Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Friday in Week 2 '23

Frederick Buechner*

     The time is ripe...not all the time, surely, but from time to time...to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember — the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.   

O Holy Comforter ~
          The calendar highlights the dates that are burned deeply into my heart with a mix of sweetness, sadness, and even a smile. And on each of those days I open the door to my inner room of memories and sit with them as if in a familiar attic. I sift through the virtual folders and boxes that hold remnants of the most meaningful people and times of my life now past. And on each of those days I need Your presence to surround me while winnowing through the highs and the lows of all that has been. Most importantly, please be here while I caress the remembrances of the all-too-brief moments with those now gone who I have loved and who have loved me. Give me Your peace when I go from this room until it is time again to remember. Strengthen my resolve to walk more fully into today, into all that is now, and all that is yet to be. amen.

 

*Carl Frederick Buechner [1926-2022] was an American theologian, Presbyterian pastor, and author of more than 30 books in several genres such as fiction, autobiography, and sermons, and is well-known among readers of Christian meditation. He received the O. Henry Award and been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award among many other honors.

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Thursday, Week 2 '23

Here's a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:

if you're alive, it isn't. 

~ Richard Bach* 

Lord of Now, Lord of Forever,

       

       I'm alive. Now what? 

       Some days it's hard work just to be alive. Other days go by so fast I hardly realize it. And then, someone you care about is suddenly gone and life takes on new meaning, again. And just as suddenly it hits me: his mission is finished, whether he was ready for it to be or we who care about him were, it just is. And even if we can’t understand or figure out what someone’s life mission was, especially someone very young, even in our deepest grief we can seek a way to live in earnest, and in honest and loving purpose, because of their importance in our lives.

     Again I’m here, as I begin once more to re-evaluate and re-discover how I can live as if You, Lord, were with me every moment [as You are]. When I do come to You, I remember that I can worry less about doing stuff and think more about just being, especially with You, and then my honest and loving purpose ~ my mission ~ will become clearer. Of course I'll keep doing but I'm seeing again that if I spend more of life working to love You with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength, and my neighbors as myself ~ per Your instructions ~ that mission thing will take care of itself. Through that I will re-center my self, focus on being conscious in thought and action, movement and stillness, then perhaps more of what I do will then, simply, reflect the who I am continually becoming. Thanks for listening, as always. amen.

*Richard Bach [1937- ] is an author best known for classic 1970s bestsellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and later, There’s No Such Place as Far Away, and more. His books carry a philosophical theme that our physical limits and mortality are merely appearance. An avid pilot and love of flying nearly cut his mission short in 2012 as his small plane landed upside down in a field and he was badly injured but recovered and continues to write.

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 Eastertide ~ Wednesday Week 2 '23

To ‘listen’ another’s soul 

into a condition of disclosure and discovery 

may be almost the greatest service that 

any human being ever performs for another 

 

~ Douglas Steere* 

Well, Dear God, here's a big shocker for you ~ 
     I do acknowledge that sometimes I am so busy thinking about what I want to say that I forget to listen to what someone else is saying! I'm learning, slowly, to give others their air time even though I'm sure my response is the better comment and the most necessary. (Yeah, ok, I'll work on that thought, too.) I have experienced the rare moment when I feel listened to, as if what I think and say and feel are important to someone. Other times I can go on and on about my stuff trying to re-experience the feeling of importance. But when I'm being consciously more aware, I have had the right moments of just being present and listening to someone in need while letting whatever I wanted to say go away unspoken. That is an amazing and humbling feeling. 

     I know that true listening is a gift of personal attention to the one who is speaking in words and/or emotion especially in these times of so much yelling at others to make a point. I also know that deep listening is a gift to myself, as with it I learn more about the person I'm with and me, my needs and wants, how to express them, and how to better choose what to let go. 

     I will strive to be more attentive to others and less attentive to what I want to say about it. And the best example I have as a pay-off is You, always here, always listening even when I ramble (like now). Thank You for that and, as You already know, it's hard for me to take my own counsel in this so I'll be asking You regularly for a little smack on the back of my head along the way, OK? amen.  

Best advice for good listening:     

DO Listen deeply to understand  

DON'T listen only with the intent to reply

 *Douglas Steere [1901-1995] was a Quaker ecumenist who was professor of philosophy from 1928 to 1964 at Haverford College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent a year as a visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York.  Dr. Steere was significantly involved in Quaker post-war relief efforts in Poland, Norway, and Finland after World War II and was given national recognition by Finland in 1987.  He held a PhD from Harvard and was a Rhodes Scholar with two additional degrees from Oxford University.  A prolific author, editor, and translator of books and articles on Quakerism and other religions, he was invited as an Ecumenical Observer at the Second Vatican Council.

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