A writer, Robert Benson, once wrote that we move so fast that often if we stop to think about it, we can get ourselves tired for the next day as well. We often live on the edge of exhaustion, not realizing how tired we are.

What to do?  I find a morning stretch or yoga sequence to be a refreshing way to begin the day.  I listen to music while I eat breakfast and read the morning paper – the images and noise of TV are too jarring for me in the morning.  I make a list of things to do and calls or emails to send – a way to focus the day.  I get up from my desk often to get or refill my  cup of tea – a breather from looking at screens and a time to say hello to co-workers.  I don’t read all the ads that come in this season – there is way too much stuff in my life.

What do you do?  Breathe deep and have a blessed holiday season.

Yes.

Summer, two brightly yellow goldfinches have been visiting the feeders and the rose- breasted grosbeak is singing a beautiful song.  Summer, the thunderstorm with crackles of thunder and daggers of lightning and the fresh smell and clean air after the storm.  Summer, purple sunsets and fluffy clouds.  Summer, all is turned into prayer.

I think pottery is one of the reasons I love this quote from Irenaeus, an early Christian writer. May you be soft and open to God’s touch.

“It is not you who shapes God, it is God who shapes you.
If then you are the work of God, await the hand of the artist
Who does all things in due season.
Offer God your heart, soft and tractable,
And keep the form in which the artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
Lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of God’s fingers.”

A retreat center is a good place to take a deep breath and make good choices.  It is an art and it takes time and information.

Recently, it sounded regularly, calling Buddhists together for meditation.  It was central to their week because they were in silence, often in sitting prayer, or in meditative walking around the grounds.  Better than someone shouting, the bell rang out a call, an invitation.  Come and gather.  It is a lovely, clear sound – you are invited.  Come. Pay attention.

Walk with me down uncharted roads and ordinary paths, always leading me to a deeper trust and more faithful service.

I open my heart to your Easter Joy. Amen.

From Openings – A Daybook of Saints, Psalms and Prayer by Larry J. Peacock, Executive Director of Rolling Ridge

Tender my soul for the arrival of spring.

Let Easter happen in me and all around me.

Warm my expectations and make me ready for what you have prepared as I deepen my prayer and my walk with you.  Amen.

Published in Openings – A Daybook of Saints, Psalms and Prayer by Larry Peacock.

I like to think of all the prayer and meditation seeping into the walls of this retreat center and leaving a blessing for those who come next.  Just as all the camp youth from the 60′s to the turn of the century left laughter and joy in the walls and halls, now we add silence and prayer.  This old estate has heard lots and we are delighted for all the traditions that find a welcome here, each adding to the environment. Tell me what you experience on your next visit to Rolling Ridge.  Listen.

“You must keep collecting threads: threads of meaning, thread of hope, threads of purpose, energy and will, along with all the knowledge, all the skill that every weaver needs.  You must keep on weaving – stopping sometimes only to repair your broken loom – weave a cloak of warmth and light against the dark and cold (oh, all the dark and cold!), a cloak in which to wrap whoever comes to you in need: the world with all its suffering, those near at hand, yourself.”

Here’s to weaving hope in these troubled times and wrapping ourselves in warmth and light!