“Listen for the sound of your heart”

Prayers for those in hurricanes & wars, plus two good books & one hilarious story

Conservative estimate: the past week has taken a month; today has already dragged into a fortnight (no, I’m not simultaneously stalking MyChart for test results & NOAA for hurricane tracking, why do you ask). Shall we gather around a few good offerings while we wait?

Contractually obligated as a Minnesotan to show you the Northern Lights from my backyard this week. In times of doubt or despair, it almost always helps to look up.

1. If you’re struggling to pray: this prayer for Palestine and Israel from Jessica Gerhardt has stayed with me. Also this collection of prayers in times of natural disasters, for all those facing Milton or recovering from Helene (or both).

2. If you’re facing overwhelm: here’s an inspiring podcast on the hope that comes from right-sized action: Drops Make An Ocean with Kate Bowler and Sharon McMahon. 

3. Book that I can’t wait to read once it arrives: The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity by Catherine Ricketts. Book that my 10 year-old declared “really, really good” once it arrived: Growing God by Karen Keifer and Kathy De Wit.

4. Grateful to my beloved Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary for the Sister Mary Anthony Wagner Award. They shared the speech I wrote for the acceptance, and it includes one of my all-time favorite theology stories in case you need a laugh.

5. Found this poem while writing about Jonah and it feels fitting for…all of us? Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale by Dan Albergotti. (Read this case for poetry if you’re still skeptical: “In short, poetry can help us dare the depths. Through words it can create a prayer-like attentiveness so that we might dwell in silence and thus address God there.”)

This post contains affiliate links for books. But books are part of what saves us, so I feel okay encouraging this one ‘lil consumption practice. Or ask your local library to purchase!