Like my own personal musical toaster!
When you wake up singing what is the song most likely to be?
Month: October 2026
First Heard During A Retreat
Quiet my soul in your silent presence
Gentle my soul in your stillness and peace
Tender my soul in your beauty and grace
God of this moment
Here in this place
Quiet my soul
Gentle my soul
Tender my soul
God this moment
Here in this place
Recently this song was set to play on repeat on my speaker. I tend to panic and get fearful when health matters arise and I know there might be a potentially bad outcome.
The retreat when I learned this song was years ago. There is still a power in this song to center and bring me to stillness.
Psalm 131 has been a great help to me over the years. This is taken from Psalms in Inclusive Language, Joseph J. Arackal, Translator.
O Yahweh, my heart is not arrogant
nor are my eyes raised too high.
I have taken no part in great affairs,
nor in wonders beyond my grasp.
I have kept my whole being quiet and silent,
like a infant at its mother's breast;
like an infant quieted is my whole being.
Let Israel hope in Yahweh
henceforth for all eternity.
The New Living Translation offers this:
Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
or too awesome for me to grasp.
2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—
now and always.
I have always said that if we occupy ourselves with what the Bible says to do regarding our own personal behaviors we need not worry about the “Thou shalt nots.”
Here is my favorite rendition of Psalm 131. I love that John Michael specifically says we are to be like a child at rest on its Mother’s knee and then like a child at rest on its Daddy’s knee. Yes. God is both mother and father to us!
May these versions of Psalm 131 and these songs bring you to a place of peace and trust.
Join In
Lectio 360 “Today is Friday the 25th of September, and this week we are praying through a collection of the great prayers of the Old Testament – exploring motifs of honesty and hope, remembrance and thanksgiving, desperation and celebration, joining our…
… voices with priests, poets, prophets and saints who learned to pray to God openly and unafraid.”
Do we pray openly and unafraid? This was something the people of the Bible learned. Have you? Can you speak to the heavenly Father without editing your words and feelings? God can handle whatever it is you are dealing with.
When I was 9 months pregnant and I found my mother dead on our sofa bed I had plenty to say to God. I did not actually formulate those feelings into words until some months after our daughter was born. I had to learn that God was not afraid of my strong feelings.
There were so many platitudes spoken to my pregnant self at Mom’s funeral. It was very difficult to sort out truth from fiction. It was truly not until I came across the verse in Ezekiel 18: 32a NIV that I began to understand. For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.
The relentless torment of the enemy of my soul asking, “How can you be a mother without a mother?” kept me unsettled and seeking the Lord. I finally cried out about 10 months after her death as I agonized in my grief, shouting from the depths of my soul to the Lord of heaven and earth, “You PROMISED that You would comfort those who mourn. (Matthew 5:4) Where are you?” doubled over I cried until there were no more tears. Then the Lord came to me with the comfort that only the God of all Comfort could offer. (2 Corinthians 1:3) Thus my long journey with the Savior of my soul was reignited.
I learned God could handle my anger and grief. I discovered that the comfort from heaven is real. Thus I began to learn to pray open and unafraid about anything and everything.
How have you learned to pray to God, open and unafraid? Do you feel as if you can go to God with all of your circumstances and reactions and stumbling blocks?
If not, what might be keeping you from going?
We can learn to trust the one who loves us the best and the most. “The Almighty HAS done great things for us and holy is His name.” (Adapted from Luke 1:49) Try expressing yourself with authenticity and transparency to God. You might very well be surprised at the welcome and acceptance you will receive, not to mention comfort and guidance.
Well, I could go on and on but I would rather you have the experience for yourself. Keep on seeking, keep on asking, keep on knocking. (Matthew 7:7 NLT) Discover the joy of coming to know God’s heart towards you.
All Are Welcome
We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders.
ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU
During the communion prayers we sometimes pray, “Jesus taught us that the liberation of the whole world will not be in the brutality of violence. Rather, it will be in showing kindness to our neighbor, in standing up against injustice, in returning hate with love, in transforming one heart at a time. It will be in the simple but holy task of dining together, sharing bread and wine, truly seeing one another as beloved by you.”
One of our favorite lines in the Communion service is when the priest declares. “This is God’s table, not ours. All are welcome.”
Oh Father, we have such a long way to go to bring you delight. Purify our hearts we pray that we might not sin against you. Open our eyes to see our fellow humans as made in your likeness. Help us to esteem others as better than ourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
We have also been learning a song by Michael Stillwater that goes, “One by one everyone comes to remember, we’re healing the world one heart at a time.”
May your eyes be opened and your heart know that there are no outsiders. Just humans walking each other home.
Morning of Our 56th
Awoke singing this in my heart:
I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I've never done before
I'll never know what made it so exciting
Why all at once my heart took flight
I only know when he began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced all night
Yes, after 56 years I am more than willing to dance with Robert Milan. We have FUN together. Sometimes he carries his teasing and jokes too far for my emotion at a given moment, but overall, we have fun.
We create humor and jokes between ourselves. We are friends, yes, even best friends. There are times he gets on my last nerve and I get on his, but we each get over that and move on.
On this date in Edges of His Ways Amy wrote:
It is the little things of life, the minute, unimportant-looking things, that are most likely to shatter our peace, because they are so small that we are very likely to fight them ourselves instead of looking up at once to our Strong God, our Barrier between us and them. “Close the gate, or bar up the way, as the cloudy pillar formed a barricade between the Egyptians and Israel” is Kay’s note.
The deaths of Ginny and Chuck Lynch have taught us how short life is, how unexpectedly death can come and now is the time to love and laugh, to cherish and sing.
When I saw Bob Dutina for the first time, at a distance, it really was love at first sight. I have never understood exactly how our lives came to be together; however, I am grateful and blessed to have been given the gift of this incredible marriage.. Thanks be to God!
Psalm 90:12. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
