Cultivating Friendship

By Dan Wilt

I was speaking with friend last night on the importance of having good friends, who give as well as receive from our lives. Having spent much time with artists and creative people, I’ve noted that we can get lost in the “universe within” unless there are regular interactions with friends who pull us out of our microcosm into a wider world.

I’m going to let Teresa of Avila, one of the Church mystics, bring a word to us today on the cultivating of lasting, enriching friendships:

“I know from this the great advantage that there is of having good companions. I am certain that if at that tender age I had been thrown among good people, I should have persevered in virtue. For if at that time I had found anyone to teach me the fear of the Lord, my soul would have grown strong enough not to fall away.”

Teresa of Avila, A Life of Prayer, Classics of Faith and Devotion, Bethany House Publishers, Ed. By Dr. James M. Houston, p. 2

AVAILABLE WHEREVER YOU BUY BOOKS

Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms

Sheltering Mercy, along with its companion volume, Endless Grace, helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms—through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns—as a guide to personal devotion and meditation.

The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. Each prayer is a response to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.

This artful, poetic, and classic devotional book features compelling custom illustrations and foil-stamped hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms.