Unwrap the Gifts

Unwrap the Gifts

The gloom of the world

is but a shadow.

Behind it, yet within reach,

is joy.

There is radiance and glory

in the darkness,

could we but see,

and to see,

we have only to look.

I beseech you to look.

Life is so generous a giver,

but we,

judging its gifts by their covering,

cast them away as ugly,

or heavy, or hard.

Remove the covering,

and you will find beneath it

a living splendor,

woven of love,

by wisdom,

with power...

Everything we call a trial,

a sorrow or a duty,

believe me...

the gift is there,

and all the wonder

of an overshadowing presence.

Our joys too:

be not content with them

as joys.

They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

~Fra Giovanni

1513 A.D.

Listen, Wonder, Live

Listen

The more faithfully

you listen

to the voice within you,

the better

you will hear

what is sounding outside.

~Dag Hammarskjold

The glory of God is man fully alive.

~St. Irenaeous

The Source

...we die on the day

when our lives cease to be illuminated

by the steady radiance

renewed daily,

of a wonder,

the source of which

is beyond reason.

~Dag Hammarskjold

The Guest House - Rumi

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi

Take Responsiblity and Give Up Control

I can take responsibility for my life;

I cannot control its twists and turns.

I can take responsibility for my health;

I cannot control the ultimate outcome.

I am capable of making healthy choices

that will protect and heal my body;

I am not always at fault for my illness, pain or disease.

The Story of Evolution

The Story of Evolution

We began

As a mineral.  We emerge into plant life,

And into the animal state, and then into being human.

And always we have forgotten our former states,

Except in early spring when we slightly recall

Being green again.

That's how a young person turns

Toward a teacher.  That's how a baby leans

Toward the breast, without knowing the secret

Of its desire, yet turning instinctively.

Humankind is being led along an evolving course.

Through this migration of intelligence,

And though we seem to be sleeping,

There is an inner wakefulness

That directs the dream

And that will eventually startle us back

To the truth of who we are.

Rumi, 13th century



We All Have the Seeds of Love in Us

We all have the seeds of love in us.We can develop this wonderful source of energy, nurturing the unconditional love that does not expect anything in return.

THICH NHAT HANH, Teachings on Love

Earth's crammed with Heaven,

And every common bush afire with God:

But only he who sees takes off his shoes.

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Every Being Manifests Grace

"Today" means boundless and inexhaustible eternity.  Periods of months and years and of time in general are ideas of men, who calculate by number; but the true name of eternity is Today.

When the righteous man searches for the nature of all things, he makes his own admirable discovery: that everything is God's grace.  Every being in the world, and the world itself, manifests the blessings and generosity of God. 

Philo 50 BCE

Mom begins her life, 1922

Life is Eternal

Daddy's Airforce picture.

Mom's nursing school graduation picture

Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

~Rossiter W. Raymond 1840-1918

At Every Moment we Trust

When we trust God with our whole heart,

we don't fill our prayers with "give me this" or "take this from me".  We don't even think of ourselves when we pray. 

At every moment we trust our Father in heaven,

whose love infinitely surpasses the love of all earthly fathers and who gives us more than we ourselves could ask for or even imagine.

~Isaac of Ninevah, 6th century~

Be Beautiful Within

Grant that I may become beautiful within,

and that whatever outward things I have

may be in harmony with the spirit inside me.

~Socrates~

Let them Know, Let them Love, Let them Remember

God himself, the father and fashioner of all that is, older than the sun or sky, greater than time and eternity and all the flow of being,

is unnameable by any lawgiver, unutterable by any voice,

not to be seen by any eye.

But we, being unable to apprehend his essence, use the help of sounds and names and pictures, of beaten gold and ivory and silver, of plants and rivers, mountain peaks and torrents, yearning for the knowledge of him, and in our weakness naming all that is beautiful in this world after his nature - just as happens to earthly lovers.

To them the most beautiful sight will be the actual lineament of the beloved.  Abut for remembrance' sake they will be happy in the sight of a lyre, a little spear, a chair perhaps, or a running ground, or anything in the world that awakens the memory of the beloved.

