir in the distance. It pains me to see.

❖

The sun shines on each of these spots equally, how do I justify thinking one different than another?

Let me walk with equanimity and without judgment, Lord.

Consider:

Can I walk without judgment?

Reading:

❖ “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” — Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

❖ “The duties of each moment are the shadows beneath which hides the divine operation.” — Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence

❖ “For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” — Matthew 5:45 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

What I Need

Letter 4416

I worry over whether I can overcome my difficulties, and ask you to arrange events in my favor.

Could I not as easily ask for strength, or grace, or flexibility, or whatever quality I lack?

❖

Let me become equal to my challenges, Lord.

Consider:

Do I seek what I truly need?

Reading:

❖ “Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.” — Epictetus, Enchiridion

❖ “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” — Phillips Brooks, Twenty Sermons

❖ “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” — James 1:5 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Saving Myself

Letter 4415

When walking in the gloom, and my feet are ensnared, who will come to rescue? All are yet asleep, my cries will float into the air.

I will need to slow my pounding heart and breath, and work patiently at what has me stuck.

I may unbind my ankles, and congratulate myself on extricating myself from peril. Walking home, later, will this pride move me to seek danger?

❖

Did I save myself, Lord? You gave me the wherewithal to seek calm when I would thrash.

Consider:

Can I recognize all that comes from you?

Reading:

❖ “It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey.” — Wendell Berry, The Real Work

❖ “He said not, ‘Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted’; but he said, ‘Thou shalt not be overcome.'” — Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

❖ “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” — 2 Corinthians 3:5 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Patience

Letter 4414

It took longer than I would have hoped.

For the garden to sprout.

For the wall to be built.

For my ways to mend.

For my chattering thoughts to subside.

❖

Without, around, within — all around me are examples of slow progress.

Grant me patience, Lord, and the ability to see growth where before I saw only what had yet to be.

Consider:

Can I grow more patient?

Reading:

❖ “A tree that is unbending is easily broken.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

❖ “Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul.” — Simone Weil, Waiting for God

❖ “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” — Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

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

~B.R.