I need more time for inner stillness

“As I grow older, I seem to need more time for inner stillness…. This can happen in the midst of daily chores or when walking in a crowd or riding in a train. It means being still, open, reflective, holding within myself the crucible of joy and pain of all the world, and lifting it up to God. 

Praise comes into it, and thankfulness for all the love I have known and shared, the realization of how much of the time I am carried, supported, upheld by others and the love of God. [During this process] comes the deep sense of unity of all beings, the intermeshing of the animate and inanimate, the secular and the sacred, the tangible and the intangible…. It means just waiting, or just lifting the heart.”

— Dorothy Steere, 1995
Quaker activist

Today’s Invitation

Pay attention to how much of the time you are carried, supported, and upheld by others and the love of God.

This Week’s Query

How has your relationship to quietude, solitude and stillness changed during your life?

What are the spiritual fruits of solitude?

Share your response!

Read the source of today’s quote
Banner art by Georgia Peterson

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Author

  • Dorothy Steere (1907-2003), along with her husband Douglas Steere, served the Society of Friends most of her life. She was a member of AFSC from 1945 to 1980. Her first contribution to this organization was as a work camp leader in 1945, and in 1949, she served on the American Friends Service Personnel Committee. She was involved with the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1956 and 1958, Dorothy Steere corresponded with Martin Luther King Jr. on issues such as the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott and race relations in the South. Steere gave many talks and addresses at retreats, conferences, and religious meetings, and wrote essays and pamphlets on Quaker topics.

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