Hurricanes, Fires, and Floods and More — Anytime, All the Time, and Everywhere I Choose To Watch, To Listen in Fear, with Tears, with Rage — OR…
A reflection by Christina Brennan Lee for August 31, 2025.
… Or I can take a breath, a long, slow, deep breath, or turn off the 24/7 loud or silent noise machines that fuel anxiety, anger, and even apathy. It’s all just too too much, BUT if I don’t pay attention I might miss something important, right? Don’t worry ~ it will all repeat and repeat and repeat. Insert another long slow deep breath here and then….
…Find a quiet space to sit, alone ~ the bathroom works if you’re in a busy household, lock the door and just sit quietly. Or go to the library and grab a book, any book, and sit and open it on your lap or a table. Or go to a coffee shop, a book store, a park bench. Or just your regular chair or sofa at home. Set a timer for 5 or 10 or 20 minutes on your phone. Just stop, and begin to imagine a peaceful island of your very own, if only for a few minutes or however long you choose.
Do what?! Truly, we all need to take a breather from the hectic, harrowing, or just plain hyperactive world we live in even IF we can’t leave our home space.
So, here’s a plan to make a place of peace of your own design:
Sit quietly, breathing deeply in and out. After 3 or 4 slow inhales and exhales, begin to imagine your own Island or Room of Peace: Choose the time of day, the season of the year, the ideal weather for you. Write a description; get the fine details such as what kinds of trees, flowers, birds, butterflies you can see outside; see the details of the furnishings inside, what is on the walls and in the room, the lighting, the temperature, the views from the windows ~ ocean, river, snowy mountain peaks, vast garden, whatever speaks to you. It is yours only. There are no costs involved so be extravagant or be spare, be eclectic, it’s your choice!
It is your holy space ~ a place to cry, a place of joy, to take a mind nap, to have an escape in a difficult moment, a place to vent anger or fear or just to not think ~ it’s whatever and wherever your imagination can design. It’s okay to yell at God there. It’s ok to just be with God there without words, or thoughts, or reasons. Most importantly it is a home within you where you can feel the Light of Christ and the Sacred Breath of the Holy Spirit.
Name your island or room or undefined space.
What is a time of day and season of the year that fills your memory with peace and happiness and calm? Mayhe the beach, the mountains, a bedroom closet (I would read in there with a flashlight as a kid!), Nana’s backyard, the park swings, the library, public gardens…
Put the name in your wallet, on a mirror, on the calendar on your phone to remind you once a day or once a week or however often you choose, so that wherever and whenever you see it, you can take a few seconds, a few minutes, an hour ~ as long as you choose ~ to breathe deeply, to rest your heart, to put away the stresses and strains of a day in life and living, and to just be still and know God is with you in all your moods and needs.
When you decide to go to the mind-space you’ve created, open your time by breathing in and out as you say the name of the place/space that you’ve chosen such as My Quiet Cottage or Peace Island or My Special Room, etc. Close your time by breathing in and out a phrase that gives you peace such as “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” or “Grant me your Peace, Lord.”
When you do this a few times, even just the saying the name of your island or other private space aloud or silently, will bring a sensation of calm.
It will help bring you to the moment you need to hold you back from a quick reaction and move you to thoughtful response even when you have no time to spend on it. Even no response is a response. Of course it may not be not the best escape place while driving BUT you can always breathe deeply in and out while you try not to judge or yell quietly at the drivers around you! However, deep breathing and having the name of your space on the dashboard can help. In other times it empties and relieves you, if only briefly, of the enormity of the World at large, near and far. It strengthens and rejuvenates, it brings new energy. It is calming.
If none of the above works for you, read and keep Psalm 91 nearby especially verses 1 to 6, and the Prayer of St. Francis.
Post those names on a mirror, etc., AND it’s okay if no words come, just sit for a minute and breathe and think: Dear Lord on the inhale and Peace on the exhale.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Every week, Christina Brennan Lee writes the Prayers of the People we use in our worship services on Sundays. She also leads weekday prayer services and serves on the SsAM Vestry. Click here to see her People’s Prayers website.
For more than 25 years, Christina Brennan Lee was a consultant/trainer in the areas of Interpersonal Skills, Conflict Management, Communications, Strategic Planning, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, etc. She has been a consultant to and has been employed in Corporate, Non-Profit, Public/Govt, Educational, and Religious organizations around the US including the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. Currently through writing, small group facilitation, and the occasional seminar or retreat, she works in the areas of prayer, spirituality, and adult Christian Education. She has an MA in Religious Studies and Vatican Diploma as Teacher of Religion from St. Charles Borromeo School of Theology, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania; BA, AS, Psychology and Human Resource Management from Widener University, Chester, PA; and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
