Deceit

Letter 4393

Yesterday I awoke, and knew great things would happen today. I would succeed.

The day ended as it began, with the sun on the horizon and me quietly in my rooms. Little had changed.

The prior day I awoke, frightened over the calamity sure to befall. That day ended without tragedy.

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Today I awaken in my room. I can grasp equanimity if only I can see clearly. The day is marching forward.

Consider:

Can I see without self-deception?

Reading:

❖ “How many things served us yesterday for articles of faith, which today are fables for us?” — Michel de Montaigne, Essays

❖ “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” — Meister Eckhart, Sermons

❖ “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” — 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Shore Camp

Letter 4392

Sleeping by the shore of an alpine lake on the way to a distant village. Water laps against the stones in the dark.

Worry hums in my chest. The lake keeps its work.

Morning will burn this off. Rise, break camp, walk. The body knows: movement heals.

❖

The way asks only for a next step.

Consider:

Can I be on the way?

Reading:

❖ “It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.” — Wendell Berry, Standing by Words

❖ “Rest from inordinate desire of knowledge, for therein is found much distraction and deceit.” — Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

❖ “They shall walk, and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

The Creek

Letter 4391

A trickling creek twisting through the field, grass overgrown along its edges.

So easy to step over. So small and quiet.

Let me try to build a home over it. Let me try to fill it in.

❖

What is flowing through me that will not be ignored?

Even the small, quiet things have power.

Consider:

Can I listen to my own power?

Reading:

❖ “I learned that you could not go back to simplicity once you had moved away from it, but you could go toward something new, which contained the old as a river contains its tributaries.” — Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

❖ “The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out.” — Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness

❖ “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.” — Psalm 46:4 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

The Door in the Trees

Letter 4390

Walking the forest path, a fallen log across the way. Two trees framing either side, their branches meeting overhead: A door.

My heart tightens. What waits beyond?

I have stood at doors before. Some I have pushed through in fear, and found sunlight on the other side. A gift I might have missed.

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Why do I forget this? Why does each door look like the last impossible one?

Lord, let me trust the grace that has met me before. Let me knock, and enter, and find what you have waiting.

Consider:

Can I walk through the door?

Reading:

❖ “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.” — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

❖ “There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.” — Howard Thurman, Baccalaureate Address, Spelman College, 1980

❖ “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” — Revelation 3:8 (KJV)

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

~B.R.