Doorway One: Deep Stillness, Day 2

Spiritual Practice: Visio Divina

"Divine Seeing" - it allows God to speak into your heart through images.

Walk slowly and reverently among some trees today. Stay awhile. Listen to the sounds. Notice the light and shadows. Observe the ground, roots, trunks, bark, branches, and possibly leaves. May you have "stillness of seeing" and "calmness of hearing". Let it seep into the depth of your soul and teach you what you need to know today. St. Bernard of Clairvaux offers this wisdom about the woods, "Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters".

When I am Among Trees

When I am among trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I almost say they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,

"and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine."

~Mary Oliver

Prayer: Stillness of Seeing

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 actions

be rooted in a silent certainty of your presence.

Let my passions for life and the longing for justice that stir within

be grounded in the experience of your stillness.

Let my life be rooted in the ground of peace, O God.

Let me be rooted in the depth of your peace.

~J. Phillip Newell

Song: Tree Song by Evie Karlsson, words and music by Ken Medema