Back Into the Land

Letter 4476

I built a path through my garden, winding from the gate to the shed. I used a series of paving stones to create a steady walkway. This was just last month.

Today, already: explosive growth between the stones. It is as if they had been there for years, growing into the landscape.

Do I pull the weeds between the pavers? Or do I love the naturalness?

❖

Lord, let me see the miracle when you accept my humble offering into your lands.

Consider:

Can I accept forces greater than myself today?

Reading:

❖ “And for all this, nature is never spent; / There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.” — Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur”

❖ “By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and moulds us.” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu

❖ “…and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself…” — Mark 4:27–28 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Washed Clean

Letter 4475

A trickle, a stream, a river — water coursing through the land. Is the water in the creek I dip into the same as the lake, the rain?

All is washed clean, bit by bit and drop by drop. Sometimes in a rush of flood.

❖

Let me be washed clean, too, Lord. Let me abandon myself to your stream.

Consider:

Can I let go?

Reading:

❖ “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” — Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

❖ “Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will… I offer it to you with all the love of my heart… with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.” — Charles de Foucauld, Prayer of Abandonment

❖ “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean…” — Ezekiel 36:25 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Without Staring

Letter 4474

A fresh morning, approaching my garden. There are weeds to be pulled and rows to be dug, but most of it grows well.

Can I see the flaws, looking clearly without staring?

What is the story I will tell? A story of shortcoming and work to repair it? A story of great success?

Can I give a true account that accepts both?

❖

Let me walk through this day with equanimity, Lord, accepting all that is, without additional judgment.

Consider:

Can I accept your day?

Reading:

❖ “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same…” — Rudyard Kipling, “If—”

❖ “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.” — Seraphim of Sarov

❖ “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” — Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

As They Seem

Letter 4473

Is what I see, what is?

The sun beats down on a vast green meadow — as I approach I find marsh and wallows.

The glint in the distance, that looks like a fence — a watering hole.

❖

What might I be missing, closer, beneath my eyes? A world inside the smallest thing.

Let me not assume all is as I see.

Consider:

Can I be open to discovery?

Reading:

❖ “To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour.” — William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”

❖ “We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time.” — Thomas Merton, from a recorded conference at Gethsemani

❖ “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” — 1 Samuel 16:7 (KJV)

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

~B.R.