Prayer for Peace

Today's Headlines

Drunken driver takes five lives
Sanctions on Iran
A baby dies, a mother cries
another government ban.

Higher bills to heat the house
A child left in the street
A new class war, man killed a whore,
There's not enough to eat.

The union strikes, a man's on fire
Thoughts on the Middle East
Shooting victims, drug addictions
birth of the Prince of Peace.
****

Today we begin our celebrations of the birth of the lord we call The Prince of Peace.

One day without pain, suffering, heartache. It seems like not much to ask, that for only a day the toils and troubles cease, that we all have respite from the suffering.

All around us, we have every indication of a world gone mad, of things fatally and painfully wrong. Who among us can read the paper without flinching?

It seems to me that peace must start within each of us, within our own souls. We alone can find the solitude and quiet we must nurture within, for hearts at peace do not find ways to force suffering upon others.

If we tend to our own lives first, care for our selves, then our ability to reach out to others manifests into a greater good. We can extend love and help someone else find the way, once we have the way found ourselves.

My prayer for peace is for peace within us all, so that we may all rest and be quiet.

God Bless and Amen.

Lighting Candles

I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are ill at the moment. Apparently, something terrible is going around.

One person I know has been down for the count for at least 10 days. Others have coughs, colds, depression. One is terminally ill.

When this many people in my circle are suffering, this becomes one of the times when I offer up prayer.

On Facebook the other day, I had a little discussion about prayer. In particular, it was the idea that simply offering thoughts and prayers to the families of mass murder victims does little to solve the problem. This became a bit of a national discussion after the last murders, when one of the New York papers proclaimed in a headline "God Isn't Going to Fix This."

I think that  what prayer does is give comfort to the person doing the praying, especially if it's the quick "I bow my head, say "hey, help these people," and you're done kind. That gives you an immediate feeling of doing something. Then you go on about your day. Maybe later you give the matter some thought and wonder if there is a solution, I don't know.

There is nothing wrong with that. If it brings you comfort and that is your way of praying, then that is your business.

However, I don't pray like that. Prayer for me is a long, drawn-out process, something sacred that I do privately and with forethought. I don't do it often for that reason.

Today I did my prayer ritual for my ailing friends. This takes me quite a while, because first I must cleanse myself with a shower. I don't want to go before the Higher Power feeling dirty. Then I have to sit in a space that I consider sacred or personal. I usually light a candle because I find the flame helpful in focusing. Today I lighted candles for every friend I knew who was sick. I watched the smoke on each candle, watching the blackness of the burning wax rise in the air. Most of the smoke went straight up and was soon gone; one had no smoke, and one smoked for a good while. Oddly enough, that was the candle I had designated for the friend I know to be the most ill. The one with no smoke was the candle I had designated for a friend who I had hoped was almost better.

Then I prayed. That is personal and I won't relay it here, but it consisted of thinking about each person, one at a time, asking for protection, guidance, and healing, and then snuffing out the candle before I moved on to the next.

I believe there is power in prayer. I think if at some appointed time, the world stopped and everyone prayed for the same thing, fervently and with all of their heart (and regardless of which god they worship, or even if all they do is think about it because they are atheist), that we could make a massive change. Maybe we could stop wars, end greed, create peace. But personally, I think it would have to be a solemn, serious issue, not a big concert in a stadium like I've seen some churches have. Prayer doesn't have to boring, I suppose, but I don't think it is meant to be done in a party atmosphere.

Generally when people ask for prayers on Facebook, if I feel moved to respond, I say "I am thinking of you," which, in fact, I am. Later, when I've made my preparations, I pray for the person.

Anyway, that is how I feel about prayer. I don't really think a prayer tweet does much good. You may think otherwise, and that's okay, because we can have different opinions and still be kind to one another.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Refuse to fall down.
   If you cannot refuse to fall down,
   refuse to stay down.
   If you cannot refuse to stay down
   lift your heart toward heaven
   and like a hungry beggar,
   ask that it be filled,
   and it will be filled.
   You may be pushed down.
   You may be kept from rising.
   But no one can keep you
   from lifting your heart
   toward heaven —
   only you.
   It is in the midst of misery
   that so much becomes clear.
   The one who says nothing good
   came of this,
   is not yet listening.

