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INSPIRATION AND REFLECTIONS
You can purchase a copy of Iris' book:
Love your Life: Spiritual Strategies for Creating a
life of love, joy, peace & prosperity
(after you make your purchase it will be emailed to
you in PDF format)
- Somewhere, there are people
- to whom we can speak with passion
- without having the words catch in our throats.
- Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us,
- eyes will light up light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us
- whenever we come into our own power.
- Community means strength that joins our strength
- to do the work that needs to be done.
- Arms to hold us when we falter.
- A circle of healing. A circle of friends.
- Someplace where
- we can be free.
- Starhawk - Dreaming The Dark
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-
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Reflection on The
Weavers by Doris Klein
We were not made to walk in isolation but, in fact, long
for companions who
can share with us this journey of the soul. We find or
create a community
of companions who will join us as we explore and expand
our experience of
the sacred. We each long for a container that will
receive us in our truth
and support us as we grapple with the mysteries of life
and God. We see a
circle that will support us as we reach out in service,
knowing our efforts
are amplified when joined with other hearts and hands.
When these
communities are energizing, compassionate and inclusive,
they reflect the
expansive heart of the Holy One who holds us all.
We have experienced the power of community when we have
shared resources and gifts in various groups, some perhaps quite structured, others loosely
woven. As we seek a faith-community, we long for others who will embrace the deep soul-space within, joining us on
the spiritual path.
We gather together in our churches,
synagogues, mosques, and homes so that we might
explore and implore the Mystery we so long to mirror.
We hunger for a communal expression of joy and
celebration, pain and loss, believing and knowing, that gathered together we are given the gifts of
strength, courage
and compassion to live and act in love.
The Puppet
- If for
an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted me with a
piece of life,
possibly I wouldn't say all that I think, but rather I would think of
all that I say. I would value things,
- not
for their worth but for what they mean.
I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we
close our eyes we lose sixty
seconds of light. I would walk when others hold back, I would wake when
others sleep.
I would listen when others talk, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate
ice cream! If God were to give
me a piece of life, I would dress simply,
throw myself face first into the sun, baring not only my body but also
my soul. My God, if I had a
heart, I would write my hate on ice, and wait for the sun to show.
Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh dream a Benedetti poem, and
a Serrat song would
be the serenade I'd offer to the moon. With my tears I would water
roses, to feel the pain of
their thorns, and the red kiss of their petals... My god, if I had a
piece of life... I wouldn't let a single
day pass
Without telling the people I love that I love them. I would convince
each woman and each man that
they are my favorites, and I would live in love with love. I would show
men how very wrong they
are to think that they cease to be in love when they grow old, not
knowing that they grow old
- when
they cease to be in love!
To a child I shall give wings, but I shall let him learn to fly on his
own. I
would teach the old that
death does not come with old age, but with forgetting. So much have I
learned from you, oh
men...
I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain,
without knowing that real
happiness is in how it is scaled. I have learned that when a newborn
child squeezes for the first
- time
with his tiny fist his father's finger, he has him trapped forever. I
have learned that a man has
the right to look down on another only
when he has to help the other get to his feet.
From you I have learned so many things, but in truth they won't be of
much use, for when I keep
-
them
within this suitcase, unhappily shall I be dying.
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
The Moments
of My High Resolve
Keep fresh before me the
moments of my high resolve.
Despite the dullness and
barrenness of the days that pass, if I search with due diligence, I
can always find a deposit left by some former radiance. But I had
forgotten. At the time it was full-orbed, glorious, and resplendent.
I was sure that I would never forget. In the moment of its fullness,
I was sure that it would illumine my path for all the rest of my
journey. I had forgotten how easy it is to forget.
There was no intent to betray
what seemed so sure at the time. My response was whole, clean,
authentic. But little by little, there crept into my life the dust
and grit of the journey. Details, lower-level demands, all kinds of
cross currents -- nothing momentous, nothing overwhelming, nothing
flagrant -- just wear and tear. If there had been some direct
challenge --a dear-cut issue -- I would have fought it to the end,
and beyond.
In the quietness of this
place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of God, my heart
whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that
in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, in the
days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may
not forget that to which my life is committed.
Keep fresh before me the
moments of my high resolve.
For The Inward Journey
by Howard Thurman
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