Food for the Soul | September 9th, 2020

9/9/2020 

 Dear Friends, 

Today is not one of my best days, and I am sure we all have a day in which we are feeling down and not in the least inspired. That’s what is plaguing me today. I am supposed to write/cook up something, and I come up blank. I’m lacking ingredients and I don’t feel like shopping.  

 I am thinking of the daily meditations I get from Richard Rohr. Over several weeks he spoke of the pattern of spiritual transformation the way he sees it: Order – Disorder – Reorder. That makes sense to me. First you live in a state of reasonable order, then something upsets that order and you have to live through a time when nothing seems right, everything is discombobulated, and eventually a new order sets in and you accept it. I think we are going through a prolonged period of disorder, not only I, but the world in general. As we experience this we may wish to hold on to a few old fashioned values and prepare ourselves to be open for new things we haven’t glimpsed yet. In the Gospel of Thomas there is a beautiful Logion (saying) that summarizes this:  

 “If you are searching, you must not stop until you find. When you find, however, you will become troubled. Your confusion will give way to wonder. In wonder you will reign over all things. Your sovereignty will be your rest.”  

 PRAYER 

 A Prayer Among Friends 

By John Daniel 

 Among other wonders of our lives 

We are alive with one another 

We walk here in the light of this unlikely world 

That isn’t ours for long. 

May we spend generously the time we are given. 

May we enact our responsibilities as thoroughly as  

we enjoy our pleasures. 

May we see with clarity. 

May we seek a vision that serves all beings. 

May we honor the mystery surpassing our sight. 

And may we hold in our hands the gift of good work 

And bear it forth whole 

As we were borne forth to this one Earth 

This homeland of all we love. 

 PRACTICE 

 Give yourself the gift of solitude, silence, meditation, and awe. This is how we learn to love everything and everyone. 

 POEM 

 When I Am Among the Trees 

  -by Mary Oliver 

 When I am among the trees, 

especially the willows and the honey locust, 

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, 

they give off such hints of gladness. 

I would almost say that they save me, and daily. 

 I am so distant from the hope of myself, 

in which I have goodness and discernment, 

and never hurry through the world 

but walk slowly, and bow often.  

Around me the trees stir in their leaves 

and call out, “Stay awhile.” 

The light flows from their branches. 

And they call again “It’s simple,” they say, 

“and you, too, have come 

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled 

with light, and to shine.”