Why should I further examine and pass judgement about images?

Let men know what is divine.  Let them know.  That is all.  If a Greek is stirred to the remembrance of God by the art of Phidias, and Egyptian by paying worship to animals, another man by a river, another by fire, I have no anger for their divergences.

Only let them know, let them love, let them remember.

Maximus of Tyre 185

The True Name of Eternity is Today

"Today" means boundless and inexhaustible eternity.

Periods of months and years and time in general

are ideas of men, who calculate by number,

but the true name of eternity is today.

When the righteous man searches for the nature of all things,

he makes his own admirable discovery:

that everything is God's grace.

Every being in the world, and the world itself,

manifests the blessings and generosity of God.

Philo 50 BCE

Heartbreak is a Sign that the Heart has Connected

Mama and Daddy, so young and in love.

Heartbreak is an important event in life, for it is a sign that the heart has connected, it has loved.  The worst thing would be never having loved and therefore not knowing heartbreak at all.

(Source unknown.)

If We Desire to Love God

Mom, age 4.

Mom and her mother.

If God is beyond our conception

and we desire to love him ~ we must begin

by loving everything we can conceive.

(Source unknown.)

What message are you sending?

You are all messengers of God. 

You are all sending a message to life about life

through your own life, lived.

The question is not, "Are you a messenger?" 

The question is, "What message are you sending?"

(Source unknown)

Mom, age 4, 1926

God is in all being. God is in all, being.

 

One who sees duality or distinction does not see God,

for God is in all being, indeed, "Being is God". 

God is always near to us, though we can wander far from God. 

God never goes far; He always remains standing near

and if He cannot remain within

He still does not go farther away than just outside the door.

God is within, but we are outside.

God is at home in us, but we are abroad.

~ Meister Eckhart ~

The Easter Story by Grandma April 1982

God made the world and all the things in it to get along and help each other for a good life.

After awhile, people seemed to be having problems, so God sent his son, Jesus, as a man to help them find ways to have better lives.  Jesus was born as a human baby, we celebrate his birthday as Christmas. 

Because God said he would send help, people had been looking for it as things got worse for them.  Because Jesus grew up as a little boy and became a man, he understood how it is with each person.  When he got old enough (33 years old) he went around the country where he was born and talked to whoever would listen, giving them ways to get along and help each other more.  He said that if you loved and treated those around you as you would like, every one would be able to get along better.

Some of the people didn't like this because even though they weren't happy with their own selfishness and desires for more, they didn't want to change.  As more and more people listened to Jesus and began to live as he advised, the selfish ones began to hate him.  They finally killed him by hanging him on a wooden cross.

Jesus had told his friends close to him that they should go teach every one they could about loving as a way to live good lives together.  He also told them that as he was going to leave them to return to his father, God, he would rise from the tomb to prove who he really was and to remain with them for awhile, teaching them more.

We celebrate this return to life at Easter time.  The Spring, when trees get new leaves and flowers and grass and flowers bloom, comes each year to remind us of the things he taught.  All the little new things, like chicks growing from eggs and baby bunnies, remind us too. 

Jesus especially loved children and is glad for them to celebrate and remember what he said about loving.  All the baby and cuddly things are easy to love, but he means us to remember about loving people especially when they may not be so lovable, just as each of us hopes those around understand and love us even when we aren't at our best.

The best part about this story is that God promised that Jesus still wants us to help us find good ways to live and grow and will put ideas and feelings inside us when we need them to help when we ask him and are quiet so we recognize them.

Now when you see Christmas and Easter celebrations around, I hope you will remember what they are for.



The Warm Fuzzy Story

The Warm Fuzzy Story by Claude Steiner

Once upon a time there lived two very happy people Jim and Maggie with their two
children called John and Lucy. To understand how happy they were you have to
understand how things were in those days. You see, in those days everyone was
given, at birth a soft warm fuzzy-bag.

Anytime a person reached into their bag, they were able to pull out a warm fuzzy.
Warm fuzzies were very much in demand, because whenever someone was
given a warm fuzzy, they would feel warm and fuzzy all over. The people who didn't
get warm fuzzies regularly were in danger of developing sickness in their backs
which caused them to shrivel up and die. In those days it was very easy to get
warm fuzzies. Any time somebody felt like it, he might walk up to you and say
"I would like to have a warm fuzzy from you." You would then dip into your bag
and pull out a fuzzy the size of a little child's hand. As soon as the fuzzy came
out it would smile and blossom into a large shaggy warm fuzzy. You would then
lay it on the persons shoulder or head or lap and it would snuggle and melt right
against their skin and make them feel good all over.

People were always asking each other for warm fuzzies and since they were
always given freely, getting enough of them was never a problem.There were
always plenty to go around and as a consequence everyone was happy and felt
warm and fuzzy most of the time.

One day a bad witch became angry because everyone was happy and no-one
was buying her potions or any of her salves. The witch was very clever and she
devised a very wicked plan. One beautiful morning, she crept up to Jim while
Maggie was playing with their daughter and whispered in his ear,"Look at all
the fuzzies that Maggie is giving to Lucy. You know, if she keeps it up eventually
she is going to run out and there won't be any left for you". Jim was astonished.
There isn't a warm fuzzy in our bag every time we reach into it?" and the witch said
"No! Absolutely not and once you run out, that is it and you don't have any more."
With this she flew away on her broom laughing and cackling hysterically.

Jim took this all to heart and began to notice every time Maggie gave up a warm
fuzzy to anyone else. Eventually, he got very worried and upset because he liked
Maggie's warm fuzzies very much and did not want to give the up. He certainly
did not think it was right for Maggie to be spending all her warm fuzzies on the
children and on other people. He began to complain every time he saw Maggie
giving a warm fuzzy to somebody else and because Maggie liked him very much
and did not want him to be upset, she stopped giving warm fuzzies to other people
and reserved them for him.

The children watched what was happening to Jim and Maggie and soon began to
get the idea that it was wrong to give up warm fuzzies every time they were asked
or felt like it. They too became careful, they would watch their parents closely and
whenever they felt that one of their parents was giving too many fuzzies to others,
they began to object. They began to feel worried whenever they gave away too
many warm fuzzies, even though they found a warm fuzzy every time they reached
into their bag, and began to do so less and less and became more and more stingy.

Soon people began to notice the lack of warm fuzzies and they began to feel less
and less fuzzy. They began to shrivel up. Occasionally people would die from lack
of warm fuzzies. and salves, even though they didn't work. The situation was getting
very serious indeed. The bad witch, who had been watching all of this, didn't really
want the people to die, so she devised a new plan. The witch now gave everyone a
bag which was very similar to the fuzzy bag except that it was cold instead of being
warm like the fuzzy bag. Inside the witch bag were cold pricklies. 
 

These cold pricklies did not make people feel warm and fuzzy but made them feel
cold and prickly instead. But they did prevent peoples backs from shriveling up, so
from then on, every time somebody said "I want a warm fuzzy", people who were
worried about depleting their supply said "we can't give you a warm fuzzy but would
you like a cold prickly?" Sometimes two people would walk up to one another
thinking they could get a warm fuzzy, but one orthe other would change their minds
and they would end up giving each other cold pricklies. What was happening now
was, that while very few people were actually dying, a lot of people were still
unhappy and feeling very cold and prickly.

The situation got very complicated because since the coming of the witch, there
were less and less warm fuzzies around, so warm fuzzies, which used to be thought
of as free as air now became very valuable. This caused people to do all sorts of
things in order to obtain warm fuzzies. Before the witch had appeared people used to
gather in groups of four or five never caring too much who was giving warm fuzzies
to whom. After the coming of the witch, people began to pair off and to reserve all
their warm fuzzies for each other exclusively. If ever one of the two persons forgot
himself and gave a warm fuzzy to someone else, he would immediately feel guilty
about it because he knew that his partner would probably resent the loss of the
warm fuzzy. People who could not find a generous partner had to buy their warm
fuzzies and had to work long hours to earn the money. Another thing which
happened was that some people would take cold pricklies which were limitless
and freely available and coat them white and fluffy and pass them off as warm
fuzzies.These counterfeit warm (really plastic) fuzzies caused additional difficulties.

