Scripps Sundays

  This blessing will (hopefully) be what you need for these days, because the world needs what you carry, needs your steady presence, your give-a-damn, your tender heart, your unflinching faith. Sarah Bessey I suppose this blessing could throw gasoline on the burning rage in your heart, igniting and becoming a wildfire of righteous anger. This might help for a while. God knows it's appropriate to be angry. I suppose this blessing could stoke your cold fears the ones that keep you up at night, in fear for your children (there is no such thing as other people's children). It could become a litany of legitimate horror and anxiety, hand-wringing and pacing beside you. I suppose this blessing could excuse and mince words, it could justify and blur the jagged edges, it could cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace, and probably shame you a bit. I suppose this blessing could offer weak comfort and bland generalities of passive hope. It could pat you on the head, ignore reality...

  People often say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. Salma Hayek and some verses below that I read today in honor of your weekend of dancing: " Always dance with joy before our Honored Chief! I will say it again: dance with joy! Let everyone see how kind and thoughtful you are. Our Honored Chief is close at hand. Do not let your hearts be weighed down with anything. Instead, with every step you take, send your voice to the Great Spirit, asking him for the things you need. And in all your prayers, remember to give him thanks. Then the peace and harmony of the Great Spirit, which goes far beyond our small and weak ways of thinking, will watch over your hearts and minds through the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).  Last of all, my sacred family members, if anything can be seen as good and honorable, think deeply about these things. Things that are true and noble, uprigh...

In addition to things that I posted yesterday , here are some poems that Catherine White shared with me today....  💙💗  CONTINUE -Maya Angelou  My wish for you Is that you continue          Continue To be who and how you are To astonish a mean world With your acts of kindness          Continue To allow humor to lighten the burden Of your tender heart          Continue In a society dark with cruelty To let the people hear the grandeur Of God in the peals of your laughter           Continue To let your eloquence Elevate the people to heights They had only imagined          Continue To remind the people that Each is as good as the other And that no one is beneath Nor above you         Continue To remember you...

  Brushing Teeth  So much of life, unavoidably is just maintenance.  Things need upkeep or they fall apart.  We spend most of our days and much of our energy simply staving off inevitable entropy and decay.    This is especially true of our bodies.   Our lives are taken up with the care and maintenance of our bodies—we have to clean them, feed them, deal with their wastes, exercise them, and give them reset, again and again, every day. And that's when we are well and things are running smoothly.  Even with all that care, our bodies eventually break down and we get sick, and require even more care.  Having a body is a lot of work.    This morning, I brushed my teeth- a mindless habit ingrained in me since before I can remember.  I do so morning and night almost every day. I say "almost" because, at times, the sheer necessity of daily teeth brushing leaves m...

John 11:32-44/ New International Version 32  When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.  34  “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35  Jesus wept. 36  Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37  But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38  Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  39  “Take away the stone,” he said. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40...