About this episode Step into a comforting embrace with "A Porch, a Breath and This Quiet Morning." This audio offers a gentle, understanding perspective on life's everyday challenges, designed to soothe your spirit and provide clarity. By the end, you'll carry a simple, profound thought that feels like a quiet gift from a trusted friend, perfect for grounding your day.
0:00 Notice the cool air touching your skin right where you sit, and the firm ground holding you up this morning.0:09 Good morning, baby.0:11 In episode one hundred thirty, we talked about finding a quiet moment of real warmth and calm perspective; today we plant our feet directly inside this hour, right where the floor meets your shoes.0:29 The sun is only now thinking about coming up over South Memphis, the porch rail is damp with dew, and my coffee mug is still warm between my palms.0:43 You don't have to look ahead down the driveway or think about the telephone ringing later on.0:51 You're here on the porch with me, and this morning is sitting quiet in your lap.0:58 Let your ribs expand out slow and easy, taking in whatever coolness the room has to offer.1:07 Fill the bottom of your lungs, then let that air spill back out into the room like water flowing over smooth river stone.1:18 Hmm-mm-mm… Draw that breath in again, deep and untroubled.1:23 Feel the chest rise without any strain, and when you release it, let every bit of yesterday's hurry blow on past you.1:34 There's nowhere else you're supposed to be right this second.1:39 The air comes in, cool and steady; the air goes out, warm and kind.1:45 We don't have to rush the breath to make it work.1:50 It knows how to keep you company all on its own.1:54 Now let your shoulders drop three inches down away from your ears.2:00 We spend all day hiking them up toward our chins like we're carrying grocery sacks in the rain.2:09 Let them fall.2:10 Uncurl your fingers in your lap until your palms feel open and loose, like you dropped a heavy set of keys you were tired of clutching.2:22 Let your jaw unclamp, loosen the little muscles right behind your eyes, and let the back of your neck settle back against the headrest or the morning air.2:36 If you're a parent packing school bags, or a worker facing a desk stacked high with papers, here's what that means for you: you don't have to solve noon while your breakfast is still on the stove.2:54 Years ago in our choir loft at church, little Clara would freeze up before her solo, clutching her binder till her knuckles turned gray.3:07 I'd lean over the piano and tell her, honey, the bench is already holding your weight.3:15 Stop trying to hold the bench up.3:18 Let the wood under you carry the load.3:21 You're allowed to exist right now without fixing a single thing in the world.3:28 Isaiah thirty verse fifteen says, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.3:36 Sit with that a minute, baby.3:39 In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.3:44 Notice the word isn't hurry, and the word isn't getting everything done before noon.3:51 The strength is already sitting right there underneath the noise, waiting on you to stop running past it.4:01 We spend half our lives wanting to be somewhere else, or wishing we were someone who handles things better, cleaner, faster.4:12 But grace doesn't meet the imaginary version of you that did everything right yesterday.4:20 Grace meets the real one sitting right here in this chair, worn out or worried, with cold coffee on the table and laundry waiting in the basket.4:33 Inhabit this minute completely.4:36 It belongs to you, and it's enough.4:40 Hmm-mm-mm… There's a quiet power that lives inside an unfinished day.4:46 Take one more slow breath, feeling your feet resting flat against the floorboards.4:53 When you stand up from this quiet space and turn the doorknob, carry that stillness right in your pocket.5:03 You don't have to conquer the whole afternoon; you only have to walk through the minute right in front of you with an open heart.5:15 Go on, now, and let the day meet you kind.
