Jennifer Grant - Dimming the Day: Evening Meditations for Quiet Wonder

Praise for Dimming the Day

Jennifer Grants Dimming the Day is a gift to an anxious world. From dandelions and redwoods to ginkgos and beehives, Grant uses the natural world as a springboard for spiritual insights. Keep this lovely book on your bedside table for reassurance and inspiration.

Lori Erickson, author of Near the Exit and Holy Rover

In Dimming the Day, Grant invites us to view the world through eyes of wonder. It is as if a kind friend has offered to tuck us in for the night, guiding us into glorious sleep.

Shemaiah Gonzalez, writer

Grant writes beautifully in a way that only someone who lives beautifully can do. This book is a rare antidote to the anxiety of our age.

Jon M. Sweeney, author of Feed the Wolf: Befriending Our Fears in the Way of Saint Francis

Jennifer Grants reflections on creature and place in this bedtime companion intentionally settle the reader. Its an invitation to lay aside lifes hustle and bustle and turn to a time of rest. Dont be surprised, though, if whimsical butterflies, dandelions, hummingbirds, and such enter your dreams.

Traci Rhoades, author of Not All Who Wander (Spiritually) Are Lost: A Story of Church

This gently penned, innovative collection of twenty evening meditations is an invitation to worry less about tomorrow and wonder more about the beauty of this earth and the great God who made it, in whose arms we can safely and securely fall asleep. Dimming the Day is destined to find a place on many a bedside table, including mine.

Glenys Nellist, childrens author of the Love Letters from God, Snuggle Time, and Little Mole series

Into this chaotic and anxious world, Dimming the Day shows up as a soothing balm. Every word of this book has planted seeds for healing in my own weary heart, and I know it will do the same for others.

April Fiet, author of The Sacred Pulse: Holy Rhythms for Overwhelmed Souls

Exploring with obvious affection a marvelous breadth of created beings and creative artists, Grant has produced a piece that will induce both wonder and peace, inspiration, and calm. Dimming the Day is a book I can imagine keeping close at hand, to return to time and again.

Rosalind C. Hughes, author of A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing and Whom Shall I Fear? Urgent Questions for Christians in an Age of Violence

A flood of adrenaline-sparking bad news coming at us through our screens shouts most of us to sleep each night. Jennifer Grant offers us an alternative in this book of wonder-filled reflections and grace-filled practices designed to gentle our souls as each day draws to a close.

Michelle Van Loon, author of Becoming Sage: Cultivating Maturity, Purpose, and Spirituality in Midlife

Author Jennifer Grant has an idea: Could we quiet our anxious thoughts by ending each day with awe and wonder? Weaving together nature, literature, faith, and daily life, Grant has produced a book of meditations and bedtime stories well worth keeping on your nightstand.

Catherine McNiel, author of All Shall Be Well: Awakening to Gods Presence in His Messy, Abundant World

What an amazing, whimsical, informative, calming book! Although its meant for an end-of-day read, its perfect for any time you want to feel part of nature and centered. Ill be buying copies for family and friends.

Dale Hanson Bourke, author of Embracing Your Second Calling

Dimming the Day is an enchanting book by the immensely talented Jennifer Grant, who has the heart and soul of a poet. This is a book to savor, to muse upon, and to smile about as you drift off to sleep, dreaming of misty redwood groves, magical whale songs, and other deep and beautiful mysteries of our universe.

Susy Flory, New York Times bestselling author or coauthor of 16 books, and director of West Coast Christian Writers

In chapter after lovely chapter, Grant leads readers throughout the natural world, pointing out wondrous things and deftly connecting them to spiritual thoughts and practices before guiding us home and to rest. Dimming the Day is the perfect nightly companion for these wearying and perilous times.

Alison Hodgson, author of The Pug List: A Ridiculous Dog, a Family Who Lost Everything, and How They All Found Their Way Home

So many of us crawl into bed at night with our thoughts scrolling as fast as our news feeds. No wonder sleep eludes us. Jennifer Grant invites us to do things differently. A delicious blend of science and spirituality, this collection of reflections gently directs our gaze toward the marvelous complexity of the natural world. Dimming the Day is not only good for individual readers; it is good for our world.

Laura Alary, author of Breathe: A Childs Guide to Ascension, Pentecost, and the Growing Time

This small book goes deep and wide. Grants soulful reflections and calming practices immerse us in the wild and winsome wonders of naturea forest of mangroves, a murmuration of starlings, a solid ginkgo treeto center our spirits before bed in a loving world and a loving God.

Heidi Haverkamp, Episcopal priest and author of Holy Solitude: Lenten Reflections with Saints, Hermits, Prophets, and Rebels

This book was a much-needed soul gift during a very difficult season. As each day dimmed, I found myself looking forward to the bright light of Grants words and the stories in these pages.

Rev. Tracey Bianchi, preaching pastor and adjunct seminary faculty

In Dimming the Day, Jennifer Grant reminds me that to mark time by the sunset rather than my smartphone is to synchronize my spirit with the pulse of awe and wonder that beats at the heart of all creation.

Milton Brasher-Cunningham, author of The Color of Together: Mixed Metaphors of Connectedness

As someone whos struggled my entire life with sleep (and now has children who struggle too), Dimming the Day is what Ive needed in ending the day with reassurance, gratitude, and awareness of Gods presence as close as breath. I experienced Grants beautiful stories and images as a calming, holy hug from the miraculous world itself, finding healing for my anxious heart and hope for my fragile soul. I will never look into the eyes of my child or taste honey or hear a red-winged blackbird the same way again.

Rev. Arianne Braithwaite Lehn, author of Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life

Jennifer Grant

Broadleaf Books

Minneapolis

DIMMING THE DAY

Evening Meditations for Quiet Wonder

Copyright 2021 Jennifer Grant. Printed by Broadleaf Books, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email or write to Permissions, Broadleaf Books, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

Antonio Machado, Last Night, as I Was Sleeping, in Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado. Translation 1983 by Robert Bly. Published by Wesleyan University Press and reprinted with permission.

Material excerpted from The Showings of Julian of Norwich 2013 by Mirabai Starr used with permission from Hampton Roads Publishing c/o Red Wheel Weiser, LLC, Newburyport, MA (www.redwheelweiser.com).

Material excerpted from The Inner Christ 1987 by John Main used with permission from Darton, Longman & Todd publishers, London, UK.