Week of Gratitude (days 6&7)

Week of Gratitude Continues (Day 6) ~ today we celebrate with gratitude one of the most precious gifts.  Ourselves.  Resist the urge to consider this a practice of naval gazing and instead be thankful for your hands, head and heart.  It is with these gifts you are able to alter our world for the good.  Reflect on what it is you bring to each important table.  What gifts to you offer your family?  Your vocation? Your friends? Your community?  Your not-so-friends?  Strangers?  Name each and express gratitude for what you are able to offer.  You need not share them but in this week of gratitude it’s important to name them to ourselves and be grateful.  Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude ~  

Week of Gratitude Completes (Day 7) ~ We culminate this week of Gratitude with an intentional practice of using the words ‘Thank you’ aloud, six times an hour, each waking hour of our day.  Every 10 minutes this single act of gratitude.  It may be ‘thank you, creation’ upon waking.  Thank you to a family member for passing you something at the table, ‘thank you’ while brushing your teeth that you live in a country with such fine dental care, ‘thank you’ to the person handing you coffee at a drive thru, ‘thank you’ to a person offering you some feedback in your workplace (positive or negative), thank you to creation that it rained (or didn’t).  Let this simple but intentional practice offers the possibility that for this day, we will be transformed for the better and through our actions and our interactions with others, the world will be better.  Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude

Look forward to a Week of Service, Dec 25-Dec 31.

Gratitude week continues (Day 5)~

Today the focus is on love. Look around with appreciation at the ever presence of love. Even when and where it is not apparent, love resides. It needs our breath to make it real. Grateful for its presence and the possibilities it offers, on this day let us reflect on how we expressed love in our day and how we received love in our day. Where was it present in our homes, in our communities, in our communications, in every practice. Where was it present when we encountered strangers? Friends? Family? Partners? Where was it present when we were alone? Finally, how might we commit differently to love tomorrow? Surely increasing the amount of love in our day will alter the world. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude ~

Week of Gratitude Continues ~

Day 4 ~ Family. Family. Family.  Whether it is the family of origin, family of choice or a special blend of both, today is a wonderful day to:    Breathe in gratitude, speak out love ~

Week of Gratitude Continues ~

Week of Gratitude (Day3)  On this day, we celebrate the gifts birthed from the imaginative and artistic spirits of our human family.  Take time to be awash in the creations that have touched your soul.  From the timeless creations of great artists of old, to the drawing on your refrigerator from a child, bathe in the arts.  For me, the sculpture of Michelangelo, the nature art of Andy Goldsworthy, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, the prose of Edwidge Dandicat, the glass work of Chihuly, every child’s drawing, the music of Peter, Paul & Mary, Aaron Neville and Emma’s Revolution, the friendship bracelets bought in Mexico and the pattern on a favorite sweater ~ to name but a few.  Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude ~

Week of Gratitude Continues ~

Week of Gratitude (Day2) On this day, we celebrate teachers.  Take time to think of those who have shaped you in positive ways. Name their gifts and find a way to acknowledge them with gratitude. (family day is Thursday so gratitude today is focused beyond the family).  Extra credit = and on the other side of the equation, we have willing students.  Name and express gratitude for the opportunity to pass along some passions and/or hard won lessons ~  And so I thank, a treasured elder of many years past, Eleanor Claflin ('Ma Winchester') who taught the gift of presence, taking the time to listen and talk to children and youth on Winchester Common in the 60s and 70s, my high school art teacher, Tom Tracy who taught me to trust the artist within, friend and business colleague Dona Omanoff who taught outrageous authenticity always has a place even if it's best partially muted from time to time, Hope Johnson who teaches grace and presence in all word and deed, Pat Marston & Jory Agate who taught/teach radical hospitality, Gert McNally & Gini Wight who taught friendship at its finest, Liz Weber who teaches me about living, Helen Bishop who taught generosity of head and heart even when its about sharing one's own pain, Janice Marie Johnson who teaches words really do make a difference, Jack Mendelsohn and Vic Carpenter who teach commitment to linked generations and that one is never 'done,' Sean Fletcher who taught 'showing up' fully in body and spirit, Diane Fasulo who teaches acceptance and advocacy for all of our children and adults, especially when they have differing needs and abilities, Dean Fasulo who taught me to embrace people who are different because of the different way they moved through the world rather than despite it, Naomi King who teaches alignment with the spirit, the youth of my congregation who teach me about our world and their generation and how to be in authentic relationship across the generations over and over and over again, the entire UUCM congregation who teaches and learns ministry with me each day, each student I've ever had in the pool.  You taught/teach me trust, achievement comes in all sorts of measures and glee.

There are so many, many more who have had the fortitude to teach me on the journey on days when I arrived eager to learn and days when I was, well ................. less than eager!

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude ~

Week of Gratitude ~

Week of Gratitude (Day1) Dear creation, thank you for this day. This gray, moist, delicious day of possibilities. Waking up once more in this world is a gift for which I am grateful.  A gift that each of us will choose to put to some use.  In receiving the gift, I am aware of the many for whom the gift arrives with pain and oppression.  My own arrives mostly unburdened and certainly wrapped in the privilege of place, heritage and access.  My faith calls me to use it well and in service to the belief that one day, the rise of the sun is a blessing to all creation's children.

A Prayer/Mantra

Help me see who I am

Love who I find

Use all I am

And work with all others

Building a better tomorrow