A Retired Rector's Reflections

Several years ago I was inspired by an interview, on the BBC World Service, with Joshua Dubois, a faith advisor to the then US President, Barack Obama.

The BBC commented: ““Every morning, one particular email pinged into the inbox of President Barack Obama, it was sent by a young pastor Joshua Dubois. President Obama has many advisors, fighting for his ear throughout the day, but for a few quiet minutes every morning, he got inspiration and guidance from this email, which he has described as having ‘meant the world to him’.””

We live in troubling days. I am finding that simply pausing for a couple of minutes to read an inspiring spiritual thought or poem is helping me think and pray.

In the interview Joshua Dubois mentions sending President Obama the following gentle and thought provoking poem, which helps me. I hope it may help you too.

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.