World Oceans Day

“Exultation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea,
Past the houses – past the headlands –
Into deep Eternity –

Bred as we, among the mountains,
Can the sailor understand
The divine intoxication
of the first league out from land?”

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)

“A young boy is given an encyclopedia and starts devouring knowledge of the world. But at a certain point it overwhelms him and he turns to his mother, voicing the fear that everything will already have been discovered by the time he grows up. His mother reassures him: “Don’t you worry! When you grow up there will be plenty left for you to discover.”

The boy was Francis Crick, born this day in 1916. He would go on to discover (with James Watson) deoxyribonucleic acid, the DNA molecules that are the very building blocks of life. In celebration, encourage the love of discovery in young people within your circle – and never forget there is plenty left to discover.”

From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations For All Seasons by Brian Nelson

“The musk is held in its pod,
yet oblivious of the source of fragrance,
the deer wanders all over the forest in its search.
O seeker, the Holy One too dwells within.
How unaware we are of Him!”

Kabir (15th century India)

World Environment Day

“What can I say?
What can I say that I have not said before?
So I’ll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.
Take your busy heart to the art museum and the
chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.”

Mary Oliver

“The book of all books is in your own heart, in which are written and engraven the deepest lessons of divine instrution; learn therefore to be deeply attentive to the presence of God in your hearts – the God who is always speaking, always instructing, always illuminating the heart that is attentive.”

William Law, Anglican priest and theologian, 1686 – 1761, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

Feast Day of Saint Kevin of Glendalough

St. Kevin and the Blackbird
(after Seamus Heaney) by Christine Valters-Paintner

“Imagine being like Kevin.
Your grasping fist softens,
fingers uncurl and
palms open, rest upward,
and the blackbird
weaves twigs and straw and bits of string
in the bowl of your hand,
you feel the delicate weight of
speckled blue orbs descend,
and her feathered warmth
settling in.

How many days can you stay,
open,
waiting
for the shell
to fissure and crack,
awaiting the slow emergence
of tiny gaping mouths
and slick wings
that need time to strengthen?

Are you willing to wait and watch?
Not to withdraw your
affections too soon?
Can you fall in love with the
exquisite ache in your arms
knowing the hatching it holds?

Can you stay not knowing
how broad those wings will
become, or how they will fly
awkwardly at first,
then soar above you

until you have become the sky
and all that remains is
your tiny shadow
swooping across the earth.”

Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins

“Whenever we wanted to run away and find something else, my teacher would tell us, “Wherever you go, you will just find yourself.” We will just meet the difficulties, the loneliness, the sadness, and the suffering we already know. Nothing is as effective as sitting there, returning to ourselves, and finding the elements of happiness and liberation right here in our own body and mind.”

From Peace Is This Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh

“I believe that you shouldn’t do anything in life until you’re ready. Half of life’s heartaches come from decisions made in a hurry. One should make haste slowly.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962), born on this day

“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.”

Walt Whitman, poet (1819 – 1892), born on this day

“Faithfulness in little things is a great virtue.”

Saint Basil the Great (c. 330 – 379)