Journal of Sacred Work

3 responses to “Days 1-3 – New Year’s Actions”

1. 

   ~liz Wessel

   January 1, 2010

   As I reflect on the wisdom offered in today’s New Year message and your thought provoking question I realize it is all about attitude, my attitude. I will keep the focus of change on myself, not on others. It seems easy to find fault outside myself rather than to look inward and what a waste of precious energy. I will focus on keeping my heart open and accepting of “what is” speak from my heart, not run from difficult conversations… a life long quest.
   Happy New Year Erie and everyone! May it be a year filled with abundant actions aligned with Love’s energy.

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2. 

   Bobbye Terry

   January 1, 2010

   Life can punch a person right in the gut, and he can go down without a whimper–OR he can keep on going and show that life circumstances are merely an illusion of what truly is, an illusion colored by perception.
   Your words have hit it right on the head. Yet, it is so hard to remember to take a step back and realize that those circumstances that threaten to sweep us off our feet don’t have to do so. It takes courage. That courage comes from strength of character, and strength of character is developed and maintained by the divine spirit living in our lives and through our actions.
   THE RACE FOR MAN
   Based on Hebrews 12:1-15
   We are running in the long race
   Of the brotherhood of man,
   We must persevere and conquer,
   Helping others all we can.
   Discipline is what we all need,
   Discipline He will provide,
   For the pain that we do suffer,
   Fades to peace if we’ll abide.
   Drooping hands we will raise up high,
   Knees we’ll strengthen for the run,
   We’ll race hard and all together,
   For there’s work left to be done.
   Bitterness can not spring up now,
   We must help, give hope to men,
   Strive for peace with those around us,
   Go in faith, and live for Him.
   Happy New Year to you all!

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3. 

   ~liz Wessel

   January 2, 2010

   As I reflect further on one single decision I can make, an action in this new year and distill it down, it is attention. A focused attention, which is prayer. Whether the activity is creative, or as mundane as housework, or as sacred as being present with another. I heard a most inspiring podcast today on Speaking of Faith, called approaching Prayer and I highly recommend a listen.
   The following is an excerpt from Patricia Hampl’s book Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life.
   What is prayer?
   I make a list:
   Praise
   Gratitude
   Begging/pleading/cutting deals
   Fruitless whining and puling
   Focus
   There the list breaks off; I had found my word. Prayer only looks like an act of language; fundamentally, it is a position, a placement of oneself. Focus. Get there, and all that’s left to say is the words. They come: from ancient times (here, the round of Psalms, wheeling through the seasons endlessly in the Office), from the surprisingly eloquent heart (taciturn Thomas last night with his intercession, precise as a poet), from the gush and chatter of the day’s detail longing to be rendered.
   So what is silence?
   Silence speaks, the contemplatives say. But really, I think, silence sorts. An ordering instinct sends people into the hush where the voice can be heard. This is the sorting intelligence of poetry, marked by the unbroken certainty of rhythm, perfect pitch, the placing of things in right order as in metrical form. Not rigid categories, but the recognition of a shape always there but ordinarily obscured by—what? By noise, which is ourselves trying to do the sorting in an order that may be a heroic effort but is bound to be a fantasy.

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