Daily Dose (Nov 5 – 8)

TUESDAY NOV 5 —

Sometimes it is easy to forget that every single one of us can make a difference in our world.
And the choices we do make, do matter.
As the farmer told his neighbor, “Well, that may be true (I could be more productive if my son wasn’t helping me), but I’m raising more than just potatoes.”
It is Albert Einstein’s reminder, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” 

Yes… so, here’s our paradigm shift: Who you are, makes a difference.
Today, I can choose to Be kind. To Be generous. To Be inclusive. To not demean or shame.
Because it does matter… Today, I can choose to say, you belong. To say, you are not left out, or on the outside. To say, you are not less than.
Today I can make choices for a world where inclusion and kindness and compassion and sanctuary are real. Realities planted and grown by gentle little choices.
Indeed. “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”

Martin Luther King Jr.’s reminder does my heart good, “Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
What a reminder. Every choice to serve, is in fact, a heroic gesture, because that choice is born in a heart fueled by grace.

This week we’ll be telling stories about the freedom to choose to care. About hearts full of grace, that spill to the world around them. And, not one of these people woke up one morning, and said to themselves that they were about to do something heroic. It’s just that, when they had to, they did what was right: they chose to care.

“If you asked me who are my favorite people, I would tell you the ones who are filled with empathy, whose tenderness exists in them by nature, who wouldn’t make a tiny effort to show kindness, because they glow with it.
The ones who know how everybody is struggling so they walk with grace in people hearts.
They are here to lend a hand, whisper a tender advice, fight a dark thought, draw a smile.
They are light weighted, they dive smoothly into souls with their gentleness, they would regret a word or a gesture they did accidentally if it has the tiniest possibility of hurting someone.
In their deepness, they wish everybody goodness and hope, they are eternal passengers who might not take a lot of attention, but they can never be forgotten.” (Thank you Yasmine Lasheen)

WEDNESDAY NOV 6 —

Yes… so, here’s our paradigm shift: Who you are, makes a difference.
Today, I can choose to Be kind. To Be generous.
To Be inclusive. To not demean or shame.

I love this story. About a woman traveling alone–by train–who arrived in a new city. There was time until her next train connection, so she struck up a conversation with another traveler, a woman making a stopover in the midst of a very long journey. The traveler was tired, and the woman unthinkingly handed her a sandwich that she’d been saving for later. It began as a conversation, and become a friendship that lasted for twenty years.
After the woman died, her son happened upon a packet of his mother’s correspondence. One thing particularly struck him. “There were so many letters from this woman she had met in the train station. And they all ended with the same words: ‘I’ll never forget that you fed me.’”
I believe in stories of love and kindness, that nourish and replenish our weary soul.
(Adapted from the book, From Field Notes on the Compassionate Life, Marc Ian Barasch)

And in a world that weighs and measures, we think, “But those are such small gestures.” Ahhh yes. But, as Jon Kabat-Zinn reminds us, “The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.”
They are difference makers. They are the building blocks for healing.
And I love the phrase, “choosing to heal”. It would be a great book title. An even better life mission.
“What do you do?”
“I choose to create moments that heal.”
From Jewish tradition we learn our job title; Tikkun olam. Literally, repair of the world.
The word olam also means hidden. We need to repair the world so that its Creator is no longer hidden within, but shines through each thing in magnificent, harmonious beauty.
As a gardener this makes perfect sense. It’s all about the dirt. Nutritious or nutritive soil creates and generates life. Toxic soil does not. Fertility is stifled, because the nutrients have been leached.
Tikkun, to repair the soil of the world with nutrients: kindness, a balm of generosity, a capacity to accommodate fragility, and a softness of spirit. What Eve Ensler called, “The daily subtle simple gathering of kindness.”
Choosing (working) to heal (Tikkun olam) isn’t only for the spiritually or intellectually inclined.
Choosing to heal is in our DNA. As children of our creator, we are healers.
In kindness, we affirm dignity.
In empathy, we see value and build connections.
With compassion and justice, we right wrongs and create sanctuaries.

