A Prayer

A prayer from the Book of Common Prayer (shared tonight by a friend of a friend on FB):

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work,
or watch, or weep this night, and
give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick, Lord Christ;
give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering,
pity the afflicted, shield the joyous;
and all for your love's sake.
Amen.

(images from the web)

EPL: To know this world and God

I am reading Elizabeth Gilbert's wonderful book, "Eat, Pray, Love." Every day, I feel inspired to write after reading some of her book. But the problem is, I am stuck in the middle of my workday and lunch is over and there ain't no way I can be blogging in this job! So I will spend a few posts giving you the highlights of her words which affect me. Today, I'd like to share this word image:

(excerpt from ch. 8, in which she asks a ninth-generation Balinese medicine man in Indonesia for the desires of her heart)

"...'what I want to learn is how to live in this world and enjoy its delights, but also devote myself to God.'

Ketut said he could answer my question with a picture. He showed me a sketch he'd drawn once during meditation. It was an androgynous human figure, standing up, hands clasped in prayer. But this figure had four legs, and no head. Where the head should have been, there was only a wild foliage of ferns and flowers. There was a small, smiling face drawn over the heart.

'To find the balance you want,' Ketut spoke through his translator, 'this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.'"

Some very special thoughts on humility

From Donna's recent post at DQ's Windmill:

Here in the West, we are disinclined to nurture a reverential attitude toward anyone, with its associations of suppression and tyranny - a lamentable deficiency, as the humility it fosters opens the way to spiritual growth and maturity.

SAHANAVAVATU

1. May we both be protected so that there will be no hindrance in the process of learning.
2. May we both enjoy the process of learning- may we look forward to every meeting between us.
3. May there be more and more enthusiasm and strength in both of us for this learning.
4. May there be clarity in both of us - in learning and understanding on the part of the student and in teaching on the part of the teacher.
5. May there be no hatred or jealousy between the teacher and the student. May the relationship be one of total friendship.
6. May we not be agitated by internal factors from within us, by environment or by some forces beyond our control.
7. May there be no agitation in body, mind or speech.
8. May the symptoms of all obstacles be reduced.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

And from my friend Angela today, quoting her pastor:

"Humility allows us to serve others without caring whether it is noticed or not."

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

(picture from here)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Sensing the Light

"The presence of that absence is everywhere." ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay








Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my savior, God to thee
How great thou art, how great thou art
Then sings my soul, my savior, God to thee
How great thou art, how great thou art.

(Stuart Hine)

~Ally