For instance a few people would get together and freely exchange plastic fuzzies
which presumably should make them feel good but they came away feeling bad
from there. Since they thought they had been exchanging warm fuzzies. People
grew very confused about this, never realising that their cold prickly feelings were
really the result of the fact that they had been given a lot of plastic fuzzies. The
situation was very, very difficult and it all started because of the coming of the
wicked witch, who made people believe that someday, when least expected, they might reach into their warm fuzzy bag and find no more fuzzies. 

Not long ago a  young woman with big hips and who was born under the sign of Aquarius, came to this unhappy land. She had not heard about the witch and was not worried about running out of warm fuzzies. She gave them out freely even when not asked. They called her the hip-woman and disapproved of her because she was giving the children the idea they should not worry about running out of warm fuzzies. The children liked her very much because they felt good around her and had begun to give out warm fuzzies whenever they felt like it.

The grown-ups became very concerned and decided to pass a law to protect the children from depleting supplies of warm fuzzies.

The law made it a criminal offence to give out warm fuzzies in a reckless manner. The children however,  seemed not to care and in spit of the new law, they continued to give each other warm fuzzies whenever they felt like it and always when asked. Because there were many, many children - many more than grown-ups, it began to look as if maybe they would have their way. As of now, it is hard to say what will happen. 

             

Will the grown up forces of law and order stop the recklessness of the children? 

            

Are the grown-ups going to join with the hip-woman and the children in taking a chance that there will always be as many warm fuzzies as needed? Will they remember the days their children are trying to bring back when warm fuzzies were abundant because people gave them away freely?

********
 You have the opportunity to choose today
to select which bag you would like to carry around with you for the rest of your life.
When you decide, then select one of these "feelies" to live in your bag.
They are magic.

Hope is the Doorway to Belief

My mother's mother, Anna. 

My mother's father, Daniel.

Hope is the doorway to belief, belief is the doorway to knowing, knowing is the doorway to creation, and creation is the doorway to experience.

What you hope, you will eventually believe, what you believe, you will eventually know, what you know, you will eventually create, what you create, you will eventually experience, what you experience, you will eventually express, what you express, you will eventually become. This is the formula for all of life.

~ Don Neale Walsch, excerpts from "Home With God"

Worldwide "Laws" of Life

1.  As a person thinks, so is that person.

2.  Happiness stems from spiritual growth.

3.  The more love you give away, the more you will receive.

4.  It is better to give than to receive.

5.  To be forgiven we must first forgive.

6.  Thankfulness leads to having more to be thankful for.

(Source unidentified)

Patricia, daughter Kelly, granddaughter Melissa and great granddaugher Lilly 12/2006

Of Faith and Doubt

When we ask,

"Why am I?"

"What should I be and become?"

"What is the meaning of my life?" --

then we are exploring...

the region of our experience

where God may be known.

~ Gilkey

Diminished

Omitting God

leaves man on top

but of a diminishing

universe.

~Frank Shehd, Theology and Sanity

The more earnestly a man

seeks for certainty,

the more uncertain he becomes;

the more strenuously

he tries to remove all doubt,

the more doubt he experiences

~John S. Dunne, A Search for God in Time & Memory

Doubt is a pain

too lonely to know

that faith

is his twin brother.

~Kahlil Gibran

I have faith enough

to doubt and still believe.

~Joni Erickson Tada

Wanting to Know God

Wanting to know God is the road that leads to God, and it is an easy road to travel. God will come to meet you everywhere, He will appear to you everywhere, at times and places when you don't expect it, while you are awake and while you are asleep, while you are traveling and while you are at home, while you are speaking and while you are silent; for there is nothing in which God does not exist. And don't think that God is invisible. Who is more evident than God? That is why he made all things, so that through all things you can see him.

