Day 303
Friday, June 30, 2023

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Scripture
Yes, you will go out with celebration, and you will be brought back in peace. Even the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you; all the trees of the field will clap their hands. —Isaiah 55:12

Wisdom
In my early twenties I wandered up the California coast to a place called Redwoods Monastery, a community of about a dozen women who are part of the Cistercian order, itself a thousand years old. The nuns I met there were sharing a life of silence in a forest of giant trees, living lightly on the land, caring for their place, and offering hospitality to those who happened to arrive at their door. Those nuns and those trees—they taught me to seek healing for my own fragmented life in silence. You could also call it prayer. You could call it listening. You could call it contemplation. Whatever you call this thing I found there, it’s been a lifeline for me. That early encounter helped me understand that I need to become more attentive, more still, more openhearted. —Douglas Christie, Sun Magazine, January 2022

Prayer
Give me prayer. Give me listening. Give me contemplation. Find me, O God. Give me a lifeline. Let me encounter you, and be more attentive, more still, more openhearted toward your presence. Amen. —The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster