Pull Someone Else Along

No man is free until all men are free. No woman is healed until all women are healed. I believe these are more than profound statements worthy of thought. They are the clues to the moral responsibility we all have for one another. Many of us hold on to our pain, afraid to reveal it. Ashamed to admit it. Others hold on to healing information because we believe it is ours to own. We may fight for the freedom of the disenfranchised, but forget about those who have been cast aside by ridicule because their lives don't mirror what we feel appropriate or forget women and children who are oppressed. We owe it to ourselves and everyone else to see that all people live painless and free. It is our duty to share what we know if it has helped us to move beyond some darkness in life. We can talk it out or write it out, but we must get it out to those in need. We can support someone and encourage someone else to take healing steps or paths or ways. We should think about where we would be if there were no books or people to guide us when we need it. Then, with an open heart and extended hand, we can pull someone else along.

Remember we are valuable tools in someone's healing process. As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal comebody else.

It Begins with Me!

The bell rings loudest in your own home.

~ Yoruba proverb

As you look around the community, society, the world, you probably see many things you would like to change. Recent changes in my life have raised my conscienousness to a higher level and created a deeper desire to make a difference in the lives of others. My path is growing stronger toward a commitment for change.

Injustice, inequality, hatred and poverty probably disturb you. They do me. We may be angered by the lack of respect and insensitivity to people and their needs creating an impetus for us want to speak out and take action -- to strike out and make changes happen, but what comes to mind is that God works from the inside out. I believe we must first look within ourselves to eliminate the fear, the anger, the imbalance in our lives. Then and only then can we move forward to create peacefully and powerfully the changes needed in the world.

The world I want begins with ME.

The world you want begins with YOU!

Unlimited?

Just a short musing for today -

When you are employed by God, Inc., you never worry about unemployment.

When we work to obtain greater awareness, knowledge and understanding of ourselves, we are working for God. God's goal is for us to be the best we can be with what we've been given and to share what we do with the world. When we do the things that make us happy to the best of our ability, we are working for God, Inc. Perhaps a reason we have come to life in a physical body is to work for and serve the true self within us (just a thought). That is the part of us that is all-wise, all-knowing, all-loving and infinitely creative. When we do what we love, we are happy. When we do what we are good at, we are at peace. When we use what God has given us to create our own works, our rewards do not come from man. Every living person has a desire to do or be something. When we follow that desire, using our gifts, talents and abilities, we can never be out of work!

What Do YOU Think?

Stress began the day you learned your were expected to please other people. Parents wanted you to stay clean and quiet. Neighbors wanted you to be respectful and helpful. Teachers wanted you to be attentive and alert. Friends wanted you to share and hang out. Whenever you failed to do exactly what someone expected of you, you weren't good, or good enough. You were bad, weak or dumb. Unfortunately, we began to believe it. Giving in to the demands, day by day, we lost a little of ourselves and our understanding of the truth. The truth is that we are just fine, just the way we are! Perfect in our imperfection! Growing brighter and more brilliant each day, we can accept the truth of who we are. The next time we want to know who we are, what we are or if something is the right thing to do, let's not ask our neighbors - but look inward - and pay attention to the response!

Don't be afraid to look at your faults.

- Yoruba proverb

Even though we know there is always room for improvement, we tend to shy away from criticism. Our egos tell us we are being attacked and quite naturally we may want to strike back. In order to be whole, healthy beings, we need to know all there is to know about ourselves. Sometimes the information must come from others. This may mean admitting that we are not always right, and knowing it is okay to make a mistake. A mistake, an error, a poor choice, or bad decision does not equal "there is something wrong with me." It means we are on our way to being better. We do not make mistakes on the basis of race or color. We make them because we are human. When we acknowledge our errors and face up to our shortcomings, no one can use them against us. Let's NOT be afraid to admit when we are wrong.

Stations of the Cross

Our God is a God of life and being. I can only imagine how it must have been for those people long ago who rejoiced when Jesus came to their city and cried, "Hosanna!" How their hearts swelled with good will and how happily they threw their hats in the air. I can imagine, too, when I look within, how the good will fades, and the rancorous ill will grew into the cry, "Crucify him!"

How capable are we of swinging from praise to denial, from singing to despising? We are not always steady and sure in what we want in our lives and our loyalties.

Yes, we can rejoice when it is time for rejoicing, sing when it is time for singing, and praise when it is time for praising. We can also be grateful that when we forget our Heavenly Father and follow less worthy inclinations ... He does not forget us.

How many times have we been brought back by Him from our erring ways only to be grateful that He did? That His love is as persistent as it is? Let us seek more of a flavor of that kind of love in our lives so that we can be more open to others, more creative and responsive to the beauty and splendor that life can afford.

Since God refuses to give up on us, let us pray that we will refuse to give up on ourselves.

As we move toward the celebration of the great, glad news of Easter, let us lift up our hearts and our whole lives. I've included in this post something I find a meaningful meditation as we enter Holy Week. I hope you do as well.

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In order to view Stations of the Cross - Click on the arrow twice. To view on You Tube - double click a second time. There is sound so please turn it on.

Learning A Little More Every Day

I AM learning a little more every day!

Unless you make every waking hour a learning process, you are wasting a major portion of your life. You can learn from people you do not like as well as from those you love. You can learn from the elders and the youth. You can learn more about the things you know about and fine-tune the things you are good at. You can learn by observing, listening, and serving. You can learn by assisting, completing and forgetting. Never withdraw from the education process by picking and choosing from who you can learn. Keep your mind open, your ears attuned and your willingness to learn in the state of a student.

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The determination to outwit one's situation means that one has no models, only object lessons.

- James Baldwin

If you are facing a challenge in your life, before asking someone else what to do, remember what you did the last time. Nothing is new in life. Everything has been said or done by you. It may look different. There may be new people involved. It may even feel different, but it's not. The key is to recognize the lesson. Ask yourself, "What am I learning in this situation?" Is it patience? Peace? Forgiveness? Independence? What am I feeling now? Have I felt it before? What did I do then?

Remember, no one can learn your lessons but you. And the best teacher you will ever have is experience.

I Need to Listen

This evening I had the final opportunity to meet with the 'Magnificient 7', at least for now. What I do know deep within myself is that I gained so very much from the simple act of listening ... the type of listening when you actually hear and internalize words.

This has been a spiritual time that has allowed me to hold on to what many of us may take for granted. The 'art of listening'. God gaves us ears to hear. Why? I'm not going to attempt to answer that question but rather share a prayer that has meaning to me.

I NEED TO LISTEN

How strange it is, O Lord,
that I should need to feel I need to ask you to hear me.
Is it not I who need to learn to listen? Should I not ask you to jerk me to my feet,
to snatch me out of my drowsy indifference,
to nudge me into alertness?
I am constantly surrounded by sounds I do not hear,
by voices to which I am indifferent.

This is a singing world.
There are voices of angels
and voices of love
and voices of those inviting me to gladness everwhere.
Enable me to hear them, I pray,
and in the hearing be lifted up to gratitude
for the mystery and magic of being human.

This is a sobbing world.
There are voices filled with echoes of hurt and pain everywhere.
There are voices almost choked out by tears
and voices that come out of aching.
There are hollow voices, empty voices,
I would rather not hear them --
the voices of hungry children
and of sorrowing woman
and of desperate men.
But they are all around me.
Enable me to hear them, I pray,
and in the hearing
be able to identify my brothers and sisters.

This is a shouting world.
There are voices of rage and of protest,
of defiance and of contempt,
How carefully I sift out the shouting,
ignore the screaming.
Make me listen, O God, I pray.
For you are the Father of us all,
and sometimes the voices of anger carry messgages from you.

Enable me to be listener, I ask.
For in listening I may find direction and guidance.

Help me to listen to myself --
to still, small voices of conscience,
to whispers of faith,
and to the soft inner humming of hope.

Help me to learn to trust myself more than I do,
trust myself not because I am wise and good,
but because I am loved and wanted.

I remember how the Lord Jesus spoke of your love for me
and went all the way to a cross to show its meaning.
Help me listen to others --
In the persons who are trying to tell me they love me,
and the persons who are trying to tell me
they need my love in return.
Help me to listen to the stranger who may be an angel in disguise,
to a friend who my be lonely and lost.
Help me to listen to the angry and the outraged
who may be saying to me words I need to hear.

Steady me, O God, as a listener.
And when I speak, make me careful lest I use words as weapons
and language as a severing sword.
Enable me to sort out what I hear
and not be thrown off balance
by the careless tongues of others.
Teach me to realize that just because a lie is spoken over and over,
it does not become true.
Just because a falsehood is spoken loudly,
it does not become less false.
So when prejudice and passion weight the words I hear
with divisiveness and conflict,
give me sense enough to reject them.
Give me judgement and common sense to cut through words
that evade and distort lest I be misled.
Steady me, O Lord, as I learn to listen. Amen.

Source: A Book of Uncommon Prayer by Kenneth G. Phifer