Dear God, let me have gratitude today. Let me give thanks for every gift that you deliver to me; even those that do not present themselves in a positive light.

When I am thwarted, let me give thanks for my poor choices from which you have spared me. When others achieve recognition while I do not, let me give thanks for the lesson in humility. When I am attacked, let me be grateful for the trials that strengthen me.

All that comes to me is a gift if I but see rightly.

Above all, let me give thanks today that I am not an accident, but an instrument with purpose. Let me seek it. Let me live it. Let me perform your work and give ecstatic thanks my life is thus arranged.

(Letter #1012)

Dear God, all around me, there are circumstances and conditions that I believe call for change. With abundant energy, I wish to exert force upon them. Yet these things are beyond me, no matter how potent I may believe my powers. My efforts come to naught; circumstances are beyond my power to affect.

Lord, this is your schoolroom. Your lesson abides in my failure. You show me my limitations. You teach me waiting. You awaken me to the futility of complaint.

Like my brothers and sisters, I am a small chip floating on the sea you have made. The conditions of the day wash over me, a wave. Yet I wrongly imagine that if only I pushed harder, the waters would part.

Lord, awaken me. Grant me acceptance of my limited role. Let me see through my delusions and accept the realities of the day.

My choice is not what changes to enact in conditions. It is instead for me to decide how to respond. Lord, show me how best I can change my attitudes and actions to meet the conditions you have set.

Thy will be done.

(Letter #1011)

Dear God, you have blessed me with energy and optimism. Even in the face of adversity, when fear overtakes me and I worry what will befall me, there is, deep within me, an understanding that you will carry me. The outcomes may not be what I would choose for myself, but they will be according to your plan.

Lord, let me share faith today. Let my actions reflect what I know to be true – your care and guidance of me – and not my illusory fears. I build worry up in my mind almost out of habit, though I have no evidence that calamity has ever come my way.

Let me, Lord, live by the faith I know. Let me not crowd it out with activity, motion, and dissipation. Let me act with purpose, your purpose. Let this be a beacon to those around me. Your love and energy are available to all, our birthright as human beings.

Let me carry joy today, the joy of living and acting under your dominion.

(Letter #1010)

Dear God, I view my life as filled with challenge and difficulty. I heroically battle through the day, solving problems, enduring trial.

If I see my life rightly, I will discover the ease that underlies my day. My difficulties and problems are the most trivial and they amount almost always to me not getting what I want – or having to work for some goal harder than I would like.

This self perception of victimization breeds a negative attitude. I criticize, complain – even if I do not share such thoughts, they are inside me. Poison.

Lord, bring me a positive outlook today. Cure my attitude. Let me rightly see my life’s work: to make the world a place where your love can pass more freely one to another.

Let me spread joy today.

(Letter #1009)

Dear God, I wish for relief from my troubles, for comfort, for growth, for rewards. Yet you call me to wait. Not yet, you say. Not yet.

I experience this time of waiting as denial. How, Lord, can I see it rightly? There are many circumstances under which I deny myself comfort today so that tomorrow I will grow to be stronger; why can I not see this time of waiting in the same light?

Lord, let me see the challenge you deliver to me as opportunity. Here, today, is my chance to demonstrate devotion to you. Can I seek and accept your will, even in discomfort? Lord, let me please be willing to be one who does this.

Let me wear discomfort and waiting like a cloak of honor. It is my path to you.

(Letter #1008)

Dear God, what is my highest and best use today? Show me, Lord, and make me above all willing to pursue it.

I am so willful and reactive. Each event around me, no matter how near or far, small or large, seems to call for response. Come to me, my Lord. Fill me with knowledge of your will for me. Let me be willing to place your will before my own – to pursue contrary actions.

When I want revenge, let me seek compassion. When I want idleness, let me seek effort. When I want notoriety, let me seek anonymity.

Lord, today, let me pursue your will as if doing so were my gift to the world. Let me hear your voice and do what it impels. Let me quietly labor, trusting that such work is your path for me.

The hammer does not judge the work of the carpenter, nor choose which nails to drive. Let me be your instrument today, willing in all cases and without judgment. If I am to be a hammer, let me be the most useful one I can be. Let me be grateful when you raise me to enact your will.

Thank you, Lord.

(Letter #1007)

Dear God, you know how weak I am, how unlike my ideal I am. How far I am, truly, from my higher self. Do I want to do your will? No. I want to be esteemed as someone who seeks humility, and so I preen and set out displays of piety. Lord, what pride accompanies me all throughout the day.

Let me set my mind on doing your will today, regardless of the notice of others. Let me seek anonymity, let me invisibly try to determine the course you would have me take. Let me shun praise and notice. It poisons me.

Lord, let me fervently desire your will. Let me bring my will into alignment with your way of life.

(Letter #1006)

Dear God, what will be the true story that can be told about this day? What false and incomplete story will I be tempted instead to tell myself?

In my reflections, I so often see things happening to me, forces acting upon me – denying that I exert any driving force. At other times, I am too quick to imagine myself to be the lead actor, causing all the wheels of the world to turn.

In truth, when conditions are challenging, I tell the story of victimhood. When conditions are in my favor, I tell the story of action.

All false.

Lord, let my view of the world, and of my place in it, become clearer. Grant me humility to abandon the dramatic stories I tell of myself. Let me invert my flawed perceptions: When experiencing ease, let me see where to be grateful for the undeserved gift. When experiencing trials, let me see where my own actions have and can affect my circumstances.

Lord, make me willing to accept responsibility for my doings, and relinquish credit for accidental success.

Let me seek and do your will today, O Lord. Let that be my story: That he sought to fulfill the role he was ordained. Let it end there, sufficient unto itself.

(Letter #1005)

Dear God, let my weakness, today, be your invitation to grant me strength. Let me fall to my knees, broken — that you may enter and rebuild me. Let me fear every occurrence — that you may deliver me courage.

Grant me recognition of my weakness — that I may call out to you in total willingness to receive help.

You build me, O Lord, you save me, you strengthen me. I so rarely recognize nor even welcome it. Let me be fully ready to accept your aid.

Thy will be done, today and all days.

(Letter #1004)

Dear God, help me to be a source of strength to others today. I am focused on myself: on my difficulties, on my frustrations, on my worries for the future. I am wondering how best I can get what I want. Lord, set all this to the side. Grant me better thoughts.

Let me actively seek to aid my fellows. Let me not passively wait for such opportunities, but instead let me search for them, even create them with enthusiastic energy.

Transform me, Lord, from a selfish child into a reflection of your love and light. Let this come through effort, my effort. Let me use effort and energy as my expression of gratitude towards you. Let me expend effort and energy in helping others today.

Thy will be done.

(Letter #1003)