Twenty-Seventh Day
You and I, Horizontal (2005)
by Anthony McCall
Mixed-media installation
In installations that are part cinema, part sculpture, McCall projects oscillating beams of light through a fine mist, creating planes and chambers of light.
Daniel 6.19-22
6
19 Darius rose very early the next morning and hurried to the lions' den. 20 Drawing near to the lions' den, Darius cried out to Daniel with anguish in his voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Has the God whom you worship so constantly been able to save you from the lions?"
21 Daniel answered, "O Darius, ruler of Babylon, may you live forever! 22 My God has sent an angel and closed the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me. For I have been found innocent before the Most High. Nor have I ever done any harm to you, my ruler!"
Excerpt from "Dog Talk"
by Mary Oliver (1935-2019)
from Long Life (Da Capo Press, 2005)
But I want to extol not the sweetness nor the placidity of the dog, but the wilderness out of which he cannot step entirely, and from which we benefit. For wilderness is our first home too, and in our wild ride into modernity with all its concerns and problems we need also all the good attachments to that origin that we can keep or restore. Dog is one of the messengers of that rich and still magical first world. The dog would remind us of the pleasures of the body with its graceful physicality, and the acuity and rapture of the senses, and the beauty of forest and ocean and rain and our own breath. There is not a dog that romps and runs but we learn from him.
The other dog - the one that all its life walks leashed and obedient down the sidewalk - is what a chair is to a tree. It is a possession only, the ornament of a human life. Such dogs can remind us of nothing large or noble or mysterious or lost. They cannot make us sweeter or more kind.
Only unleashed dogs can do that. They are a kind of poetry themselves when they are devoted not only to us but to the wet night, to the moon and the rabbit-smell in the grass and their own bodies leaping forward.
Today’s Art Practice
What You’ll Need
From Your Home:
A Pen, pencil, or other writing utensil.
From Your Envelope:
Page with two pictures.
Sheet of lined paper.
Directions: From your envelope, find the page that has two photographs on it. It should look something like this picture.
Take some time to consider these photographs. How are they different? How are they similar? How might they relate to one another?
When you're ready, use a sheet of the lined writing paper from your envelope to write a few paragraphs that links these two photographs to one another.
If you like, this playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it stops playing, 20 minutes will be over.
Let’s Pray…
Survivor’s Prayer
Divine Source of Healing and Comfort,
Grant me the strength to embrace my journey,
And the courage to continue on the path to healing.
Bless me with resilience in the face of adversity,
And surround me with love and support as I reclaim my life.
May I find peace in the midst of my struggles,
And may my scars become a testament to my strength.
Guide me as I navigate the challenges of my past,
And help me find hope and joy in each new day.
Grant me the wisdom to set boundaries that protect my well-being,
And the grace to forgive, both myself and others.
In the name of resilience and renewal, I pray,
Amen.