The daily New York Times “Morning Briefing” was sobering, as was the weather report for today. I don’t ever remember a day in January when the temperature in New York State reached 60 degrees (F.) I sit in the silence wondering where we are going and what we need to be doing in order to survive the crises – political, environmental and spiritual. I am buoyed up as much as anything by the words of J. Philip Newell just now. There are two pieces from his Saturday Morning Prayer that help me.
1. Let me know in my own soul and body the rhythms of creativity that you have established. Let me know in my family and friendships the disciplines of withdrawal and the call to engagement. Let me know for my world the cycles of renewal given by you for healing and health, the pattern of the seasons given by you for the birth of new life.
2. In the busyness of this day grant me a stillness of seeing, O God. In the conflicting voices of my heart grant me a calmness of hearing. Let my seeing and hearing, my words and my actions be rooted in a silent certainty of your presence. Let my passions for life and the longings for justice that stir within me be grounded in the experience of your stillness. Let my life be rooted in the ground of your peace, O God. Let me be rooted in the depths of your peace. (Celtic Benediction, p. 76 – 77)
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 
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Thank you, Sister Lois. That second prayer really speaks to me…am taking that one with me (right now) into my own prayer time.
May it be so~
Barbara