Archive for July, 2016
Reflections on Life
A recent conversation centered around the meaning of life and what is it about, sent me searching for insight from others. I found the following quotes. It seems a good day to share them with you.
“Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
~George Bernard Shaw
“My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.”
~Cary Grant
“The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection.”
~Henri Nouwen
“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.”
~Sai Baba
Have a great week!
Nourish
The plum tree is dripping with ripe fruit. Soon the pears will be ready to harvest. Relishing the first heirloom tomatoes from the garden, I am thankful for the bounty and variety of good, healthy food that is available to me. We need good food to keep us well nourished.
So, too, we need food to nourish our souls and our spirits. We thrive on the loving touch of others; on kind, encouraging words, on compassionate understanding and support, on an active spiritual practice.
“Seeds of faith are always within us; sometimes it takes a crisis to nourish and encourage their growth.”
~Susan L Taylor
We are a world in crisis. This week I encourage you to participate in healthy nourishing, in all it’s many forms.
Community
We all are a part of community. For communities to thrive, they must co-exist harmoniously.
“We are constituted so that simple acts of kindness, such as giving to charity or expressing gratitude, have a positive effect on our long-term moods. The key to the happy life, it seems, is the good life: a life with sustained relationships, challenging work, and connections to community.”
~Paul Bloom
“This world of ours…must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Given recent events in our community at large, there is a lot of work to do. I invite you this week to continue to invest in community.
July 4, 2016
The annual celebration of our independence is here. In spite of this year’s tumultuous political turmoil and the ongoing economic challenges, we remain among the freest people of the world.
“So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that, let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountain let freedom ring.”
~Martin Luther King Jr.
Take a moment today to give thanks for our freedom.
