Today’s Reflection

When we slow down and open the eyes of our hearts, we can better see the God-spark shining within, between, and beyond us all—in you, in me, and in everyone we meet.

—Sharon Seyfarth Garner, Praying with Jonah: Practices for Imperfect Pilgrims (Upper Room Books, 2026)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

Where do you see God working in and among the saints and the everyday people in your life? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

With the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints.
—Ephesians 1:18 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

God, your call on my life is not something I can simply run away from. Show me your will, and give me the courage to follow through. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
• Psalm 45:10-17 or Song of Solomon 2:8-13
• Romans 7:15-25a
• Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

You are returning to a noisy world, a world of horn blowing and door slamming, of TV and radio, of cell phones and incessant conversation. It’s the world you left a few days ago. Reenter it cautiously.

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

Even Jesus, in his time, could not escape the noise and crowds. How do you imagine Jesus prepared himself to return to the chaos of the world after he returned from prayer? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
—Mark 6:56 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

I glanced at the jar of muddy water; it had begun to clear up. The sediment had settled, and the water was becoming transparent. . . . Father Girard had illustrated what silence could do with the murkiness of our lives.

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

How has God cleared your vision after you spent time in holy silence? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

[Jesus] spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
—John 9:6–7 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

The Rule of Saint Benedict instructs the community to live a balanced life of work, prayer, and rest. While individual growth in holiness is important, the community’s growth in holiness is paramount.

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

Are you growing in the community you have been planted in? Is the community you have been planted in growing? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts.
—Acts 2:46 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

While recognizing all the benefits of creating a plan, remember this caveat: in spite of your forethinking and clear outlining, God may take you in a very different way! The paradoxical phrase “wasting time with God” hints at [this].

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

Many times in the Bible, people learned to trust in God’s good guidance, instead of their own judgment. What direction is God leading you in today? Do you have any idea what the outcome might be? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night.
—Exodus 13:21 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

Before you leave for a retreat, think about your time away and get your mind around it. . . . Prepare your mind and heart for this special time consecrated to God. Preparation has three aspects: physical, relational, and spiritual.

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

The next time you spend extended time with God, what do you do to prepare physically (What will you bring with you?), relationally (How will you prepare others for your absence?), and spiritually (What will you plan to discuss with God)? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

The LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
—Exodus 19:10–11 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

Having time to deal with yourself is more important than most any other activity you could be engaged in. Yes, more important than work. More important than family. More important than finishing up a list of tasks.

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

What do you love more than spending time with God? What is your plan to set it aside for a little while to prioritize time with God? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”
—Matthew 10:35 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

Retreat is not a permanent withdrawal from conflicts and the struggles of life; it is not playing the coward with your problems. Retreat is a temporary withdrawal to be renewed, to regroup, and find the strength that you need to go forward.

—Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat (Upper Room Books, 2010)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

Where do you retreat to in an effort to spend extended time with God? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds were gathering to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. Meanwhile, he would slip away to deserted places and pray.
—Luke 5:15–16 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

O God, I long to spend time with you. If not every hour, I lay aside this moment to draw near to you. Let me retreat into your arms if only for these few minutes. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

No Cristain escapes the taste of wilderness on the way to the Promised Land; the wilderness confronts this generation in a very harsh and concrete form. . . . [This] helps us, in a disagreeable way, to realize our entire dependence on God.

—Evelyn Underhill, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of Evelyn Underhill (Upper Room Books, 2017)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

What is the “wilderness” of this generation? Do you see God making a way out of it? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

—Isaiah 43:19 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
—A Liturgy for Morning Prayer, The Upper Room Worshipbook
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 21:8-21
• Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
• Romans 6:1b-11
• Matthew 10:24-39

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.

Today’s Reflection

God made us to use us, and use us in the most profitable way: for God’s purpose, not ours. To live a spiritual life means subordinating all other interests to that single fact.

—Evelyn Underhill, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of Evelyn Underhill (Upper Room Books, 2017)

Save 15% on this week’s featured book when you use promo code NEM0626 at Store.UpperRoom.org.*

Today’s Question

What is God’s purpose for you in this season of life? How can you prioritize this purpose above your other responsibilities? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
—John 14:12 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
—A Liturgy for Morning Prayer, The Upper Room Worshipbook
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Lectionary Readings

• Genesis 21:8-21
• Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
• Romans 6:1b-11
• Matthew 10:24-39

Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

*Offer valid through July 15, 2026.