First Letter to JoAnne

"I have sworn and made up my mind to obey your decrees." Psalm 119.

We are companions on this journey. That is a blessing not everyone receives. To be one in heart and mind is within the grasp of our Sacrament. To be seen within the world as Christ, working through us is our greatest gift. We so rarely walk alone.

You have your gifts and I have mine. This is God's will for all of us. But it is also His will that in Communion, the gifts he gives to each of us should be united. This is why we assemble in community to share the common prayers.

The prayers he gives us are life-changing. We embrace them because we want to be changed. We experience the changes differently as He brings out from within us that which He has placed there. Then, in community, we unite our various gifts and the Body is made whole.

Tonight, when I sat down to pray, I knew I was not alone. For everyone who prays is united in the Body of Christ. It is not a function of time or place, or who is or who isn't present. It is the prayer, given to us by Christ, and our willingness to embrace it, that opens us to His love, and allows Him to enter in and transform our lives. We are changed from within. His grace, his plan. We trust Him to do it, and our lives are so much easier and more peaceful.

I know we are both growing. He would not have it otherwise. He wants us here, he wants us to pray and to trust. Everything else, our purpose, our work, and our life will be revealed to us in his time and his way. Keep your heart open. Listen and watch. Pray every day and He will do it.

Thank you for your love, your fellowship, your advice and your peace. In my life there is no one else like you, and no one who so clearly shows His light for me.

I am, Yours, Tom