|
Celebrating Our 175th Anniversary
|
Hello! I hope you enjoy the selections on this page. I hope they inspire you and enrich your week. I welcome any comments or questions regarding these selections. Email me (phyllis) at leighbjh@aol.com . If you would like to share this page with a friend, copy and paste the url address (http://deepriverchurch.org/DailyMeditations.dsp) in an email and they will be able to click on it and get to the page.
Insight
"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time."
-Anna Freud
Our topic this week is insight. The word itself, "in-sight," explains its meaning. It is looking within, and seeing what is there. Our strength, confidence, wisdom, creativity, beauty, power - all of it - comes from within. We carry it with us. When we are aware of its presence we can more easily bring it forward.
-Lissa Coffey
 |
'All God seeks from you, His child, is the devotion of your heart; He wants your heart for God, your heart for all that is good. For God is love, and he that loveth knoweth God and doeth what God wills; to him all things are possible. Have patience and keep on working for God.' THE QUIET MIND . . . .is WISE IN SPEECH AND ACTION POWER OF THOUGHT A disciple of God must gain a measure of control over his thoughts. We suggest that you start by taking yourselves in hand and asserting your mastership over the details of everyday life. Don't let your body do exactly what it wants, or your brain either. Assert your power of commmand over body and mind. This discipline will grow to be a habit. white eagle
Embraced by God's Love Readings by Henri H. M. Nouwen
As long as we live on this earth, our lives as Christians must be marked by compassion. We can only live the compassionate life to the fullest when we know that it points beyond itself. We know that He who emptied and humbled himself has been raised high and has left us to prepare a place for us where suffering will be overcome.
Weekly Prayer Nothing is too good for thee to give.
Infinite is thy might; boundless thy love,
limitless thy grace, glorious thy saving name.
Let angels sing for sinners repenting, prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed, Satan's captives released,
blind eyes opened, broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered, the self-righteous stripped,
the formalist driven from a refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened,
and saints built up in their holy faith.
I ask great things of a great God.
Prayers are drawn from many faith traditions.
A Blessing May we allow ourselves the time to consider what we have yet to offer to the world.
Thoughts | "As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."
~Henry David Thoreau
| Affirmation | I choose to think and act from Love. | Meditation | Dear God,
May the Holy Spirit inspire and direct my thoughts.
I know that thoughts are creative--having the power to harm and to heal.
Help me be conscious of the things I think about; repeated thoughts become attitudes so I choose to think from love.
May my thoughts be from my heart as well as my mind.
Fill me with Your thoughts, that mine might be a blessing on all people.
Thank You!
Amen
|
From the Twelve Step Tradition The 12 Step way of life is accepting, not necessarily passive.
--Anonymous When we accept life on life's terms, we are acknowledging reality. We have all, on occasion, run from the truth. When we were in a situation that frightened us, we would turn tail and run. We would do our imitation of an ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, pretending the situation didn't exist and was not happening. When we accept something, we are not passively taking it in. We are ready to work through and toward our new awareness. But we can't do anything at all unless we accept it as a reality. We know what it's like to run from our disease. We tried to prove it was anything and everything but addiction. We tried to prove it was caused by something wrong in our lives, our jobs, our family, our childhood, our relationships, even the weather. After we ran out of excuses, we finally accepted our disease. My acceptance of my addiction is not passive, but based in reality and truth. You are reading from the book: 
Easy Does It by Anonymous Easy Does It. Copyright 1999 by Hazelden Foundation.
The Gift of Listening
| | Want a great present? How about having someone really listen to what you feel you need to say — without interrupting, without judging, without concluding, without even offering advice. |
Listening as a method of taking in information is used far more often than reading and writing combined. It is the channel used most often for learning."
—Madelyn Burley-Allen ~~~~~~~~~ Attaining silence may just be the reason for ... prayers.
The classical Reformers must have figured this out long ago when they made the "silent meditation" the culmination of the liturgy. And for most of us, it was. After you did all your prayer work, there was silence. It lasted for several minutes. It taught effectively that the purpose of prayer was stillness, patience, passivity, listening. The meditation ended with the choir singing a stylized version of Psalm 19:15, "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable, in Thy sight O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen."
A reasonable, short-term goal for all of us might be to create a five-minute morning ritual which could be performed at home each day — perhaps nothing more than holding a prayerbook, or putting on a tallit or tefillin, closing one's eyes, reciting a favorite line from the liturgy, shutting off the engine, and waiting in meditative silence.
George Elliott said: "If we had a keen vision and feeling for all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow, the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence." —Lawrence Kushner
~~~~~ | | Creation starts with thought, desire and imagination ... the same as desiring a new house, job, etc. Thoughts, desires and imagination create an energetic blueprint for what we want; then taking action steps towards our goal helps to create the building blocks for intentions to manifest."
—Global Coherence Initiative |
|
|
Here are some thoughts about peace:
Introductory Coherence Technique
- Breathe and calm yourself in whatever ways you choose.
- Choose something you appreciate — a person, pet, nature, etc. — and radiate the feeling of appreciation to them for about 2 minutes. This helps open the heart more and increases your effectiveness when you start sending care to the planet or to a situation in need.
- Now evoke the genuine feelings of compassion and care for the planet.
- Breathe the feelings of compassion and care going out from your heart. To help with focus, some people imagine the compassion and care flowing out the way an ocean wave flows toward a beach. Some imagine their compassion radiating as a beam of light. Others simply radiate it out with the rhythm of their breath. There are no hard and fast rules on how you do this. People are different, so find what suits you.
- Radiate the genuine feelings of compassion and care to the planet or to a specific area of immediate need.
- See yourself, along with other caretakers, participating in this process of healing and facilitating peace.
| |
|
Prayer for Autumn Days God of the seasons, there is a time for everything; there is a time for dying and a time for rising. We need courage to enter into the transformation process.
God of autumn, the trees are saying goodbye to their green, letting go of what has been. We, too, have our moments of surrender, with all their insecurity and risk. Help us to let go when we need to do so.
God of fallen leaves lying in colored patterns on the ground, our lives have their own patterns. As we see the patterns of our own growth, may we learn from them.
God of misty days and harvest moon nights, there is always the dimension of mystery and wonder in our lives. We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. May we gain strength from this.
God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.
God of geese going south for another season, your wisdom enables us to know what needs to be left behind and what needs to be carried into the future. We yearn for insight and vision.
God of flowers touched with frost and windows wearing white designs, may your love keep our hearts from growing cold in the empty seasons.
God of life, you believe in us, you enrich us, you entrust us with the freedom to choose life. For all this, we are grateful. - Author Unknown
We Are Family
Humanity When it comes to our families, we sometimes see only our differences. We see the way our parents cling to ideas we don’t believe, or act in ways we try not to act. We see how practical one of our siblings is and wonder how we can be from the same gene pool. Similarly, within the human family we see how different we are from each other, in ways ranging from gender and race to geographical location and religious beliefs. It is almost as if we think we are a different species sometimes. But the truth is, in our personal families as well as the human family, we really are the same.
A single mother of four living in Africa looks up at the same stars and moon that shine down on an elderly Frenchman in Paris. A Tibetan monk living in India, a newborn infant in China, and a young couple saying their marriage vows in Indiana all breathe the same air, by the same process. We have all been hurt and we have all cried. Each one of us knows how it feels to love someone dearly. No matter what our political views are, we all love to laugh. Regardless of how much or how little money we have, our hearts pump blood through our bodies in the same way. With all this in common, it is clear we are each individual members of the same family. We are human.
Acknowledging how close we all are, instead of clinging to what separates us, enables us to feel less alone in the world. Every person we meet, see, hear, or read about, is a member of our family. We are truly not alone. We also begin to see that we are perfectly capable of understanding and relating to people who, on the surface, may seem very different from us. This awareness prevents us from disconnecting from people on the other side of the tracks, and the other side of the world. We begin to understand that we must treat all people for what they are—family.
Open Our Minds and Hearts I pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma; that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world; that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life...
I pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving; that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life; that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts; that we may learn to join in our being. - Jane Goodall
Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.
—Roald Dahl
Grace I move gracefully through life as the Christ presence guides me. The familiar phrase "Nobody's perfect!" may help me accept a human failing or setback and keep it in perspective. But in Truth, through grace, the correct phrase is actually "Everybody's perfect!" There is a part of each and every creation that is perfect--the Christ presence within. This divine aspect of my being is ever- present. Before any activity or decision, and especially if I don't feel up to the task at hand, I turn within and call upon my inner strength and divine perfection. The power and presence of the Christ within is always available to help me gracefully move through life. While it may seem at times that "nobody's perfect," all is perfect through the grace of God. "Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift."--Ephesians 4:7
Earth Our Mother Earth our mother, breathe forth life
all night sleeping
now awakening
in the east
now see the dawn.
Earth our mother, breathe and waken
leaves are stirring
all things moving
new day coming
life renewing. Source: Circle of Grace
We should not seek revenge on those who have committed crimes against us, or reply to their crimes with other crimes. We should reflect that by the law of karma, they are in danger of lowly and miserable lives to come, and that our duty to them, as to every being, is to help them to rise towards Nirvana, rather than let them sink to lower levels of rebirth. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama
When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but he raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord. - Psalm 107:39-43 | Voice
Peace is inextricably linked with equality between women and men.
- U.N. Security Council, |
 |
DESERTERS You must believe utterly. My Love can bear nothing less. I am so often "wounded in the house of My friends." Do you think the spitting and scorn of My enemies, the mocking and reviling hurt me? No! "They all forsook Him and fled." "I know not the man." These left their scars. So now, it is not the unbelief of My enemies that hurts, but that My friends, who love and know Me, cannot walk all the way with Me, and doubt My Power to do all that I have said. Excerpts taken from God Calling, AJ Russell
|
|
|
