The word manifests as the deed.
The deed develops into a habit.
And the habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care.
And let it
spring from LOVE.
May we be blessed today as our thoughts spring from LOVE.
Heartfelt Dolls |
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The thought manifests as the word.
The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into a habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from LOVE. May we be blessed today as our thoughts spring from LOVE.
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Who can you be today?
companion friend pest blogger cohort helper irritation pal buddy pain-in-the-neck acquaintance chum nuisance mate fellow-traveller supporter Who have you no choice but to be today? spouse parent other-half grandparent wife guardian carer partner uncle brother husband significant-other sister aunt cousin Who will you be expected to be today? co-worker assistant collaborator accomplice colleague slave associate boss worker doormat contributor giver umpire Who have you chosen to be today? groupie subscriber ally convert lover addict follower comrade enthusiast devotee adherent fan believer member admirer disciple Who will you be to succeed today? contestant victor dark horse competitor defender participant champion player rival challenger contender frontrunner Who will you be to be heard today? persuader questioner arguer disputer fighter listener encourager Who do you not want to be today? attacker invader assailant provoker antagonist mugger enemy foe opponent adversary conqueror breaker Who would you like to be today? healer cultivator bridge-builder restorer nurturer helper peace-maker mediator negotiator comforter by Piers lane May who-ever you are today bless who-ever you meet today. Being on the cusp can be exciting,
or unsettling, or plain frightening. Approaching transitions from one stage of life to another. Experiencing changing perceptions of the divine. Here, we are on the cusp of change from winter into spring. William Blake wrote, "In seed time, learn, in harvest, teach, in winter, enjoy." May we all be richly blessed as we move from one season into the next. WAGE PEACE by Judith Hill
Wage peace with your breath. Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of redwing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields. Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees. Breathe in the fallen and breathe in life-long friendships intact. Wage peace with your listening hearing sirens, praying loud. Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers. Make soup, play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages. learn to knit and make a hat. Think of chaos as dancing raspberries, imagine grief as the out breath of beauty or the gesture of fish. Swim for the other side. Wage peace. Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious. Have a cup of tea and rejoice. Act as if armistice has already arrived. Don't wait another minute. It's your move. It's my move. Let each of us bless our world as we 'wage peace' today. While staying in Paris, Rainer maria Rilke, the poet, passed daily an old beggar woman. She sat silently and apparently indifferently, along a garden fence.
If someone put a coin into her hand, she quickly let it disappear into her coat pocket. She never looked up to the giver. Submitting to her fate, she squatted at the wall - a vivid picture of misery. One day, Rilke and his friend stopped before the beggar woman. Into the hands of the old woman he put - a rose. Then something happened which never had happened before: the beggar woman looked up, clasped the hands of the poet and kissed them. Then she went away with the rose. The next day the woman was not at her usual place. It was like that the second and third day - for a whole week. Puzzled, the friend asked the poet about the alarming reaction the gift had caused. Rilke said, " One has to give to her heart, not her hand." His friend could not help asking another question: What did the beggar woman live from all these days since nobody had put money into her hand? Rilke answered, "She lived from the rose." May we be blessed as we give to the heart as well as to the hand. LOVE,
I give myself to you, my body, my soul, my spirit, do to me, as you will. I am not mine, I am not yours. Use my hands to do your work Use my feet to travel the earth Use my tongue to speak of you Use my heart to reveal you, LOVE. May you be richly blessed as you reveal LOVE. I read an article about young New Zealanders living and working in a very poor community in Kenya. One of the things that struck them was the generosity of people who have little or no material possessions, education and healthcare. These 'poorest of the poor' emanated a wonderful generosity of spirit, a profound gratitude for life. Everywhere, the young people heard, "Karibu sana."
May our eyes and our hearts recognise all that is done for us today and let us receive it aloud with gratitude. Our world is full of babble.
Words bombard us from every which way. Billboards. Muzak. Spam. Junk mail. Gossip. Often unwanted, unwarranted, unnecessary. But words are also a gift. When we use words to affirm or encourage or build up, we affirm not only the recipient but all those they henceforth encounter. We also strengthen our own selves as people who embody LOVE. May we bless those we encounter today with words that encourage and affirm. There are many tools we use to guide us.
Maps ... or a holy book ... or a political manifesto ... or a treaty ... or a charter. Whether it be through a desire for conservation, a hope for peace, a desire for truth, a search for justice, or a heart for compassion, they all lead us to our heart's desire, an encounter with LOVE. May your journey today lead you to a spot where you encounter LOVE. "Everything is integral and interacts with everything else.
This means that nothing is itself without everything else. There is a commonality, an integrity, an intimacy of the universe with itself." Thomas Berry quoted in Listening to the Land by Derrick Jensen May we honour and bless all that we connect with today. |