June Cotner > Quotes

“Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“I PRAY TODAY I pray today for
Those who are homeless to find shelter.
Those who are depressed to discover joy.
Those who are addicted to find release.
Those who are lonely to find a friend.
Those who are confused or lost to find a path.
Those who are heartbroken
to know that it will pass.
Those who are sick to find healing.
Those who live in darkness to be covered in light.
Those who are dying
to know that they have lived.
I pray today for peace where there is unrest,
for love to prevail over all. —corrine de winter”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“What I learned is that of all the creatures that I can see in this landscape, the geese best represent the communion of saints. They depend on one another. The lead goose does the most work, but when it is tired, it falls back and another takes its place. To be able to rely on others is a deep trust that does not come easily. The geese fly in the wake of one another’s wings. They literally get a lift from one another. I want to be with others this way. Geese tell me that it is, indeed, possible to fly with equals. GUNILLA NORRIS”
― June Cotner, Animal Blessings: Prayers and Poems Celebrating our Pets

“LISTEN Listening
to your heart,
finding out who you are,
is not simple.
It takes time for
the chatter to quiet down.
In the silence of “not doing”
we begin to know
what we feel.
If we listen and hear
what is being offered,
then anything in life
can be our guide.
Listen. —author unknown”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“Magical things happen every day, if we allow it. Think of daylight, of the stars at night, a flower. A dandelion is a miracle. PAMELA TRAVERS (1899–1996)”
― June Cotner, Gratitude Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose for Everyday Thankfulness

“RENEWAL Imagine not that life is all doing.
Stillness, too, is life;
and in that stillness
the mind cluttered with busyness quiets,
the heart reaching to win rests,
and we hear the whispered truths of God. —rabbi rami m. shapiro”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“Our voices turn so easily into
too much noise.
The gift I give myself
is a day of silence so that I might
retrieve what has been lost in the clamor—
of cars, the frenzy, the gossip—
what we mistake for connection.”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“In silence, I notice
a branch bending in the wind,
as if to lean closer, to whisper in my ear
its timeless secrets.”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“I must do these things lest I forget
    how precious life can be.
I must walk again the wooded path
    of quaint simplicity. —clay harrison”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“We ask Your help in remembering to practice
    an attitude of gratitude today and every day. —suzanne c. cole”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“THIS BODY Happy, I listen to the tinny sounds of the great music I still hear.   Dazzling clear pure upper tones have disappeared but I am alive,   silvery and achy—like Beethoven I listen with my imagination not my senses   to the cascading notes that play on the cosmos, I listen with my heart   and dance to the bliss I would never have known without this human body. JANINE CANAN”
― June Cotner, Gratitude Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose for Everyday Thankfulness

“THE GIFT I GIVE MYSELF Our voices turn so easily into
too much noise.
The gift I give myself
is a day of silence so that I might
retrieve what has been lost in the clamor—
of cars, the frenzy, the gossip—
what we mistake for connection.
In silence, I watch the leaves,
each crimson and tangerine hue
more brilliant than the next on its slow descent—
as if a message is there for the reading.
In silence, I hear the wind
crackling its own stormy song.
In silence, I notice
a branch bending in the wind,
as if to lean closer, to whisper in my ear
its timeless secrets. —jane butkin wagner”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“EARTH AND SPIRIT Every step that we take upon you
should be done in a sacred manner;
each step should be
as a prayer. —BLACK ELK”
― June Cotner, Earth Blessings: Prayers, Poems and Meditations

“Art is the imagination      completing its mission      here on earth.                   —PAULA TIMPSON”
― June Cotner, Toasts: The Perfect Words to Celebrate Every Occasion

“We have so much to be thankful for when we remember our reasons for gratitude—the blessings we may take for granted, the blessings we would miss bitterly if they vanished.”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“WELCOMING ANGELS In the arduous simplicity of this moment
I open my heart, mind, and soul to stillness.
In the deeper quiet
I sense the greater Life that is my life.
I do not live only; I am lived.
I do not breathe only; I am breathed.
I am not only the one I appear to be
but also the One who appears as me. —rabbi rami m. shapiro”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“the way life will when
we learn what to hold,
what to let go”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can
and wisdom to know the difference.”
― June Cotner, Serenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul