Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 33, Give Up, Take On, Pray

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,

                          it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.                         

~ Albert Einstein* [1879-1955]

Don't Judge a Fish by its Scales
    I cannot count the times I have felt diminished by being told I wasn't capable of x or that I couldn't possibly achieve y for a variety of reasons such as being too young, too old, too stupid, and once because I have red hair. I've also been elated by the encouragement of or compliment by some I respect and admire, and even by strangers. How easy it can be to shake or make self-confidence, to thwart or inspire development. How fragile we, who-pretend-even-to-ourselves-we-are-not, often are. Let’s get over it!
       

Lord of all Created Life,  

   For today and all days ahead, I will strive ever harder to give up  judging others, even if it is only in my head and not coming out of my mouth, as I remember the insensitive and hurtful things as have been done or said unto me (even if some of those say-ers were unaware or all was unintended). I will take on and improve upon a role of encourager and listener, and, even if I’m pretty sure that fish cannot climb that tree, let me remember we can all be surprised at the outcomes when one is just that determined! I pray for the serenity to let go of all the stuff that’s been dumped on me, forgive the intended and unintended slights, that I may be forgiven for my slights and insensitive acts toward others, and just get on with climbing my own trees to their highest heights. amen. 

*Albert Einstein, German-born, is an icon of theoretical physics, a Nobel Prize winner, with such an enormous catalog of many intellectual and scientific achievements to his credit that his name has become the synonym for genius. He was visiting in the US in 1933 when Hitler came to power and he never returned to Germany. He became a US citizen in 1940 and warned President Roosevelt of the possible weapon development in Germany that would become the Manhattan Project in the US leading to the atomic bomb. Einstein later denounced the use of nuclear fission for weapons but had been worried that Germany would develop it first. His career in the US was with the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University in New Jersey which lasted until his death in 1955.

 

 

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