Home » Things I've Learned » Read the Psalms and Write

Read the Psalms and Write

75. Read the Psalms and Write

I did a workshop once with Kathleen Norris, and have subsequently read a number of her books—Dakota: A Spiritual Geography; The Cloister Walk—and others, and in these books and in person she talked about taking retreats in a Benedictine abbey and finding there the practice of singing the psalms.

She inspired me to read through the psalms—one at a time—day after day, not three times a day as they did in the abbey, but at least one a day (or in the case of Psalm 119 reading over several days).

And finally a couple of years ago I decided to write a shadorma for each psalm. A shadorma is a Spanish poetry form of six lines—the first line has three syllables; the second line has five syllables; the third line has three syllables; the fourth line has three syllables; the fifth line has seven syllables; and the sixth line has five syllables. Some of the long psalms I would divide up and write a few shadormas for them. For instance Psalm 119 is divided into six parts and consequently has six shadormas.

What I discovered is that it helped me focus on that particular psalm and see what spoke to me that day from that reading. I think it’s possible (I haven’t done it) but it’s possible that if I wrote a shadorma on Psalm 53 four different times during the year that I would end up with four different shadormas—because my focus might be different. Now I have a complete set of shadormas to read with the psalm each day of the year.

Here’s my shadorma for Psalm 4:

answer me

and hear my prayer

you have filled

up my heart

and made me sleep in safety

God hears when I call

Leave a Reply

Daybook of Personal Faith

daybook of personal faith

Daybook of my personal Faith is written for everyday of the year, with chants, songs, mandalas to color, poems, stories, prayers, and reflections.

Mama and Me

Mama and Me

Mama and Me---Our last three years together and beyond is a book about a relationship, built over 50 years and culminating in Mama’s death.

Graces To Sing

Graces To Sing

Graces To Sing to Tunes You Know is filled with familiar tunes with new words to celebrate times with family and friends, good food and thanks.

Trilogy of Cancer

Trilogy of Cancer

Ann's story of her cancer journey...filled with stories, poems, songs. You will laugh, cry....

Shadorma’s

Shadorma’s

This is a book that puts each of the 150 psalms in the psalter into a shadorma poetry form. Some of the longer psalms have several shadormas.

Women Songs | Peace Songs

Women Songs | Peace Songs

Woman Songs|Peace Songs is a collection of inspirational and powerful music still speaking to our times. Originally recorded in 1980.

Wisdom of Children

Wisdom of Children

Wisdom of Children is a collection of stories of the Grandchildren in Ann's life, their wisdom and her reflections for God.

Do You Love Me

Do You Love Me

Do You Love Me is a wonderful children's book. A conversation between a Grandmother and Grandson.

© 2010-2024 Ann Freeman Price All Rights Reserved -- Copyright notice by Blog Copyright