Posted on by Lesley · 8 Comments

Tranquillity

Drop Thy still dews of quietness

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

Let us kneel

before the stream

of our lives

mining for those

golden moments when

we see right through

to the real: kindness,

laughter, innocence,

the light of all things

Then, slowly

release all the rest

allow it to flow

the way life will when

we learn what to hold,

what to let go.

Arlene Gay Levine

It was so simple. So average . . .

how could he find perfection

in such an

ordinary day . . . I realized

this was the

whole point.

Mitch Albom

Posted on by Lesley

Trust in Christ Jesus

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 (Living Bible Translation)

Posted on by Lesley

God’s Love Prayers

A Prayer for resting in God’s love

God of Goodness, I come into your presence so aware of my human frailty and yet overwhelmed by your love for me.
I thank you that there is no human experience that I might walk through where your love cannot reach me.
If I climb the highest mountain you are there and yet if I find myself in the darkest valley of my life, you are there.
Teach me today to love you more.
Help me to rest in that love that asks nothing more than the simple trusting heart of a child.

– Author Unknown

Your Love

Bless us with Love, O Merciful God;
That we may Love as you Love!
That we may show patience, tolerance,
Kindness, caring and love to all!
Give me knowledge; O giver of Knowledge,
That I may be one with my Universe and Mother Earth!
O Compassionate One, grant compassion unto us;
That we may help all fellow souls in need!
Bless us with your Love O God.
Bless us with your Love.

– Author Unknown

Prayer to an Evolutionary God

You accept us–at times of self-doubt
Thank you, God of all,
Co-creator of our world,
For allowing us to be imperfectly made:
Because it makes us, if we are wise, forgiving.
Do you accept us as we are?
We condemn people too quickly:
We judge them for flawed thinking, disguised egotism,
Unworthy acquisitiveness, or skewed opinions.
But we can forgive them once we accept our own shadow,
And realize how well we ourselves fit
Into the ranks of a less than perfect human race.
You, Holy God, accept each of us,
Prophets tell us, just as we are:
Provided our moral judgments of others
Are reciprocally generous and compassionate.
Imperfection fits this evolving reality,
For the universe thrives on diversity,
Including random failure,
One of the very preconditions for the unfolding advances.
May it be so.

– William Cleary

Resources from jesuitresource.org

Posted on by Lesley

Fundamental Humans

Fundamental Christianity
Fundamental Islam
Fundamental Judaism
Fundamental Buddhism
Fundamental?

What happened to fundamental humans?

Why so many God brokers?

Have humans forgotten how to speak directly to God?

Jihad?
Crusade?
Inquisition?
Forced missionary conversion?
Dogma?
Why have so many innocent people died in the name of God?

Fundamental religion has robbed fundamental humans,
of their sovereignty, freedom and connection to God.

An age nears;

When people awaken to inner truth
Establish a personal relationship with Creator
Restore balance within themselves
Restore balance to Mother Earth
Establish a lasting peace

Indigenous people around the world have been right all along;

“We’re all One”

-Ray Lucero

Posted on by Lesley

Self-belief

Saint Francis and the Sow ~ Galway Kinnell

The bud

stands for all things,

even for those things that don’t flower,

for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;   

though sometimes it is necessary

to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on its brow

of the flower

and retell it in words and in touch

it is lovely

until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;   

as Saint Francis

put his hand on the creased forehead

of the sow, and told her in words and in touch   

blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow   

began remembering all down her thick length,   

from the earthen snout all the way

through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,   

from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine   

down through the great broken heart

to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering   

from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them:

the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

You’ll find a full analysis of the poem here.

Everything flowers from within, inspired by self-belief and self-love. We need to recognize our worth. In this way, we can reap fullness.

Posted on by Lesley

Belonging

Belonging

And if it’s true we are alone,
we are alone together,
the way blades of grass
are alone, but exist as a field.
Sometimes I feel it,
the green fuse that ignites us,
the wild thrum that unites us,
an inner hum that reminds us
of our shared humanity.
Just as thirty-five trillion
red blood cells join in one body
to become one blood.
Just as one hundred thirty-six thousand
notes make up one symphony.
Alone as we are, our small voices
weave into the one big conversation.
Our actions are essential
to the one infinite story of what it is
to be alive. When we feel alone,
we belong to the grand communion
of those who sometimes feel alone—
we are the dust, the dust that hopes,
a rising of dust, a thrill of dust,
the dust that dances in the light
with all other dust, the dust
that makes the world.

ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER

“We don’t have to do all of it alone.

We were never meant to.” – Brené Brown

The Beat of my Heart

This heart beats for Loyalty

and too for acceptance

with or without commonality

it beats for simplicity

in a world full of complexity

 

for the sounds of my family

for lost love and last loves

for the lost and the found

for kisses once dreamed of

and gendered equality

 

It beats for diversity

to be brave and show courage

in the face of adversity

it beats to end prejudice

and be fierce in the fight

for all human rights

like those who precede me

 

It beats for memory of time

for belonging and longing

for all that is certain

and all that is not it beats

for the breath that rests

between life death

and freedom

Sheena Sen

“Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially your own. No one belongs here more than you.”

Brené Brown