Morning Meditations

I've long thought that mornings should start slowly with a warm drink and a book in hand. Over the years I went back and forth between thinking that it had to be a Bible and accepting devotional books as a substitute. But this past year and a half it has been hard to spend time with either type.


Late last Spring I was introduced to the writings of Rowan Williams (currently Lord of Oystermouth). I savored The Lion's World and then Tokens of Trust. Neither  of these books would be considered "devotional" by my old standards, but they were both of great help to me. Lord Williams has many more writings that I hope to read, but of late I've found following arguments and reasons hard. Last week I sat staring at a page that I'd read twice with no memory of its contents and decided that perhaps I should try another approach.

Making marks on paper is one of my favorite things. When I get a new pen or put a new ink in my fountain pen I love to sit and draw, write, and generally doodle. In fact when I was too busy to do so in the fall, I eventually had to make time for it so the ink on the page could soothe the itch in my soul.

Enter my new morning meditations. Each day I sit with a warm beverage, my pen, a scrap of paper, and the order of service from the previous Sunday.  I read until I find a phrase that jumps off at me (or I go straight to one that caught my attention during the service.)  Then I turn the phrase over in my mind to get a sense of what is most striking to me in the phrase.  From there I try to write the phrase in a way that will enrich the phrase. That means bringing attention to specific words over others and also giving shape and gesture.

No, I'm not a brilliant hand lettering artist. No, my penmanship isn't lovely. Yes, my lines wobble and tilt. No, those things don't matter for this. This is about me savoring the beauty of the words in a prayer or song and scratching that itch to push ink across a page.