THURSDAY NOV 7 —

Wherever you stand today, be the blessing in that place.
I do believe this. Not that I haven’t had a couple of moments of being shocked and saddened. You know, those moments when the laying in the fetal position, feels pretty good.
But this I do know; withdrawal into passivity will not help. And recoil into resignation will not help.

Today, there is a new page.
And I need to take my own advice: Pause.
Breathe. Be gentle with yourself.
And let us not forget that there is light, still inside. Yes, it can feel snuffed out, but it is still there.
Albert Schweitzer’s reminder that, “sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”
So, today, let us look to the good in those around me and rekindle lights, bit by bit.
Gratefully, we are still walking one another home. There are hands to be held. And hugs to be given.
We take to heart Ralph Waldo Emerson, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

And here are two affirmations I will carry with me…
“My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Truly yours, Albert Camus”

“Here’s to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present darkness. Light your candle with their flame. And then go. Build bridges. Hold hands. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for. Peace is possible. It begins with us.” (Thank you L.R. Knost)

Thank you for being a part of Sabbath Moment. Let us continue to create spaces in our world for sanctuary. And healing and empathy. Inclusion, compassion and kindness. 

FRIDAY NOV 8 —

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
We easily forget that. Especially when we’re juggling a lot of stuff, mentally and emotionally.
Today let us remember that we are all wired to need the healing balm of emotional and spiritual hydration. Yes, we all need replenishment.
Which is a reset button. To pause. To be here now. To be at home in our own skin. To embrace the sacrament of the present moment. And to remember that there is a light (“this little light of mine”) inside of me. And to listen to the invitation, to let that light spill.
Today, I practiced what I preach (which I’ll admit is too often not the case). I put down my “to-do” list. And let my soul catch up. I’ve been walking, and reading and journaling, listening to music (and yes, napping). Emotional and spiritual hydration indeed.

And in my reading today, these two affirmations did my heart good.

Instructions on living in a broken world
Lean into community
Seek out love
Applaud the good you see
Keep paying attention
Talk to your neighbors
Dance to the music and embrace art
Look for love and small joys
Take breaks and relish in nourishing your body
Donate what you can
Linger at the dinner table with friends
Check in with your people
Let yourself grieve
Love one another as deeply as you can
The storm is upon us, and we must hold on
Don’t give up, we’re here together
(Thanks to Roger Wolsey)

If religion and religious people are to have any moral credibility in the face of the massive death-dealing and denial of this era, we need to move with great haste toward lives of political holiness. This is my theology and my politics:
It appears that God loves life: The creating never stops.
We will love and create and maintain life.
It appears that God is love—an enduring, patient kind.
We will seek and trust love in all its humanizing (and therefore divinizing) forms.
It appears that God loves the variety of multiple features, faces, and forms.
We will not be afraid of the other, the not-me, the stranger at the gate.
It appears that God loves—is—beauty: Look at this world!
Those who pray already know this. Their passion will be for beauty.
(Thanks to the Center for Action and Contemplation Adaption for this adaption, Richard Rohr, “Prayer as a Political Activity,” Radical Grace 2)

Savor your moments as you go into the weekend. Let your soul catch up with your body. 

Prayer for our week…
Kindness
One never knows
How far a word of kindness goes;
One never sees
How far a smile of friendship flees.
Down, through the years,
The deed forgotten reappears.
One kindly word
The souls of many here has stirred.
Man goes his way
And tells with every passing day,
Until life’s end:
“Once unto me he played the friend.”
We cannot say
What lips are praising us to-day.
We cannot tell
Whose prayers ask God to guard us well.
But kindness lives
Beyond the memory of him who gives.
Edgar Albert Guest

Photo… “Hi Terry, Fall splendour at our house! Blessings Always.” Beth Hayward (New York)… Thank you Beth… I’m so grateful for your photos, please send them to [email protected]