Daily Nourishment for August 12, 2024: On Eulogy
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 10 minutes
“Billy’s already gone through the frightening door / whatever he says I’ll do.” — Marie Howe, from “My Dead Friends”
Pause.
Meditate on “Remembering JJ” by Reginald Gammon for a few minutes. (Click on the four arrows in the top right corner to expand the image.)
Prompt.
My father was a minister, and when he officiated funerals, he always said this: “Imagine this person on his best day. Think back to that time when the person was most himself. Most full of life, most loving, most creative, most grace-filled.” My dad, whose hope was fixed on life after death, would say, “This is only a glimpse of what we will find when we meet this person in God’s presence.”
Set a timer for seven minutes and write a scene about a person you’ve lost on their best day.
Practice.
Light a candle and pray for or meditate on a person you love who has died.
Want More?
Read “My Dead Friends” by Marie Howe in full
*
Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
—The August Co-Writing Schedule is live.
—Spiritual Direction for Writers® + Enneagram for Creativity Gathering will take place on Saturday, September 28th. Recordings will be available if you can’t join us live. You can register here.
August 31— Online Revision Stations Designed by Lauren F. Winner
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Catherine Ricketts. This Pause, Prompt, and Practice were originally shared on April 12, 2023.
Catherine Ricketts is an essayist, songwriter, and writing instructor. Her nonfiction on the arts, grief, joy, and spirituality appears in the Kenyon Review Online, the Ploughshares blog, Electric Literature, The Christian Century, Image, The Millions, Paste, and the music blog for the NPR-affiliate WXPN. She studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Her first book is The Mother Artist, a work of literary nonfiction on motherhood and artistic practice. Find her on Instagram at @bycatherinericketts, or stay in touch via her newsletter.
*Please help us protect our intellectual property, our creative process, and the integrity of our work. Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. You are welcome to share this link with others, but any other use (written or spoken) is prohibited without written permission from Charlotte Donlon.