   (refuse to fall down - Clarissa Pinkola Estés)

2.  In the house made of dawn.
    In the story made of dawn.
    On the trail of dawn.
    O, Talking God.
    His feet, my feet, restore.
    His limbs, my limbs, restore.
    His body, my body, restore.
    His voice, my voice, restore.
    His plumes, my plumes, restore.
    With beauty before him, with beauty before me.
    With beauty behind him, with beauty behind me.
    With beauty above him, with beauty above me.
    With beauty below him, with beauty below me.
    With beauty around him, with beauty around me.
    With pollen beautiful in his voice,
    with pollen beautiful in my voice.
    It is finished in beauty.
    It is finished in beauty.
    In the house of evening light.
    From the story made of evening light.
    On the trail of evening light.
 
    (American Indian - Navajo)

3. I am a shooting star woman, says
   I am a shooting star woman, says
   I am a whirling woman of colors, says
   I am a whirling woman of colors, says
   I am a clean woman, says
   I am a clean woman, says
   I am a woman who whistles, says
   I am a woman who looks into the insides of things, says
   I am a woman who investigates, says
   I am a woman wise in medicine, says
   I am a mother woman, says
   Holy Father, says
   I am a woman wise in medicine, says
   I bring my lord eagle, says
   I bring my opossum, says
   I bring my lord eagle, says
   I bring my whirlwind of colors, says
   Father in heaven, says
   Saint Christ, says
   Father scribe, says
   I am a spirit woman, says
   I am a woman of light, says
   I am a woman of the day, says
   I am a Book woman, says
   Holy Father, says
   I am a saint woman, says
   I am a spirit woman, says
   I am a woman who looks into the insides of things, says
   I am a whirling woman of colors, says
   Holy Father, says
   With the saint, says
   With the saintess, says
   Holy Mother, says
   I am a spirit woman, says
   I am a saint woman, says
   I am a Lord eagle woman, says
 
(Mesoamerican Indian - Mazatec - Maria Sabina - 1956)


4. I am of the nature to grow old.
   There is no way to escape growing old.
   I am of the nature to have ill-health.
   There is no way to escape having ill-health.
   I am of the nature to die.
   There is no way to escape death.
   All that is dear to me and everyone I love
   are of the nature to change.
   There is no way to escape being separated from them.
   My actions are my only true belongings.
   I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
   My actions are the ground on which I stand.
 
   (Buddha)

5.  PROMISE YOURSELF
    To be so strong that nothing
    can disturb your peace of mind.
    To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
    to every person you meet.
    To make all your friends feel
    that there is something in them.
    To look at the sunny side of everything
    and make your optimism come true.
    To think only the best, to work only for the best,
    and to expect only the best.
    To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
    as you are about your own.
    To forget the mistakes of the past
    and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
    To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
    and give every living creature you meet a smile.
    To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
    that you have no time to criticize others.
    To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for  fear,
    and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
    To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
    not in loud words but great deeds.
    To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
    so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
 
    (The optimist Creed - Christian D. Larson - 1912)

6. I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
   And what I assume you shall assume,
   For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
   I loafe and invite my soul,
   I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
   My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
   Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
   I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
   Hoping to cease not till death.
   Creeds and schools in abeyance,
   Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
   I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
   Nature without check with original energy.
 
   (Verse 1 - Song of Myself - Walt Whitman)

7.  May the whole world enjoy
    good health,
    long life,
    prosperity,
    happiness and peace.
    Om, shanti, shanti, shanti.
 
    (Kundalini yoga master - vethathiri maharishi)

8.  Deep peace I breathe into you, O weariness, here:
    O ache, here!
    Deep peace, a soft white dove to You;
    Deep peace, a quiet rain to you;
    Deep peace, an ebbing wave to you!
    Deep peace, red wind of the east from you;
    Deep peace, grey wind of the west to You;
    Deep peace, dark wind of the north from you;
    Deep peace, blue wind of the south to you!
    Deep peace, pure red of the flame to you;
    Deep peace, pure white of the moon to you;
    Deep peace, pure green of the grass to you;
    Deep peace, pure brown of the earth to you;
    Deep peace, pure grey of the dew to you,
    Deep peace, pure blue of the sky to you!
    Deep peace of the running wave to you,
    Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
    Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
    Deep peace of the sleeping stones to you!
    Deep peace of the Yellow Shepherd to you,
    Deep peace of the Wandering Shepherdess to you,
    Deep peace of the Flock of Stars to you,
    Deep peace from the Son of Peace to you,
    Deep peace from the heart of Mary to you,
    And from Briget of the Mantle
    Deep peace, deep peace!
    And with the kindness too of the Haughty Father
    Peace!
    In the name of the Three who are One,
    Peace!
    And by the will of the King of the Elements,
    Peace! Peace!
 
