“Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.” Isaiah 55:13 Did you know that cypress trees are mentioned at least 26 times in the Bible? Did you know that Eastern North Carolina is home to the eastern bald cypress, the fifth oldest species in the world? The article continues “…in the spring of 2019, Dr. Stahle announced that he had identified one cypress to at least 605 B.C.E., the time of the Babylonian empire, making bald cypress the fifth oldest tree species in the world.” Did you know these tree rings, “verified that two of the most severe historic droughts in the mid-Atlantic region had coincided with the Lost Colony and Jamestown settlements.” I don’t know about you, but I know what I am going to be firing up the Google machine for today.
As a reminder, Lunch Box Quotes are notes I include in the kids’ lunches every day. Number 1 gets a text, but 2-4 get a handwritten napkin. And we are in 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. I am intermittent fasting with 1 meal per day, no alcohol, and no social media/news after 6 p.m.
Visual credits to: Featured image – Mae McPherson @fraveris Quotes: @SalinaBBaker @Pergament_F @arealmofwonder
Quotes:
1. “He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted.” – C.S. Lewis
2. “Just hold up your heads, boys; three fires and you are free. Then, when you return to your homes, how the old folks will bless you and the girls will kiss you for your gallant conduct.” – Daniel Morgan
3. “My solitude is not a desert. It is a library without visitors. In it, I read my life silently, I turn pages that no one else will open…” – Sophia Proneikos
4. “Perhaps somewhere, someplace deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
Bonus Quote: “Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.” – Haruki Murakami
21 Days of Prayer and Fasting – Day 11
Isaiah 55
Note: (These notes are a combination of the notes from my Bible, the study guide, and my thoughts. Mostly, though, they are the work of others, just rearranged.) Food costs money and lasts only a short time, but God offers free nourishment that feeds the soul. IMO it also feeds the body and can make the food that we eat last longer. God does not move away from us. We move away from God and build our own barriers. We should strive and shape ourselves to fit into his plans, not bend his plans to what we want. Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. And the rabbit hole on cypress trees has begun! God is always good and his love endures forever. (Cypress trees are some of the longest-lived trees in the world!)
Fasting: I was starving yesterday, but on a positive note, I have felt really good not drinking at all! It’s not that I drank that much, but the prolonged clarity has been nice.
Prayer: Dear Lord, settle my mind for it goes in all directions. Focus it on you, the everlasting bread of life. Let me not build barriers that separate my thoughts and actions from You. Give me a curious spirit that seeks You relentlessly. Shape me and my plans to do Your will. In Your name I pray.
-Amen
Sources:
“He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted.”
—C.S. Lewis, “On Three Ways of Writing for Children” pic.twitter.com/tCCipYHQSG
— NarniaWeb (@NarniaWeb) January 11, 2026
“Just hold up your heads, boys; three fires and you are free. Then, when you return to your homes, how the old folks will bless you and the girls will kiss you for your gallant conduct.” ~ Daniel Morgan https://t.co/KAtM8IKevc
— Salina B Baker (@SalinaBBaker) January 14, 2026
“My solitude is not a desert. It is a library without visitors.
In it, I read my life silently, I turn pages that no one else will open.
When I sit in the yard, or in the kitchen, when I walk alone along the shore and the wind calls me by name, I am not sad.
I am at peace.
Inside… pic.twitter.com/CCaxbdHMUU— Sophia Proneikos (@Pergament_F) January 12, 2026
“Perhaps somewhere, someplace deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke pic.twitter.com/a3rGX6ZJ0M— Cian McCarthy (@arealmofwonder) January 14, 2026
“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.”
— Haruki Murakami
Mae McPherson pic.twitter.com/tfOWbJaLP9
— Francisco Ribeiro (@fraveris) January 12, 2026