1 Thessalonians

Cultivate gratitude each day this month.

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 — Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Reflection: Humans are designed to be in relationships and to cultivate belonging. Gratitude flourishes in community. Together, even when we are divided in our views and perspectives, we often fund common causes and values that bring us together. In community, at our best, we offer support, love, and encouragement to each other in ways that enrich our lives.

Prompt: Reach out to a friend or family member to express gratitude for their presence in your life.

A Community of the Spirit — Rumi

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.
Open your hands,
if you want to be held.
Sit down in the circle.
Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd’s love filling you.
At night, your beloved wanders.
Don’t accept consolations.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover’s mouth in yours.
You moan, “She left me.” “He left me.”
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.