Thoughts for 01/01/07-01/08-07

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is out light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. And as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Nelson Mandela

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.

Thoughts for Novermber 26-December 3

As promised, here is my fire poem...more thoughts on fire on later blogs....

Prayer Over the New Fire

Be for us…
A sacred fire…sanctifying us
A fire of compassion…warming us
A fire of forgiveness…healing us
A fire of purification…cleansing us
A fire of creativity…inspiring us
A fire of justice…summoning us
A fire of love…rekindling us
A fire of change…healing us
A fire of passion…empowering us
A fire of the Divine…illuminating us

O Fire of God, transform us
Burn away all hardness of heart,
Free, O set free the fire within us.
Break down the walls we have built.
Let your fire leap through our resistance
Over the walls of our hearts and out into a world
Yearning for transformation.


Happy begining of Advent. Be the light in the darkness.
Ms. Egan

Thoughts for Thanksgiving Week 11/20-11/27

I want to tell you all how proud of you I was at our Thanksgiving Prayer Service. You filled in where necessary, covered for each other, and were just wonderful. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I offer the following prayer for each of you. It is taken from Seasons of the Heart, by Macrina Wiederkeher. It is based on the first reading of our prayer service.

A Song of Thanksgiving

"I thank my God whenever I think of you, and every time I pray for you all, I always pray with joy for you partnership in the gospel from the very first day up to the present. I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it untul the Day of Jesus Christ comes. It is only right that I should feel like this toward you all, because you have a place in my heart. " Philippians 1: 3-7

"It is important to celebrate with our friends the good things we see in our lives. Sometimes we forget to affirm the ones we love the most. We take them for granted. This prayer-song is dedicated to you, my students with hope that you will sing it to your friends also. Affirmation is a wonderful way of giving others hope."

"My heart procliams a feast
I have come to sing you songs.

I sing of your warmth
The steady glow of you friendship
keeps melting the ice in my heart
bringing light to the core of my being.
All too often I forget to tell you,
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your conviction
you passion for the truth
Your daring spirit and your boldness
to give courage to my fear.
Your thirst for justice
calls forth my hidden prophet.
So often I forget to support you
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your gentleness
a strength sometimes hidden behing firm conviction.
A strength I once couldn't see because of my own walls of fear.
Your gift is now out in the light.
The veils from my own eyes have been lifted.
I celebrate you gift of gentleness and encourage you to hold it dear.
I once forgot about its home in you.
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your conversion
I celebrate God's love for you
And your constant coming home to that love.
I honor you ability to repent your willingness to examine your heart.
I celebrate your readiness to be transfomed.

I sing of your hope
You willingness to go on
when all seems to be crumbling not with eyes seeing all but with expectation of the promise.
I celebrate your hope
Your waiting for our God to fill up what is lacking in your life.
I promise to be part of your hope
and to stand on tiptoe beside you.
Sometimes I forget you need my there,
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your love!
your life spilled out
that jar of perfume that is you
poured out over Jesus poured out over me and over all who pass your way.
Poured out joyfully at times reluctantly at times.
But poured out all the same.
I celebrate your love your emptying of self
Your life poured out I celebrate.
Sometimes I forget about your love.
I won't forget anymore!

And finally, I sing of your forgiveness! your loving me anyway.
I celebrate your patience
your patience with my forgetfulness my restlessness my walls of fear my noise my empty chatter my defences.

My promise not to forget again
is daring in this moment of recommitment
But my feet are clay.
My heart is broken and scarred in places
In the same heart I make promises
I break them.
And so, of course, we both know
I'll probably forget again
But I'm not afraid of forgetting
And that's because
I celebrate your forgiveness, your compassion, your love, your understanding.

My heart proclaims a feast.
I have come to sing you songs."

I hope you share Macrina's words with your family, friends, and those you love.

Ms. Egan