Summer Solace

Dearest Friends and Allies,

Thank you, once again, for the many ways you’ve been upholding this beautiful mission—all the prayers, local events, and your generous financial support! Together, we are expanding this mission around the world, and Jesus is doing breathtaking things.

It is summertime here in the Northern Hemisphere—Stasi’s and my favorite time of year.
I mean, come on—this is the season when everything is bursting with LIFE!
The flowers, songbirds, rivers, forests—everything, everywhere—is green, lush, and filled with God’s breath.

Just sitting on our porch in the lingering summer evenings—warm breezes caressing our faces, the scent of flowers in the air, aspen leaves rustling—it is essential communion and care.

When you step out the door in winter (or onto any city street), the body braces against the cold or clamor.
Step outside on a summer evening in a quiet moment, and the body relaxes into the warmth and all the living goodness. It is a time of solace.

And that solace is what I’d like to draw your attention to.

When your eyes fall upon a forest in full greenery—thousands of trees in jubilant growth—there comes to the soul an assurance of abundance.
Waking in the early morning to the sound of songbirds obviously happy and rejoicing in the new day, the soul receives hope.
Beauty comforts. It assures and heals.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things”

Oh, friends—we need this solace in a moment like ours.

I don’t take in a lot of news; I limit myself to five or ten minutes a day. But even the slightest awareness of all that is happening in the world distresses the soul—“fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be.”

There is so much heartache, so much alarm and uncertainty. The soul was never meant for this. The soul was created for Eden—the solace and care Berry describes finding down by a pool in the dark, “where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water.”
The same solace Stasi and I feel on these lovely summer evenings.

Solace.

Where are you turning for solace, dear friends?

You cannot live without it.

The world right now keeps everyone in a constant state of agitation, stimulation, irritation, and uncertainty.
So we go looking for solace—as well we should.
The issue is where we go looking.

Binging reels, cookies, political commentary, chocolate, Starbucks, alcohol, and such—this won’t do it.
You know the difference between relief and restoration.
Most of the things that bring us a moment’s relief do not restore the soul. They don’t actually bring solace—not in the way God does.

This includes distraction, by the way—most people’s go-to, and the main reason you see everyone on their phone all the time.
They are looking for solace through distraction.
It doesn’t work. The soul is neither nourished nor cared for.

And so I’m trying to be intentional this summer about giving my soul daily solace in the ways Holy Spirit is guiding me.

Just the other night, I was on YouTube late in the evening, trying to get updates on what is happening in the Middle East.
Holy Spirit gently nudged me (you’ve got to pay attention to the gentle nudges; he doesn’t often shout), Get offline, John. This isn’t going to solve anything. You think security lies in knowing, but it doesn’t. Go outside, sit on the porch. Do the things you know to do before you go to bed.

I listened—and I was rescued.

Again, let me ask:
Where are you looking for solace these days?
Are you even looking for solace?
Would you be willing to ask God what solace he has for you?

I received the most beautiful letter last month from a woman who has seen a lot of heartache in her life.
She wanted to tell me about the restoration she is experiencing—for the first time in her life—through regular healing encounters with Jesus, assisted by the Experience Jesus program in the Pause App.

I wept as I read her story.
This is what Jesus wants for every human soul.

So thank you again for helping us bring this solace and care to millions.
Thank you!

Download the Wild at Heart June 2025 newsletter here.