Journal of Sacred Work

Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice-President for the Baptist Healing Trust.

 Winston Churchill once lamented what he called the "the confirmed unteachability of mankind." At the moment of giving his speech before the British House of Commons 75 years ago, facism was actively moving across Europe, with little response shown by European democracies. No doubt Churchill was frustrated, possibly depressed, certainly not optimistic toward the potential for action or response against either Hitler or Mussolini.  Erie Chapman's recounting of the child's query, "Why do adults need to be taught how to love?" may elicit in some the same sense of frustration, depression, or pessimism in our efforts to "Live Love, Not Fear."  In the Little Prince, author Antoine de Saint Exupery, spoke through the words of a child and wrote, "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaing things to them." I don't think that the problem is that we adults don't know how to love, it's that we forget to remember. And so we talk of things that will remind us of the beauty, the joy, the healing that Love brings even for those we might label as "frequent fliers, drug-seekers, the abuser, or the groaner."

       Shakspeare suggested that "beauty is brough by judgment of the eye" (Love's Labours Lost). Philosopher David Hume made the same assessment in less poetic terms: "Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them." Yet The Little Prince also wisely noted "Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Saint Paul encouraged us to focus our attention on those things that are seen with the heart: "you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worse; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse" (The Message, Phil 4:8). Poet Robert Selle wrote:

THINK:
Of stepping on shore
And finding it Heaven!
Of taking hold of a hand
And finding it God's Hand!
Of breathing a new air
And finding it celestial air!
Of feeling invigorated
And finding it immortality!
Of passing from storm and tempest
To an unbroken calm;
Of waking up and finding
Yourself HOME!

     The good news is that each and every encounter we have is an opportunity to step onto shore and find ourselves in a sacred space, a place of home. Each time we take a hand, we can find there the hand of Love itself. And with each day we breathe, we can breathe celestial air. We need not succumb to the despair that adults must be taught again and again. We just have to remember to remember! Live Love!

The picture above is from the St. Joseph Health System's webpage titled "Sacred Encounters." You will enjoy reading the stories shared there. http://hospitaljobsinoc.com/sacred_encounters.html