Daily Dose (Aug 29 – Sept 1)

August 29, 2023
SM Daily
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Tuesday —

I’m grateful for Maria Shriver’s take on this. “Now, I didn’t grow up with tenderness. I didn’t hear the courageous people around me even speak the word. But I have felt tenderness in my life and I know that it can be life-changing. Bestowing tenderness on an individual allows a person to feel seen. It allows them to soften and feel their worth… That’s very different from just being told you are worthy. When you actually ‘feel’ worthy—when you feel seen, valued, and understood—you feel as though you belong. You feel as though you can stand up, put your shoulders back, and speak up. Tenderness bestows courage, and it requires courage to bestow tenderness… Once you become awake to tenderness, you can see how much more powerful it is than rage.”

When you feel seen. Yes. I spent today with the good people at Holy Family Catholic Schools in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. And driving through miles of prairie land, and I loved looking over the mown-brown fields, to see a horizon line linear, and unambiguous.
Our theme, “Embracing God’s Grace.” As we are not on this journey alone, how do we help one another, embrace grace… and embrace the healing power of being seen, valued and understood.

Wednesday —

And in my reading today, I was grateful for this, from Nicolette Sowder…
May we raise children who love the unloved things
May we raise children
who love the unloved things
– the dandelion, the
worms & spiderlings.
Children who sense
the rose needs the thorn
& run into rainswept days
the same way they turn towards sun…
And when they’re grown &
someone has to speak for those
who have no voice
may they draw upon that
wilder bond, those days of
tending tender things
and be the ones.

Tending tender things indeed. Yes, and amen.

On my walk this morning around Wascana Lake, in Regina, there was an entire congregation of geese. I gave them greetings from the congregation in Port Ludlow, WA.
And on my drive toward Moose Jaw, I felt escorted by combines, harvesting their way through the fields that stretch to the horizons, both north and south. Tomorrow with the good people at Holy Trinity Catholic Schools.

Thursday —

A tender heart is a gift to embrace. And here’s the good news; this is not a project or assignment or test. It is a gift to spill. A gift that changes the world.
When we live from tenderness, we see one another.
However, our tender heart invites and benefits from replenishment. Time for sanctuary, time for emotional and spiritual hydration.
And I know from personal experience that if I don’t say No (meaning no to those things that can deplete me), No will be said for me by default, and I will end up saying No to the people I love the most.
When Dwight Eisenhower was president, he stood at a meeting of the cabinet and said, “This meeting is adjourned.”
“But Mr. President, there is still much work to be done. We need to extend the meeting.”
“The meeting is adjourned because I promised my grandson, I would play football with him at 3:30. It is 3:30.”
“But Mr. President, some of this business cannot wait.”
“Gentlemen, I can give you reasons why we are adjourning. I could never offer a good reason to my grandson why I would miss my commitment to play football.”
We miss the point if we see this as a means to an end. I’ll rest (honor places of replenishment) so that I’ll be more productive when I return. I’ll be rewarded. I’ll benefit. As if we still have the sense of control, as if we can manufacture meaning by how we orchestrate our lives.
Make space for your tender and authentic heart replenishment, my friends.

Today with the good people at Holy Trinity Schools in Moose Jaw. Our topic? How do we find places for sanctuary and replenishment? And let us remember that we are on this journey together. I’m grateful for the light they spill.
I’m writing this tonight in Regina, and tomorrow morning on my way back home.
Oh… and I hope you saw tonight’s supermoon. It was the brightest and closest full moon of 2023… called a “blue” moon — the second full moon in the same month.

Friday —

And it’s worth repeating, and hearing this on a steady basis: A tender heart is not something you add, or acquire through willpower. A tender heart is alive and well deep down. Yes indeed, our tender heart is often buried, or wrapped in cautiousness, or shrouded by wariness (or even shame). But this I do know, our tender heart is grounded in, and nourished by grace.
So. Let us hear that voice of grace.
As Tom Junod wrote about Mr. Rogers, “A long time ago, a man of resourceful and relentless kindness saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. He trusted me when I thought I was untrustworthy, and took an interest in me that went beyond my initial interest in him.”
Yes.
In other words… “Anytime, night or day, happy or sad, safe or scared, you can be in touch with the holy. Heaven is open all night. It is available 24/7. The Spirit never sleeps. To make contact all you have to do is open your heart, reach out with your mind, and send a signal to the universe: I am here. Please hear me. Please help me. Please listen to my story. And in the silence that follows, coming from all four directions at once, you will feel a hand touch your shoulder: I am here. I hear you. Let me help. Tell me your story. Anytime.” (Thank you, Rev. Steven Charleston)

Paul Tillich elaborates, “You are accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not seek for anything. Do not perform anything, do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.”
When that happens to us, our tender hearts come alive from grace.

It is Labor Day weekend. A weekend I enjoy spending at home. Yes, there will be a boat load of people on the road. So, for those traveling, it is recommended that you “Pack your patience”… Just sayin’. It’ll allow you to savor the journey.
Now back in Port Ludlow, I’ll find some time on the golf course, and tell the geese about their distant relatives I met while in Canada.

Prayer for our week…
Be generous in prosperity,
and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgment,
and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness,
and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind,
and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind,
a dew to the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
Amen.