Sunday Sun

Chimney Rock, NC. This is where they shot a good portion of the movie, Last of the Mohicans
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A beautiful day with temps close to freaking 80 degrees. Gorgeous. I spent most of it laying around the couch on a heating pad. I was online off and on, did some Nano writing, then tried to get outside and move some...having back spasms that make it hard to do much of anything.

I have had a quiet and restful day. Not inspired to write much, and then I read the entry for November 8th in my book called Simple Abundance~ A Daybook of Comfort and Joy...by Sarah Ban Breathnach. The entry today is called Everyday Life is the Prayer. Here it is:

"Some women know they pray. Other women think they don't because they aren't down on their knees morning and night. But they're up in the dark with sick children, visiting an elderly parent on thei lunch hour, supporting the dreams of those they love with with their work, helping a friend bear grief or rejoice, nourishing bodies and souls. This,too,is prayer.

For whether we realize it or not, with every breath, with every heartbeat, women pray. We pray with desire, longing,hunger, thirst, sighs, remorse, regret. We pray with disappointment, discouragement, despair, disbelief. We pray with anger, rage, jealousy, envy. We pray with pleasure, contentment, happiness, exultation, joy. We pray with gratefulness, acknowledgment, appreciation, acceptance, relief. We pray when we comfort, cheer, console. We pray when we laugh. We pray when we cry. We pray when we work and play. We pray when we make love or make a meal. We pray when we create and when we admire creation. One way or another, we pray. Everyday life IS the prayer. How we conduct it, celebrate it, consecrate it. ..."


This really got me thinking. This short excerpt from the words for today holds me enthralled....it holds my life to a higher standard. It celebrates life. It makes me partners with God on so many levels. It gives great value and immense grace to the lives we lead. When Meister Eckart said...If the only prayer you said was "Thank YOU" it would suffice...I began to think of my relationship in the Universe as a gift from and to my Creator. When I thought of myself as a gift, my value increased in my own eyes. When I think of prayer as conversation in every day life...why it opens all sort of possibilities to me!

Love is the dialect of the Divine. When we reach out to one another, when we care for one another...when we make our lives an arena for service in this world, then and only then are we truly dancing the cosmic dance. I dance with God. God dances with me. And then I am able to know love. (I sound like Rumi...or Hafiz...lol) And this, I think, is prayer. A whole body conversation with the Divine, a dance, a golden leaf, floating down on the breeze and falling falling falling.



Namaste.

Thursday Mornings Sure Feel FIne..

Didn't post last night, as I got home late from a meeting and then a foray into the big grocery there in town. Needed apples and Good and Plentys. Yes. I needed licorice. And then I ate it until I wanted to puke. lol Somedays are just like that. This morning I feel a little hung over from all the sugar. When I used to have presents of the wonderful Kookaburra licorice lovingly sent me by a friend, it never made me sick. lol Now I can't find it anywhere...a lovely soft licorice, mmmmm.... I slept a little late and then puttered around a bit. I need to get some beans cooking...in the crockpot. I've been hungry for beans lately...I think my pantry has several bags to choose from: Great Northerns, Pintos, and Black Beans. What I really want is Butter Beans..those big limas that melt in your mouth and taste so right piled on a slice of buttered whole grain bread in the bottom of a bowl, with chopped raw onion on top. And fresh ground black pepper. I seem to have a food obsession going on here. lol At my age, and at this point on my life, I find it amazing that I can have so much passion about something so primal. lol I just made a smoothie from 3 overripe bananas, a splash of half and half, a cup or so of water, a few ice cubes, some nutmeg and some Kashi Energy shake mix. It tastes delish! I'm blessed to live in a world where there are so many things right at my fingertips. Bananas, and nutmeg, for instance. And a blender. That works when I plug it in. A phone to be able to call and check on a sick friend. A computer that works (most of the time). A love for the planet I live on that keeps me thinking and mindful of my actions. And mostly for the body I've been given...a body that is resilient and healthy and capable of doing things like carrying me to the back yard to feed the chickens and check the garden for errant veggies and sweeping the back deck. For a body that houses a brain that can read and write and love. That can draw a little and write a little and understand and have empathy for other human beings. That can take simple steps that lead to grand epiphanies. It's the little things that all add up to all the big things. It's my Creator, the wind in the willows, the stars blazing across the night skies...it's fresh clean water and air that is breathable. I'm going to end this with a poem by Hafiz that I found when cleaning my desk this morning. It says it all for me:


Every Child Has known God.
Not the God of names,
Not the God of Don'ts
Not the God who ever does
Anything weird.
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying: "Come, dance with me."
Come.
Dance.
~~Hafiz



Namaste