3rd Century Hermetic Writings

Remembering the Questions

Remembering the Questions - excerpts from Rilke

I want to beg you as much as I can to be patient toward all that's unsolved in your heart and learn to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms. Or like books that are written in a foreign tongue.

Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

Concentration, attention, and intelligence are friends of the soul, but kindness, forgiveness, and generosity are the soul itself.

When everything is experienced as part of our eternal soul's journey, we can relax. We can let go into the perfection of God's plan for us. Practice leaning on God. Practice being full of faith.

Musings of Grace

Remind yourself of who you really are:

A part of forever unseparate from the whole, of the divine reality.

From "This Timeless Moment" by Laura Archera Huxley

From my mother's notes, dated August 2009 ~

*******

I keep asking myself what I ought to do in the immediate future - the probably not very long future that is left me. How to be more loving, more aware, more useful or (if that isn't possible) more content and accepting. So far the answer hasn't come but perhaps it will.

*******

You must all forgive me for being so burdensome. I haven't yet learned to accept the fact of not feeling very well, of being mentally and physically diminished. Please be patient with me and remember that underneath the sense of being lost, I love all of you very much.

*******

I know what I am - a human
But not who.
I know who God is
But not what.

*******

I have always as far back as I can remember been able to be totally immersed in whatever I was doing at the moment. I have always considered it a grace and a blessing that I was born with, not something I learned or earned. This extended to seeing each person for what is inside of them past their clothes, hair and externals after a breath or pause. Is this perhaps what makes other persons see me as a perceptive, welcoming, present for them even when I often don't listen well?

Doors of Perception

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is,

Infinite.

William Blake

Light and Grace Offered to All

I rather feel that all men will be saved. It is at least possible that in the interval between life and death, before one steps into eternity, such light and grace may be given a man as to enable him to reject all evil, turn to God and goodness. I am particularly encouraged so to think in the face of so much suffering on the part of the innocent, the children.

Matthew Kelty, “Flute Solo”

If There Be Sorrow

If there be sorrow
let it be for things undone
undreamed
unrealized
unattained,
to these add one:
love withheld
restrained.

Mari Evans

Whatever Is, Is Right

From Alexander Pope’s Essay On Man

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul;
That, changed through all, and yet in all the same;
Great in the earth, as in th’ ethereal frame,
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives all through life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent;
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;
Submit.-- In this or in any other sphere,
Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear;
Safe in the had of one disposing Power,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.
All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which though canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

More Than All of These

More Than All of These

The garden is the rustle of unseen things,
The silent flutter of butterflies’ wings:

It’s a place of still, enchanted hours,
Of fragrance, peace, unfolding flowers
And the drowsy sound of humming bees.
Yet a garden is more than all of these…

For here we find that
God is walking,
Here in a garden

Talking sublimely without any words
In the murmur of trees and the song of birds.


Elizabeth Reeves Humphreys

Who Am I? by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Who Am I” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Who am I? They often tell me I would step from my cell’s confinement calmly, cheerfully, firmly, like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me I would talk to my warden freely and friendly and clearly, as though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me I would bear the days of misfortune equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of, or am I only what I know of myself, restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness, trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation, tossing in expectation of great events, powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance, weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, faint and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others, and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? Or is something within me still like a beaten army, fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

Seven Times Have I Despised My Soul

By Kahlil Gibran

Seven times have I despised my soul:

The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.

~~~~~~~~~

A pearl is a temple built of pain around a grain of sand.
What longing built our bodies and around what grains of sand?

Take Peace!

There is nothing I can give you which you have not;
but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take Heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take Peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within reach is joy.
There is a radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see, and to see,
We have only to look. I beseech you to look! Life is so generous a giver,
But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly,
Or heavy, or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it
A living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it
To you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty, believe me
That angel's hand is there; the gift is there, and the wonder of an
Overshadowing presence. Our joys too; be not content with them
As joys. The too, conceal diviner gifts.

And so at this time, I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings,
But with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and
Forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

Fra Giovanni