Have a Stompin' Shootin Christmas

Today on the news regarding the biggest shopping day of the year come two reports:

A 34 year old employee of Walmart in Long Island, NY, who was stampeded to death as all those eager shoppers plowed into the store, knocking the door right out of the frame, and then stampeded the man to death. I guess getting those good deals was worth more than this man's life! And to top it off, the crowds were angry when they were told to leave the store so the officials could investigate. One angry customer was heard saying, "Well, I was in the line from 4am this morning! They're animals!"

Then, out in Palm Desert, at a Toys R us, two women got into a fist fight, and their two husbands pulled out guns and shot each other to death. But at least they got that special toy for their kids! Dad is dead, and mom's are arrested, but the kids will be so much better off because they got that toy they always wanted! GEEEZ!

Really conjurs up the emotions of love and good will toward all, doesn't it? It reminds me of the angels ensuring that the birth of the Christ Child is bringing peace on earth. Unless maybe you are in Toys R Us or Walmart! That's what I think of when I want to go Christmas shopping. . . take my hand gun with me. You never know when you might just have to shoot someone in order to ensure getting that special toy.

One more reason for me to remain in the house and let the crowds die down a whole lot, and maybe even buy my gifts on the computer from home.

Eucharista

Today, I have received two messages of thank you. One was a note in the mail for serving communion at our church last week. It was from someone I barely know, and so took me very much by surprise. . . a pleasant one. The second one was from a young woman I helped this last week. And one of the best parts of doing something for someone else, is it is as much a gift to the giver as to the receiver, sometimes moreso.

The Greek word for Communion is Eucharista, translated as "good gift/grace" and signifies the undeserved gift we receive in Jesus' death on the cross for our forgiveness. It also has an idea of gratitude. In the words of institution said over the elements prior to distributing the elements to the people of the congregation, it is said, "Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples. . . "

There is a power to being grateful, or giving thanks. There is a power in saying Thank you to someone else. It means that we are not taking for granted the act of kindness, nor having any sense of entitlement in receiving anything. It means we acknowledge that person, and whatever it is they did, and that our lives are made better because of them. Again, it has an effect on ourselves as well as the person we give thanks to.

But especially now with Thanksgiving being upon us, it does make us take stock of our lives, of the people that we encounter, and the blessings we have, whether or not our lives are perfect. There is something powerful to be able to identify things to be thankful for, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. It is more than seeing our lives as half full. It is an expression of hope; of knowing that life's meaning is held in greater things than the daily circumstances of our lives that may be challenging or painful. It is being grateful for a person's life, even when they have just died. It is being grateful for the people who gather around us and provide support and strength for us when life hits us hard. Sometimes it can be as simple as a friend of mine who was just in a horrible biking accident and is now a paraplegic. He was thankful for some mashed potatoes that he was able to eat a couple of days ago. Simple pleasures.

*So, this year I am thankful for my family. A wonderful son who gives me daily joy and for whom I am so proud; and loving parents, who have always been there for me for the last 51 years, and who now give me the privelge of being there for them as they grow older.
* I am thankful for my family as well for the sense of humor we are able to maintain in the midst of mom's dementia, and so much of that joyful and healthy attitude comes from her.
* I am thankful for having the opportunity to have a ministry where I can be involved with peoples' lives at a very sacred time of life, and to make a difference in tangible ways for the patients and families, that often extend beyond my time of interacting with them.
* I am grateful for the friends in my life who have been in my life for long and short periods of time, but make my life so rich with laughter, and affection and soul touching moments.
* of course, the things such as a home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear and many other creature comforts.
*Most of all for the blessings and graces that I receive daily from God who I love, and who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone!

Beannacht

This Celtic prayer is for a young woman who became a friend. A single mom, cared for by a whole hospice team of single mom's, who were all touched deeply by the life and death of this beautiful soul. This prayer/poem resonated with me for her. Now, it is our task to learn from her spiritual virtues, and to incorporate what we learned from her into our own lives.


BEANNACHT( Celtic Prayer, for a friend)



On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance to balance you.

And when your eyes freeze behind the grey window

and the ghost of loss gets in to you,

May a flock of colours, indigo, red, green and azure blue

come to awaken in you a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays in the curach of thought

and a stain of ocean blackens beneath you,

May there come across the waters a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow wind work these words of love around you,

an invisible cloak to mind your life.



John O’Donohue ( A Roman Catholic Priest in Connemara, Ireland.)

Last night listening to the news I was absolutely stunned to learn that an alarming number of guns were sold the day after the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. It sent a chill through my body. Some of the sentiments that were articulated about it, was a fear that increased gun control laws would be put in place, but others were far more worrisome. They were those who continue to believe the lies that Barack Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist. And I would include those who are just plain racist and do not want a Black man in the White House as President of the United States. At least one attempt was thwarted already, thank God.

What causes someone to be so fearful and so irrational as to want to kill someone who has a different color of skin? What causes one to be so filled with hate that they would want to eliminate one with whom they disagree? I find it appalling and scary. And I have to admit I am absolutely shocked that there are still so many who are in that place in the United States in the year 2008?

