Like a feather

When you pray lay aside thoughts

that peck at the body and dive after souls

fears that give birth to needs

concerns that lay ambush to the future

mistakes that make poison of the past

 

 

When you pray lay aside thoughts

Of where you are and what you are doing

of your struggle to walk the Chosen Path

even your hopes to leave behind

a few final steps in the sand

 

 

Then pull from under you

what little ground you stand on

and fall

like a feather

into the hand of God

Rest there 

so lightly 

so very very lightly

that when you think about it

you will feel no longer where you end

and God begins.

 

 

 Centering Prayer Magazine from Snowmass Benedictine Monastery

Stormy weather

Harbour wall at Arbroath, Scotland

Yesterday, heavy rain descended causing problems with our rivers and on our roads. Today the sea battered against the shoreline in Arbroath causing unwary bystanders to be soaked.

Stormy times batter our days.

The words of this hymn turn us in the direction of God's presence in the storms:-

God hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;

God hath not promised sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;

He hath not told us we shall not bear

Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,

Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;

Never a mountain rocky and steep,

Never a river turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

Recipe for a Happy New Year

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2012 from here in the early morning sunshine in the Angus countryside.

I came across this Recipe for a Happy New Year:-

Recipe for a Happy New Year.

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; 

see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, 

cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; 

pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; 

in short, see that these months are freed from all the past

—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. 

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. 

Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time 

(so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) 

but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, 

work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), 

hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, 

rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), 

prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. 

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, 

a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

Wherever you are and whatever this year holds for you may the God of peace go with you.

Happy New Year!