Day 20: Grateful for Guidance
Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Day 20: Grateful for Guidance
- Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
- in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
- Meditation: This scripture may seem to say not to use your own mind. Yet that’s not quite the message. After all, we were given the gift of intellect and discernment, as well as emotional intelligance. The balance of this text urges us to lean into the equilibirum of choice and path by listening with heart and mind attuned to Holy Love. How do you best listen to what direction is sustainable for you? Even our bodies hold knowledge and wisdom!
- Spiritual Practices: Seek guidance on a decision you are facing. Spend time in prayer, journaling your thoughts and feelings about it. Ask someone who knows you well to reflect with you on your strengths and values. Take a walk. Doodle it out. Imagine different choices, and live with them for several hours, as if they are real … how does your body feel and what does it tell you?
SONGS:
- Where Feet May Follow by Hillsong United: https://youtu.be/dy9nwe9_xzw?si=sVQGrGQtG6-NuyPx
The Guest House –– Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
GRATITUDE Daily Devotional: Nov 18
Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Day 18: Grateful for New Chances
- Scripture: Mark 12:31 –– I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
- Meditation: Holy Love is always at work in our lives, opening new paths and opportunities. What is happening in your life that startles and surprises you? What is going on that confounds and confuses you, yet feels as if something is changing, moving, and possibly creating instances for growth?
- Spiritual Practice: Reflect on an opportunity you might be hesitant about. Pray for courage to embrace it and thank God for the possibilities it brings. Tell one person about this chance you’re taking to explore the new opportunity in your life, so that you have an ally who checks in and helps you consider it.
SONGS:
- Opportunities by Annie: https://youtu.be/gvijXBsRZGY?si=77b4B9yqa43oQZqE
- Chances by Evan Craft: https://youtu.be/kIbAg4g5_IY?si=ttCp7qCiUa1aFyDQ
For A New Beginning | John O’Donohue
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you
GRATITUDE Daily Devotional: Nov 10
Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Day 9: Gratitude for Diversity
Scripture: Revelation 7:9 –– After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count.
Reflection: Scripture describes different people as being diverse members of the same common body, with different strengths, gifts, and vulnerabilties. The beauty of our diverse world reflects God’s creativity. Embracing diversity deepens our understanding of gratitude.
Prompt: Reflect on who in your relationship circles experiences the world in a different way? What do such different perspectives bring to others’ view of the world? What do they teach you about perceiving the world from another angle or perspective? What in your life brings a different perspective to life?
SONGS:
- Differences by Genuwine: https://youtu.be/U_90XNCBatY?si=0fDMlki0S3bxFJWE
A Blessing with Roots — jan Richardson
Tug at this blessing
and you will find
it is a thing
with roots.
This is a blessing
that has gone deep
into good soil,
into the sacred dark,
into the luminous hidden.
It has been months
since the ground
gathered the seed
of this blessing
into itself,
years since the earth
enfolded it.
Sometimes
that’s how long
a blessing takes.
And the fact
that this blessing
should finally show
its first fruits
on the day
you happened by—
well, perhaps we shall
simply call the timing
of this ripening
a mystery
and a sweet grace.
Take all you want
of this blessing.
Take every morsel
that you need for
the path ahead.
Let its fruits fall
into your hands;
gather them into
the basket of
your arms.
Let this blessing
be one place
where you are willing
to receive
in unmeasured portions,
to lay aside
for a moment
the way you ration
your delights.
Let yourself accept
its inexplicable plenitude;
allow it to give itself
to sustain you
not simply for yourself—
though on this bright day
I might be persuaded
to think that would
be enough—
but that you may
gather its seeds
into yourself
like the ground
where this blessing began
and wait
with the patience
of seasons
and of years
to bear forth
in the fullness of time
a stunning harvest,
a plenteous feast
Nov 6: GRATITUDE Daily Devotional
Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Scripture: Micah 6:8 — God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.Reflection: We are relationship with all humans, and we live ina world that is defined by its interconnectedness. Adovacy and justice work help us understand our responsibility to bear witness and to act in alliance and partnership with those who face injustice.Prompt: Reflect for yourself how you volunteer or support causes that make a difference in the life of your neighbors, near and far. Then ask yourself, who has advocated for you, when you have needed support, because you were vulnerable?
SONGS:
- Justice Song by IJM Ghana: https://youtu.be/yxTGsxxX_fA?si=hxdC9-Yt8GA5g6XL
- Then I Will by Lauren Daigle: https://youtu.be/kKBQrWWX570?si=t-yZX7_kGD2CFyA9
Excerpt from Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings—Joy Harjo,
… Bless the poets, the workers for justice,
the dancers of ceremony, the singers of heartache,
the visionaries, all makers and carriers of fresh
meaning—We will all make it through,
despite politics and wars, despite failures
and misunderstandings. There is only love…
Nov 5: GRATITUDE Daily Devotional
Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Day 5: Grateful for Challenges
Scripture: James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…
Reflection: Rather than becoming a point of failure, conflict and challenge become opportunities for growth. Difficult experiences can help cultivate wisdom. Finding gratitude in difficult times can transform our perspective.
Prompt: On a day when the nation votes, consider this social situation or other current challenge and write down or discuss with someone else what you are learning or how you are growing through it.
full article: https://plumvillage.app/generating-joy-and-embracing-suffering-in-times-of-crisis/Do you know how to generate a feeling of joy? Do you know how to handle a feeling of pain? If I ask myself those questions, the answer is partly yes, partly no. We can also ask ourselves, ‘How often do I remember that I can generate a feeling of joy? Could I do it more? In what situations?’If you’re with a group of friends and everybody’s in a good mood and something lovely is happening, it’s not difficult to generate joy. So the real question is, ‘Do I know how to generate a feeling of joy when things are difficult or neutral? When I’m feeling restless or distracted?’ These are practices that we have to look into.Another question is: ‘Do I know how to do it when I’m on my own? And do I know how to do it collectively?’ Do you know how to recognize when you are avoiding a painful feeling?This has something to do with knowing how to handle a painful feeling – because we can’t transform it until we recognize it. That must be the first step: recognizing. …
In my approach to the practice, I focused on suffering for many years. I didn’t understand that generating a feeling of joy and being in touch with the wonders of life is a way of handling suffering. So I need to recognize that I may be underestimating how powerful well-being, joy, and simple happiness can be as a response to the situation we are in globally and collectively.
In the 16 exercises of mindful breathing, the Buddha was very clear: generate a feeling of joy and happiness before getting in touch with a feeling of pain. That way, we create an environment where the feeling of pain can be held and embraced, and where it doesn’t overwhelm us.