Letter 4541

I walked through a grand home, built in a past century, carefully wrought by craftspeople. So fine, so sturdy. Were the old ways better ways?

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I roam the fields, thinking of how I used to behave toward my neighbors, filled with resentment. Today I am at peace with the whole village. Were my old ways better ways?

Lord, let me retain from the past only what is worthy.

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Consider:

Can I embrace growth today?

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Reading:

❖ “New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth.” — James Russell Lowell, “The Present Crisis” (1845)

❖ “To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.” — Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening (2000)

❖ “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Letter 4540

Someone came to the open land near mine, and began building a home.

I watched from inside as the structure grew. They came to work on it almost every day. We never spoke. They: occupied, perhaps fearful to visit. Me: remote.

❖

Why did I not walk to them and bid them welcome? Why must they come to me? Now I may have a neighbor I do not know.

Let me bid all welcome.

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Consider:

Can I be a friend to all today?

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Reading:

❖ “Help to make them feel at home; find out where they are staying, ask if you may render them any service.” — ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks (1911)

❖ “Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.” — Henri J. M. Nouwen, Reaching Out (1975)

❖ “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” — 1 Peter 4:9 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Letter 4539

All these days walking this small patch of land, I have experienced the full range of human emotions. Elation, despondency, joy, terror, peace.

Each experience I have is unique, yet each feeling is one also known by others.

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We have this in common, me with my neighbors.

Let me see myself as one of many.

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Consider:

Can I embrace what I have in common with all?

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Reading:

❖ “No heart that beats, but has its grief; / Nor wealth, nor youth, gives full relief;” — Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “The Common Link,” Shells (1873)

❖ “Love and belonging are irreducible needs for all people.” — Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart (2021)

❖ “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” — Romans 12:15 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Letter 4538

I sought to enter the room without being noticed, yet I swiftly found myself in conversation.

I tried to walk lightly, and leave no trace behind, yet the grass blades bent and even the hardscape held footprints.

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If I am to exist, I will make an impression on the world around me. What traces, then, shall I leave?

Let me take care of the manner in which I walk.

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Consider:

Can I be mindful of the impact I am making, even when I feel inconsequential?

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Reading:

❖ “Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact, makes much impression on him, and another none.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

❖ “Their gifts multiply by our care for them, and dwindle from our neglect.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass (2013)

❖ “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” — Matthew 7:16 (KJV)

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

~B.R.