OCTOBER 25
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too
marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother’s breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul.
—PSALM 131Our mind flies this way and that, speculating about destiny
and truth, the state of our loved one, what we can believe,
and how we shall manage all that lies ahead. These are
questions without answers. Yet we continue to worry, like
a dog worrying a bone.
There are places and times when we need to think about
all these things. But we also need to give ourselves some
respite, realize that we are not responsible for the fate of
even our private world, let alone for answering cosmic
questions.
Think of an infant—helpless, knowing so little, sometimes
so agitated—and how at its mother’s breast that infant be-
comes a picture of contentment and peace. The image from
the Psalmist is good for us to remember when life seems too
much and we don’t know where to turn.
Like a child that is quieted is my soul.