I have no idea how to change that, or to bring them around to see that those who may speak a different language, or have a different color of skin are not to be feared based soley on the exterior differences. We are all created by the same God. We all want the best for our children. We all want to love and be loved. We all want to be accepted. I would be far more afraid of someone, who feels the need to be violent towards another purely because they express a different viewpoint, or would act violently towards a person because they believed a lie about them and never took the time to check it out.

So I am left to pray for changed hearts. I pray that those who would want to harm another for being different would be stopped in their tracks. I pray for protection of all those who would be the target of a hateful person's gun.

And I continue to be mystified as to why anyone should be allowed to purchase an assault gun for private use, who isn't part of the military. I will do everything in my power to stop one's ability to do so, for their sake as well as everyone elses.

Change is Difficult

About 8 years ago, when I was going through a difficult patch in my life, a friend gave me a wonderful little book by Robert Johnson, entitled "Who Moved My Cheese?" It is a description of how we adjust to change. It is a story of 4 little mice named, Hem and Haw, Sniff and Scurry. They each are used to coming to the same place every day to get their cheese, and one day they get there and there is no cheese. Sniff and Scurry go "sniffing" and "scurrying" to find new cheese, and they find cheese, and actually find that the cheese is better than they have ever found before. Hem and Haw keep going back to the same place and get angrier and angrier, but they don't do anything to try to move beyond their anger and grief. It was a very important book for me, on a emotional and spiritual level.

I want to hand this book to the 43% of the country who are not real happy about the election of Barack Obama to the office of president. And while I understand that they need a time to grieve, and part of that grief process is anger, eventually they will have to move on. The unknowns of the future are a source of great fear, but the fearful emotions are often much bigger than the reality itself.

But see, the secret of the story "Who Moved My Cheese?" is that Sniff and Scurry found a better quality of cheese than they had been used to. But the other important part of it is Sniff and Scurry went back to try and bring Hem and Haw along. They went back to the original place, and left encouraging messages, called "the Handwriting on the Wall," to help Hem and Haw get out of their places of anger and being stuck in the anger, to go out and seek the better cheese for them. Sniff and Scurry also let Hem and Haw know that if they kept going back to the same empty places that don't work, they will die.

The places I believe right now are so Hem and Haw"ish" are:

* those who are already making moves to impeach Obama before he has ever even been sworn in.

* Those who are trying to say that the Obama campaign "stole" the election.

* Those who are reacting to the choices of the cabinet negatively and assuming that they reflect a contradiction to the campaign promises.


To all of those, I would say, let's relax. The country and the world have spoken, with a collective sigh of relief for President Elect Obama's election. The cheese is no longer in the McCain Palin Maze. Let's allow President Elect Obama to lead. and who knows, we might find that the cheese is better quality, better tasting, and better for all of us in general.

And most of all, let us all be reminded that God is still in the heavens and in control.

Amen? Amen!

We Have An Answer

Last night, when it was announced that Obama had won the presidency, it was an amazing moment. And while I know there is great sadness and disappointment on the part of many, there is a whole country and world who are thrilled with the outcome. I am one of them! A friend of mine and I went to Pasadena Hilton to celebrate. As I arrived at the hotel, I saw two little black girls around 7 or 8 years old jumping up and down, hugging each other, and in absolute glee. As I entered the ballroom, there was music and celebration and smiles, but the importance of that celebration was that it was on the faces of about every possible race of our country; on the faces of young and old, men and women, gay and straight. That to me is the power of this election. There were expressions of joy and hope on the faces of young people who had been too bored or at least not excited enough to leave their couches, who were 100% engaged. There were young and old African Americans who had tears in their eyes, of hope, and of joy at the end of a very long and painful struggle.

Listening to Donna Brazile, on ABC this morning, stated the historical importance of this moment is talking about the steps of the US Capital building that was built by slaves, will be the very steps where Obama will take his oath of office. The slaves never would have had in their imaginations that one day there would be a black man as a president.

But, with all of the excitement here in the US, along with around the world, there is also the reality that we have only just begun on the hard work of bringing our country back to a healthier place. It will be no easy task, and so my prayers are with President elect Barack Obama, Joe Biden and whoever will now become the cabinet members and the presidential staff members, for strength and vision, for hope and the ability to discern the true needs and the best solutions for our collective future.


God Bless the USA.

My name is Mama for Obama and I approve this message.

The Spirituality of Voting

Today, was a day of great importance, and we don't even have the answer yet. But this morning I woke up at about 4:59am with a sense of great anticipation. I got up and sat quietly thinking about this day, which I am anticipating will be a historical day. Within me, there was more than a sense of urgency, of getting my votes in and being a responsible citizen, but that it was truly a process of searching my heart for what I believe, what are the most important values within me, and then speaking about it through how I vote. It goes beyond a political belief, but a deeply spiritual one, of how I am to respond to the needs of the day. How do I feel God leading within me? And I acknowledge that those who voted differently than I did, very likely went through the same process I did, and believe for themselves to be a spiritual process.

And I am grateful that we live in a country that, inspite of the political differences and the intensity of the debates, we can still go into the polling booth, cast our vote, and have a transition of power without a coup, or violence. We do live in a wonderful country.

My prayer is for the candidate I chose to win, but more than that, I hope that whoever wins, there will be a coming together, and working towards a healthier country, because we find ways to move in positive directions for the common good.