Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 20, Give Up, Take On, Pray

     One of the most significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly allowing our mind to run off into the future...Carried away by our worries, we’re unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we can’t really be happy just yet—that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life.   

~  Thích Nhất Hạnh* 1926-2022

   It’s one thing to hope for and plan for the future. It’s another thing to live in it before it arrives and, in so doing, miss all the opportunities of today to smile, appreciate, enjoy. Even in the darkest of times, light will shine through the clouds. How many times have you played the game of: once the car is paid off….once the kids are through school ….once the new roof is on….once the dentist bills are paid….once the house is fixed up, paid off, sold….once we retire….THEN we'll be able to……

Take the moments you have in the NOW and the THEN will take care of itself.

Dear God of Maybe Someday ~
           This business of "live for today and tomorrow will take care of itself" is all well and fine but I have bills to pay, income to worry about, repairs that can't wait for the house and the car and even my teeth and, and, and.... [insert long, s l o w, d e e p, breath here]. Ok, all right, fine! For today I will give up looking so far ahead that today is gone before I know it. I will take on setting the cell phone timer to go off once an hour for 6 hours and each time it does, I will take [at least] one, long, slow, deep breath again and take 30 seconds to look around me and notice something wonderful or sweet or comforting that I haven't noticed before, whether in my immediate surroundings or outside of a window; or, I will look at a picture of someone I love and smile and be glad to have him or her or them in my life. I will pray to be aware of and to be thankful for all the good moments that I have in this day.  I will thank You, Dear Lord, and remember that Life is a gift, as someone once put on a tacky plaque, that's why we call it the present. amen.


*Thích Nhất Hanh [Tick Not Hahn] was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, peace activist, teacher, prolific author, and poet who was once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  He wrote and lectured extensively on the connections between Buddhism and Christianity in such works as Living Buddha, Living Christ and Going Home, Jesus and Buddha as Brothers. He studied comparative religion at Princeton University and was appointed lecturer in Buddhism at Columbia University. He lived in a monastery in the south of France until his death but traveled frequently around the world to lecture.

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Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 19, Give Up, Take On, Pray

      Few of us can claim personal experience with unconditional love either received or given. Perhaps a moment with a child, even a pet, but such a rarefied occasion is fleeting and fragile. Yet there are those times when even the strongest of us needs the all-encompassing embrace of one who requires nothing in return, has no expectations, and wants only to care for and comfort, nurture and love us.  Whisper in your heart to the One and know.

O Great Nurturer, Comforter, and Soother,     

    Some days I want too much from others while I think that they want too much from me. Although I'm often certain that, "of course" I try to meet the expectations they have, I more easily fall into an ego trap of but what about me? For today I will give up pouting about (seemingly) being ignored. I will take on a fresh breath and a deep dive into Your call to love my neighbors as myself, and I will pray to remember that You are always within me and knowing if I stop, breathe, and know You are here, You grant me continuing rebirth in faith, reassurance of Your love, and refreshment in my soul. amen.

   Julian of Norwich, 1342-ca 1416, was an English Anchoress which was, in her day, a hermit who lived in, and was sometimes permanently enclosed in, a small cell attached to a wall of the church whose life consisted of daily devotions, prayer, devotional reading, and writing. She is considered to be one of the most important mystics in all of Christianity. Her manuscript of Revelations of Divine Love ~ also known as the Short Text ~ is thought to be the oldest surviving book written in English by a woman.  She is probably best known for her words that with God, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 18, Give Up, Take On, Pray

 

   

   ~ Vida Dutton Scudder 1861-1954*

   A paradox of Creation is that it is complete but not yet finished. God in the Trinity, as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, calls us into a spiritual relationship and as earthly co-creators, acting in us to give us all we need to continue the work of salvation, mercy, social justice, and simple kindness ~ loving our neighbors as ourselves in this world, and caring for the Earth itself. So, do you feel more special now, or, more scared? A little of both?

Holy God of Mystery and Majesty,
       I feel overwhelmed at all You have entrusted to me to be and accomplish. I want to live up to all of Your expectations even while I'm not sure of the hows, the whats, and the wheres to begin. For today, I will give up the pursuit of material satisfaction as a principal goal of life. I'll take on trying to truly see Your Creation and consciously participate in it, creating relationships with the world around me and all who are in it, the street I live on, the people I know and those I don't, and by my everyday thoughts and especially my words and actions everywhere I go ~ as You have created me to do. I pray to always know that You are within me, I pray to remember to keep praying, and that I will move through this life with intention and purpose, caring and carrying Your love through all that I do. amen.


*Vida Dutton Scudder holds October 10 on the US Episcopal Liturgical Calendar as a Feast Day.  Professor of English Literature at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, she was one of the first two American women admitted to the graduate program at Oxford University. In addition to teaching, she was an author and a welfare activist in the social gospel movement. She was a founder or organizer of many groups involved with Christian socialism, trade/labor unions, and Boston's Denison House, the third settlement house in the US. In 1888 she joined the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, Episcopal women dedicated to intercessory prayer and social reconciliation. At her retirement from Wellesley she was given the title of Professor Emeritus and among other honors went on the become the first Dean of the Summer School of Christian Ethics at Wellesley and the first woman to be published in the Anglican Theological Review.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com