Morning Dew
“My child,” God says, “I want you to feel yourself in communion with my splendid universe, with its uncertain aspirations, its unexpressed thanksgivings. I want above all, especially in those moments when you seek to become one with boundless Love, that you be perfectly humble.
You have often seen morning dew. It places sparkling jewels on blades of grass and on leaves, shortly before the rising of the sun. Dew is abundant there where the earth is humble and open, when the weather is clear and there reigns a perfect calm. Each iridescent droplet reproduces the colors of the rainbow. However tiny it may be, it reflects the elementary colors of the universe.
My child, become yourself this tiny drop of dew, born on a terrain of gentle tenderness, as the sun rises in a heart filled with love. Become this drop which, in all its minuteness yet as well as it can, reflects the beauty of the world.
Then allow yourself to be absorbed into the light and the warmth of the sun. For it is the sun that brings forth drops of dew.
From the Morning, O Lord…
This morning, O Lord of Love, let my very first word rise toward You, to bless Your Holy Name!
I believe, I feel, at the beginning of this day, that Your abundant Goodness is descending upon all that exists. The source of Love continues to pour forth, even when it seems that we can find nothing around us but evil and suffering. Either visibly or in secret, You never tire of helping, of loving. Today, once again, You will struggle for us.
We await from You, O Lord, the grace we need for this day. Together with material bread, give us heavenly nourishment, the pure wheat of Your inexhaustible Love, the true substance of our life. With full trust, we people of little faith surrender into Your hands our practical difficulties, our hurts, our fears.
We have no help other than Your Love. Apart from that Love, we have no other hope. May it guide our steps throughout this day, like a column of light that penetrates the apparent darkness!
O Lord, in all that comes to us from You we perceive Your life given, sacrificed. He who is Saving Love deigned to suffer for us, willed to die for us. Grant me to share His desire to give to others the life I have received.
O Lord, may the purifying actions of the Savior who is Love purify my soul of my many sins! Unite around Your Love and in Your Love those who know You, those who seek You without knowing you, and those whom You Yourself seek. We long to be with You… Take us!
~Adapted from the Very Rev. John Breck, Orthodox Church in America (oca.org), May 2007, Article #6, Love Without Limits, by Archimandrite Lev Gillet, “A Monk of the Eastern Church”
