"Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning." - Psalm 30:5
"Baby in Red Chair", c. 1810-30, unknown artist
The very small child, who is loved and protected, knowing nothing of the hazards of life, may know unreflecting joy. The anonymous American painter who saw this baby in Pennsylvania has painted a child enclosed and vulnerable, but wholly confident in love. The half-smile, the head resting on the oversized pillow: together these show one of the marks of joy; its absolute belief in what is experienced.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
-Psalm 131
Come and find the quiet centre
In the crowded life we lead
Find the room for hope to enter
Find the frame where we are freed
Clear the chaos and the clutter
Clear our eyes that we can see
All the things that really matter
Be at peace and simply be
-Shirley Erena Murray
“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, remembered gate When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; At the source of the longest river The voice of the hidden waterfall And the children in the apple-tree Not known, because not looked for But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea. —T.S. Eliot, from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets
Prayer:
(from Isaiah 30:15)
In returning and rest we shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be our strength.
In returning and rest we shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be our strength.
In returning and rest we shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be our strength.
O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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