Thought for the Week of 12/24-12/31

As we enter the time between holidays and holydays perphaps it would be good to recall a blessing. Again it is taken from Night Visions by Jan Richardson.

BLESS THEM
who wait with us
who labor with us
who cry out with us

BLESS THEM
who know our limits
who push us beyond them
who see through us

BLESS THEM
who call us to our strengths
who tend us in our weakness
who dress each ragged wound

BLESS THEM
who laugh in the face of convention
who weep for our own pain
who bid us come and live.

Thoughts for 12/17-12/25

This is a poem about saying yes to God. It is written by Jan Richardson and can be found in a book called Night Visions. The poem is called The Virgin

In the center of ourselves
you placed the power of
choosing.
Forgive us the time
we have given that power
away,
when we have sold
our birthright
for that which
does not
satisfy
our souls.
And so
in your wisdom
may our yes
be truly yes
and our no
be truly no,
that we may
touch with dignity
and love with integrity
and know the freedom
of our own choosing
all our days.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Love,
Ms. Egan

Thoughts for the Week of 12/11-12/17

Maria Rainer Rilke in his book, Letters to a Young Poet, gives this advice which I have always found to be very helpful...
"be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves...Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be give you because you would not be able to live them. And the point it, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

December 4-11 More Thoughts on Fire

A PROCLAMATION OF THE POWER FIRE

We proclaim that the lights of the cosmos unite all people on the planet in a great oneness. As the fiery stars, the intense sun and the reflective moonlight shine on us, so the bathe each one who dwells on this beautiful sphere of life with a great illuminating energy.

We proclaim that there is an unquenchable fire shining within each person, a light that is strong, deep, and enduring. It is the vigilant fire in the hearth of the soul, maintaining hope and truth amid life’s many ups and downs.

We proclaim that the fire of those who have gone before us has never left this earth. We are heartened by the truth that their sacred fire has become and eternal light that leads us on, a fire continually blessing us , encouraging us, affirming us to live our life to the fullest for our own benefit as well as for the good of all humankind.

We proclaim that the fire within cannot be contained. It seeks to move out, to permeate, to enter into every place that lacks passion and vitality. When the inmost self is opened with love, trust, and confidence, an energizing and healing light shines forth to fill the corners of our world.

We proclaim that there is a divine fire within us that is immeasurably loving, inconceivably caring, consistently nonjudgmental, and enormously passionate. This light will never give up on us. It will cherish us into eternity.

We proclaim that the light within us is beautiful, precious, and wild. We urge everyone to do all they can to tend this fire, to care for it with courage and kindness. Let the inner light shine forth radiantly so all will benefit from the power of this immense warmth and goodness.