Dear God, just as I am learning to accept conditions around me as your will, so, too, let me learn to accept my own inner life.

The fear, anger, and resentment that I wish to root out is delivered by you for your own reasons. Maybe it is so that I have experienced such emotions and thus have greater empathy. Maybe it is to teach me to act rightly even when my attitude is poor. Or, perhaps, I must experience low spots in order to appreciate times when my inner life is calm and positive.

Lord, let me accept your will for me both in the external conditions I encounter and the inner vexations I experience. Even when fearful, let me be grateful for the opportunity to do your will in the world. Even when resentful, let me wish your sunshine upon others. Even when selfish, let me place others’ well-being and happiness before my own.

God, fill me. Let me try my best to do your will today.

(Letter #1042)

Dear God, when I pray, I do not do so to bring you near to me, but the reverse. I am seeking you. This seeking draws me nearer to you. Today, as I feel fear, as I so often do, let me pray. Let me approach you.

God, I am so weak, inadequate to the day. Let me place it in your hands. Let me attend to my one task: that of seeking and doing your will. In all things, let this be my intent. Let this single-minded effort crowd out fear.

I am so small. Hold my hand, O Lord.

(Letter #1041)

Dear God, turn my every circumstance into something useful. Let every happening be a demonstration to those around me – of your love, of your power, of your way of life. When conditions are positive, your love is obvious. When events overwhelm, your power, too, is clear. In such cases it is your way of life that I most need to embody.

Your way of life: Helping others. Diminishing self. Accepting your will. Seeking your instructions. Lord, let me live this way today. Let me not seek my own selfish ends.

Let me be cheerful in pursuit of your will. This way of living is a gift, for it allows an untroubled soul even under difficult conditions. Let my attitude be untroubled today.

(Letter#1040)

Dear God, let me slowly walk, aware at every step of your presence. It is not that you are near to me or far, changeably: it is a matter of my awareness that you are present at all times. The more agitated my internal state, the farther away you seem from me. But in truth it is I who is far, distracted by my self-absorbed fretfulness.

Lord, sweet Lord, let me slow down. Let me take all the time in the world as I move, task by task, through this world. Let me focus my awareness, with each movement, on the fact of your underlying love. This great fact.

God, let me thank you for this slowly building, inexorable joy.

(Letter #1039)

Dear God, correct my thoughts. Direct them. Let me desire your will above all.

I go through my day striving for such trivial accomplishments: advancement at work, regard of my fellows. Let me seek after something worthwhile, dear Lord.

Let me seek to help others, to do your will, to demolish selfish desires. Grab me, pull me by the nose toward your will, away from my defective and puny aims.

Let me eagerly submit to your guidance. Let me be glad to be your humble servant. Let my accomplishment be my meekness and service to my fellows. Thy will be done.

(Letter #1038)

Dear God, let me not withhold my efforts today, saving for some imagined tomorrow. You have so constructed me that I only act in the current moment. Tomorrow is a fiction – for me to save my energies for it is similarly a fantasy.

You place before me here, now, opportunities to serve you through serving my fellows.

Let me end of the day spent, exhausted with my efforts. You will replenish me and make me adequate to my tomorrow when it comes.

Do I have faith, O Lord, to live this day as though it were my only? Let me meet this test.

(Letter #1037)

Dear God, today, let me attend to the craft of living rightly. Let me view every moment of this day as a building block, one small component that adds, along with its brethren, to a unified whole.

Each moment can be lived attentively, mindfully – or carelessly and with distraction. Let me be deliberate in each one. Let me move slowly and think calmly. Let me bring an attitude of care to each thought.

Let me build this day, piece by piece, as a work of devotion, a gift to my fellows – as you have bestowed gifts upon me.

Let me be a source of joy today, passing it on from you. Let this joy start with gratitude.

Thank you.

(Letter #1036)

Dear God, you give me substance and gravity. In the face of trials, you anchor me. Let me hold fast to you, that I may not act in panic, blown about by winds.

I am so fearful of the judgments of those around me, I so easily react without consideration. If I listen for your voice, if I am earnest in seeking your will, I might begin to act more deliberately.

Weigh me down, O Lord, stop me from flying away in ill-considered reactions. Let me move, speak, and act slowly and with purpose.

Let me quietly act as your agent. Thy will be done.

(Letter #1035)

Dear God, let me show my weakness today. Let me gladly depend on you to guide me and protect me. Let me have knowledge of your will for me, and the willingness and power to carry it out.

I feel so inadequate to the tasks I know are before me. Let me not try to hide my fear, but allow it to be visible to my fellows. If I am seen to be supported by your grace, then others may develop faith in you, too.

Lord, let my failings and shortcomings be the material from which you create a beacon. Save me, that others may see me saved. Improve me, that others may see me improved. Guide me, that others may see your guidance.

Thy will be done.

(Letter #1034)

Dear God, let me reflect your light into every corner today. Let me bring gladness.

Lord, today I will walk along the path you have set. What I encounter will be determined by you. My role is to try my best to discern your will, to find each opportunity to be helpful.

Let my faith shine so brightly that those around me wonder at your power. Let me have ease today, knowledge of the next right action. Let this ease beckon others to seek you.

Let me efface myself. Let me erase my own feeling of accomplishment. Let me not strive for selfish ends, but instead seek to demonstrate your power – the power you have to create ease and serenity.

Let me glide quietly through the day, held erect by you. Let the light you shine from me call others to follow the path of self-forgetting. Lord, let me be useful to my fellows today.

(Letter #1033)