Third Day

Castor Oil Plant (1927)

By Wanda Gág

19.7 x 15.7, Watercolor on Sand Paper

Jonah 4.5-8

5 Jonah then left the city and sat down to the east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat down under the shade to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then YHWH God sent a castor oil plant to grow up over Jonah to shade his head and soothe his indignation. Jonah was delighted with the castor oil plant. 7 But at dawn the next day, God sent a worm to attack the castor oil plant and it withered. 8 And after the sun had risen, God sent a scorching east wind. the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he was overcome and begging for death, and said, "I'd rather be dead than keep on living!"

“I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain” (no. 280)

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

found in The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling (WW Norton, 2019)

280

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum -

Kept beating - beating - till I thought

My Mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but and Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race

Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down -

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing - then -

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

From Your Envelope:

  • String

Directions: Today, we will complete the second step of our Finger Labyrinth.

The second step is about concentration and contemplation.

If you haven't already, use glue or paste to attach the Labyrinth template to the base that you selected yesterday.

Glue or paste the string to the black lines on the Labyrinth template. (You will need to cut the string at times in order to keep the path open.)

What do you notice while you do this?

This activity should take about 20 minutes. If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer for New Life

by Pamela C. Hawkins

O God, who makes all things new,

new stars, new dust, new life;

take my heart,

every hardened edge and measured beat,

and create something new in me.

I need your newness, God,

the rough parts of me made smooth;

the stagnant, stirred;

the stuck, freed;

the unkind, forgiven.

And then, by the power of your Spirit,

I need to be turned toward Love again. Amen.