We’re camping in our new tent by our lake. Stephen went out for an evening kayak ride out on the lake while the kids are in the tent with me running, crawling, and falling between the two “rooms” of this “palatial” tent (the tent company’s description, not my own). I sit amidst the commotion inside the tent with the quiet, calm of the lake outside. That seems to be how my life feels these days–the chaos in the midst of calm, beautiful nature. I find myself trying to control in these situations. It’s 8:00 p.m., well past bedtime-“lay down, go to sleep.” And then I stop myself before I say any of this, and I remember what it’s like for them. This is a new experience, camping outside. I tell myself to let go of the need to control and to just let them have fun this night. It’s summer.

Do you ever have those times in your life when someone sends you something or you read something that is so fitting to the moment you are living? You need to hear or read those words in that moment to really have them pierce you. Any other time and the words wouldn’t hold as much meaning. Here is the poem I received today from my herbal teacher Donna d’Terra in the letter she sends out every month before our weekend class meeting.

Prayer for Tranquility

Slow me down Mother
Let my spirit be reserved again,
Rooted and still as the ancient trees.

Help me to stop chasing my life
And instead pour into my life like a waterfall
Collecting here like a fresh pond of water
in the center of this moment.

Let me observe, be calm
Let me know peacefulness
So that your natural messages
Are clear to me.

I ask to remember
My own true rhythm,
My own true pace,
My inner quiet as tranquil
As the green shade in the lightest breeze.

I call my own rivers back to me
Bringing in silence
My essence on a silver wave.
Let me touch now.
The serenity of the Goddess
And may the oceans that flow
Through my soul flow calm and free.