     (The Dominion of Dreams: Under a Dark Star - Fiona MaCleod - 1895)

9.  From the blossoming lotus of devotion, at the centre of my heart,
    Rise up, O compassionate master, my only refuge!
    I am plagued by past actions and turbulent emotions:
    To protect me in my misfortune
    Remain as the jewel-ornament on the crown of my head, the mandala of great bliss,
    Arousing all my mindfulness and awareness, I pray!
 
   (prayer to invoke the presence of the master - jikmé lingpa)

10. I am the Soul.
    I am the Light Divine.
    I am Love.
    I am Will.
    I am Fixed Design.
 
    (Invocation of the Soul - Alice Bailey)

11.  Lady, weave your web of change
     Bring the world to peace again
     Let us all be kin together
     So Mote It Be
 
     (Rite of Peace For All - Rowan Fairgrove)

12. Our old women gods, we ask you!
    Our old women gods, we ask you!
    Then give us long life together,
    May we live until our frosted hair is white;
    May we live till then.
    This life that now we know!
 
    (American Indian - Tewa)

13. When I despair,
    I remember that all through history
    the ways of truth and love have always won.
    There have been tyrants, and murderers,
    and for a time they can seem invincible,
    but in the end they always fall.
    Think of it - always.
 
    (Mahatma Gandhi - early 20th century)\


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 353rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Dona Nobis Pacem - Praying for Peace

Sixty-three years ago, Operation Overlord took place. The Battle of Normandy began as Allied troops hit the beaches of Normandy, France hoping to allay the evil of Hitler's regime.

Now, with the members of that generation dying and giving way to the younger set, the lessons learned in the 20th century apparently need to be taught all over again.

The world is fraught with war, turmoil, personal indignities, violence, hatred, racism, hunger, poverty, and such a multitude of evils that one can scarcely recount them all.

Peace means more than just dropping guns. It means loving one another, caring for one another, and working together as a society to cure the injustices of the world. It means realizing the importance of each individual, each mind, each heart and extending hands in hopes of healing and comforting.

These days such efforts seem far and few between. This is a time of celebrity culture, when headlines are made by spoiled brats entering jail cells, not children being beaten or starved. How easy it is to forget things are not right in everyone's world when you're doing okay and ignoring the important stories on the inside of the newspapers.

My hope is that everyone stops for just a brief moment today and looks around. Say a prayer of thanksgiving for what you have and offer a prayer of help for the person you know who needs it most. Maybe today is the day we all reach out a hand and offer that healing touch.

Wake up, world! Pray for Peace.

*****

The Peace Globe movement was started by Mimi at Mimiwrites. It's an effort to remind everyone that each person can make a difference in the world. Visit her website so you can make your own Peace Globe and join us in making life better for all.

I've Come to Talk with You Again

Have you ever noticed how people come and go in your life?

For the longest time I had no clue what the majority of my high school classmates were doing. Then along came our 30th reunion and now many of them litter my Facebook newsfeed. I know their children, who they married, when they are vacation. I hit that little "like" button occasionally but I'm not sure they even know who I am.

Over the years I have worked many places. My writing for the local newspaper has kept me in touch with those folks who work there for 30 years. It would be hard not to work with someone for that long and not consider them in some manner to be a friend. But they're not on Facebook. Doesn't matter, though, because all I have to do is pick up the phone, or stop by.

One of my closest friends is also a former coworker from all the way back to 1983. I have known her almost as long as I've known my husband. She's not on Facebook, either. Neither is another close friend of 15 years. I even have a pen pal that I've been corresponding with for 13 years. We've exchanged thousands of emails.

