Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The end of the year

Dear Ones,

Does it seem as if time is passing quickly? I suppose it is for all of us - after all, our lives, our important time to live and breathe and have our being - goes so quickly when we think about all those who have lived and died before us.

Mary Oliver, the poet, asks: What is it you will do with your one wild and precious life?

I like those words: wild, precious.

Wild because we get to make up our lives. We get to live them as fully ourselves as possible. We get to peel away the layers, live less with the expectations others have for us, and more with our own desires for ourselves. While we may not have complete freedom, we are free to know our feelings and to have our feelings and to express our feelings, and to allow that for others. It takes some work to get to the wildness of our lives, but the work is worthy work.

Precious because this is the one life we have, for now, as far as we know it. Some seem to know that we've lived before, and who we have been, and what important or unimportant things we have done. They may be right - I'm not willing to question their understanding, if that's how it is for them. But as far as we can discern, it seems as if all we have is this moment, this important moment.

At the end of the year, reflect on your life. Have you been living its wildness, its preciousness? If you have, then continue, for you are following the path you were meant to travel. If you have not, then how will you live from this day forward?
Kindly,
me

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Something so ordinary

Dear Friends,

Something so ordinary as the birth of a child. So many babies have been born in places unremembered: on the road, in a ditch, in the desert, in a car on a city street. Maybe someone, hopefully someone has told each child their story.

Something so ordinary as the birth of a child. People are still telling the story. People are still recounting the time of the child's birth. This was the long-awaited child, the birth of the Christ-child.

Something so ordinary as the birth of a child. Know this birth, in you, also. Feel the gentle movement of the child, now, born in your heart. People are still telling the story of the child, born in your heart, because the child has been born in theirs, as well.

This is Christmas. Something so ordinary, and wonderful beyond words.

meb

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

For today

Dear Ones,
For today, give thanks. Give thanks to the Universe for providing you with life. Give thanks for what you have - a warm bed, a warm house, food on the table, a job, health care. Give thanks for the people in your life, for those you love: your partner, your child, your friends, the person who checks out your groceries at the store. Give thanks for services: for the green light, for the cross walk, for the post office. Give thanks for the things you can see: a little bird at the window, chirping for a partner, alone, early in the morning; a lovely cloud, changing shape; the sliver of a new moon; a little boy missing his two front teeth.

Give thanks for all things. As you walk today, give thanks simply for giving thanks. That's it. You only have to make this your practice today.

These are the holidays. So often the holidays don't/can't live up to our expectations. Shift your focus from the fun you're supposed to be having to something deeper, and much more practical.

Ah, yes, thanks! Thanks, all, for being here, for you are a part of my world.
Kindly,
meb

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Finding Peace

Dear Ones,

Maybe you're a manager. Maybe you're a parent. Maybe you're an administrator. Whatever your role, it is up to you to find peace in the middle of hard times.

Conflicting news reports and the reality of our lives and the lives of people we know tell us that these are hard times. We each have our own way of handling hard times. What is yours? Tell the truth! How do you cope with difficult times? Do you deny them, and act as if things are the same as they always have been? Do you get strident and simply march on? Do you hold up your fist and blame the government, or the leaders, or anyone else in your way?

Find peace. That's your role today. That doesn't mean that things aren't tough. What it means is that you will make finding peace your goal for the day, come what may.

Warmly,
meb

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

My heart is at Peace

Dear Friends,

Like you, I am concerned, frightened, and sad about the things I see around me. I want to make a difference, yet what I am able to do seems to be so little. I think about the little ones, afraid in their homes. I think about the people - even in the United States - who must make the decision not to get medical help because they cannot afford it. I think about neighbors who are angry with their neighbors. I think about the hungry. I think about those people - this moment - who are living in violent homes. I think about those people - this moment - whose streets have become the places of war. I think about leaders who want to destroy some of the people who have entrusted them to lead.

Like you, my list goes on and on. This is a difficult world, and for many, many, many human beings, this is a world that does not bring them what they need to live.

Can I make the world better by laying out the difficult places? I struggle with this. How can I make the world better?

I trust that even those whose lives are simple, devoted to prayer, are making this world a better place. Their hearts are at peace. My heart is at peace. Your heart is at peace.

As you go out to be in your world today, remember your peaceful heart. Enter your world with a heart of peace, come what may.
meb