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Now I am under the sky. The birds are silent now. But the frogs have begun singing their pleasure in all the waters and in the warm, green places where the sunshine is wonderful. Praise Christ, all you living creatures. For Him you and I were created. With every breath we love Him. My psalms fulfill your dim, unconscious song, O brothers in this wood…

In its fullness, prayer is an encounter with God that transforms the way we see and interact with the world. As so many saints have suggested, it is like a bright light that reveals what we otherwise do not see.

If anyone needed proof that sin has screwed up our world on a massive scale, all we need to do is ask them look at the horrific and cruel injustices perpetuated upon nonhuman animals. But as Christians we know that Jesus has redeemed human beings and all of creation. This redemption has already happened, but it has not been fully implemented. More work remains. In giving human beings dominion over creation, God has charged each of us with protecting its many creatures—both human and nonhuman. How will we respond?  

It is Christ in us who drives us through darkness to a light of which we have no conception and which can only be found by passing through apparent despair. Everything has to be tested. All relationships have to be tried. All loyalties have to pass through fire. Much has to be lost. Much in us has to be killed, even much that is best in us. But victory is certain. The Resurrection is the only light and with that light there is no error.

In prayer we discover what we already have. You start where you are and you deepen what you already have, and you realize that you are already there. We already have everything, but we don’t know it and we don’t experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already possess.

— from The Art of Thomas Merton: A Divine Passion in Word and Vision

Were it not for grandparents soothing and solving a child’s troubles, I suspect counselors would have more business. Grandparents have experience. They have life wisdom. Perhaps above all, they aren’t Mom or Dad. Most grandparents don’t have to do the everyday disciplining of a parent. They don’t have nearly the disciplinary friction with a child, especially a teen. Thus, they may be seen as safer, more understanding. Interesting, isn’t it? As we get older, the kids think we think more like them. And that only fortifies the bonds between us.