Letter 4502

Like a child, the morning finds me wondering what the day will bring. Moment to moment, I look to you, Lord, to guide me from here to there to there.

I have a diary for the day. Yet it describes outlines only. What will happen within each container of time?

❖

Grant, Lord, that I will know what to do and say in each moment.

---

Consider:

Can I rely wholly on you to guide me?

---

Reading:

❖ “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, ch. 64

❖ “You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” — E. L. Doctorow

❖ “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” — Proverbs 3:5 (KJV)

---

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

~B.R.

Letter 4501

I built this home, this garden, this fence. Yet how much was already here, on which I depended? The stones, the wood, even the earth.

I live with delusions of self sufficiency and power, when I am wholly dependent on my neighbors for market goods.

❖

Remove my prideful independence, Lord, that I may better see reality. We all live under your sunshine as your children.

---

Consider:

Can I recognize the gifts you have given?

---

Reading:

❖ “We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.” — George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

❖ “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

❖ “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” — James 1:17 (KJV)

---

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

~B.R.

Letter 4500

Awakening beside an alpine lake. There are chores back home, but here I am.

A moose browses along the opposite shore. A fish jumps.

❖

While here, let me attend to the leisure for which I came. Tomorrow and its duties will wait.

---

Consider:

Can I enjoy leisure today?

---

Reading:

❖ “Leisure is the mother of Philosophy.” — Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

❖ “Our only business was to love and delight ourselves in God.” — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

❖ “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” — Mark 6:31 (KJV)

---

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

~B.R.

Letter 4499

I promised myself I would awaken early, to watch the sun rise.

I promised myself yesterday afternoon would be given over to reading.

I promised myself I would exercise my body.

None happened. In each case, I sat with you, Lord, in prayer and devotion.

❖

Did I break a promise? Or choose a better option?

Let me nourish my soul, Lord, even when I had made other plans.

---

Consider:

Can I offer myself to you today?

---

Reading:

❖ “But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep.” — Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

❖ “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding.” — Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises

❖ “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part.” — Luke 10:42 (KJV)

---

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

~B.R.