They are dear old friends, and they don't need to see my status to know how I am.

I also have new friends (known for less than 10 years), whom I love dearly. I don't know how long they will be in my life, but I'm grateful they are there.

Sometimes people come and go so quickly you wonder what it is they wanted. Were they there to teach me something? Was I teaching them? Was it a hit and run and nobody stopped?

People I worked with, people I had classes with, people I've interviewed over the years - sometimes they all jumble up in my brain. I long ago stopped guessing who people were when they stopped me in the grocery store and carried on a conversation. I would always guess wrong. "So how's your job at the bank?" would invariably end up with a huffy, "I work at the library!" or something.

Now I just ask generic questions unless I figure out who I'm talking to. It's not that I don't care, it's just that I've met so many thousands of people over the years, between school, jobs, and volunteer work, that I become confused. Because usually the grocery store or the gas station is not where I met them in the first place, and I associate people with place.

I am not sure how I feel about the return of people I used to know into my life, especially via Facebook. It seems a bit artificial. The generation coming up now will never know the value of losing touch with someone (and there is value to that). They will be Facebook friends with their kindergarten class for the rest of their lives. Maybe 35 years from now they will wonder who so-and-so is and why they are friends. Or not. Collecting numbers of friends, quantity, not quality, seems to be the in thing.

While I've connected with some high school and college classmates, for the most part, none of my former coworkers have bothered to engage me on Facebook. This does not bother me; I am not sure I would know who they were unless they reminded me. Sometimes I dream of them - the woman who worked with me who helped me from my car when I was rear-ended in front of the office one day, or the woman at one office that I disliked so much that I hoped she would accidentally lock herself up in the vault in the basement and have to spend the weekend there. Sometimes these old coworkers return to me like wraiths hell-bent on revenge, other times they are visions trapped in mist, beckoning me.

Whatever they're doing, I still don't remember their names.

Sometimes people in my life come and go. I see them for a while, then I don't for a long time, and then they are back again. I am generally glad to see them.

I've heard it said that people come into your life for a reason. Usually, I have no idea why I have met the people I have. Lately, though, some folks in my life have made it pretty clear why they're in my life, and I am learning interesting and useful life lessons from them. I am grateful to these mentors (who don't even know they're teaching me) because they are making me a better person.

And becoming a better person is what it is all about, isn't it? Isn't that part of loving the people you're with?

I found this online. Do you think this is true?

People come into your path for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you know which one it is, you will know what to do with that person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty . . .
To provide you with guidance and support . . .
To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually . . .
They may seem like they are a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then without any wrongdoing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die . . .
Sometimes they walk away . . .
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. . .
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled . . .
Their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has now been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON.
Because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons.
Things you must build upon to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind, but friendship is clairvoyant.
Thank you for being a part of my life . . .
Whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime
~ unknown author

More Than Six Books

Thought I'd play this little meme today. I swiped it from a Facebook friend.

INSTRUCTIONS: Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Copy this into your NOTES (or your blog). Bold those books you've read in their entirety (I put them in red instead), italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (all)

5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman (all)

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (all)

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis

34 Emma – Jane Austen

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere

39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50 Atonement – Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52 Dune – Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72 Dracula – Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses – James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal – Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession – AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94 Watership Down – Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
.

Dona Nobis Pacem

The Peace Globe initiative is a blogger movement to promote world peace. Many bloggers are participating in the hopes that things will change.

Poverty. Hunger. Cold. Wars. Global Warming. Health. Wrongful imprisonment. Greed. Corruption. Ignorance.

It's a long list of troubles. The issues circle this ol' globe and not a single area, including my own, is immune.

I believe there can be a better world. A world where resources are shared and not hoarded by the few. A world where the land is respected, not raped. A world where the small and weak are regarded with wonder, not tramped on and forgotten.

There must be another way. The one we're using isn't working very well.

Seemingly one little voice crying out amidst the turmoil won't be heard, but maybe the hundreds, thousands, millions of us who know that the world can be a nicer place if we only decide it will be can raise our voices until the sound smashes the sound barrier.

Maybe then those with the authority will listen. Because that is the power of prayer, and I pray every day for a better and more just world. Please join me.

Amen.