Advent Daily Devotional, Day 9
Mon, Dec 7 – DAY 9
Peace grows out of contemplative practices. Set apart time for stillness, centering, or movement as a form of meditation or focus.
Sometimes this requires becoming motionless: holding a yoga pose, maintaining a prayer position, or observing utter silence. Sometimes it involves movement of the body such as walking or knitting, and permission to unleash a restless mind through journaling or creative expression. One way or another, we are urged to set apart time and nurture the inner spiritual being.
Along the way, we aim to develop internal equilibrium. Become comfortable knowing ourselves more deeply. Gain insight. Renew energy and creativity.
Altogether, contemplative practices strengthen the spiritual muscles upon which we draw. They create resilience and balance in our bodies, hearts and minds. — Rev Gail
The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. — Isaiah 32:17
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. — John 14:27
Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. — Saint Francis de Sales
No person, no place, and no thing has any power over us, for ‘we’ are the only thinkers in our mind. When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives. —Louise Hay
Tue, Nov 17 Gratitude Reflection
Pause and focus on water. Give thanks for this element that sustains life. In fresh form, untainted by toxins, it becomes a potable promise of surviving and thriving.
Jesus’ first miracle transformed water into wine. He called himself the Living Water for the woman at the well, who offered him refreshment, though she was from a despised ethnicity that he would traditionally have shunned.
In times of drought, such as we have experienced this season, wells run dry. Water collects detritus. Riverbeds become barren. Thirst parches throats, simply due to the idea of running out. Of not having enough.
Give thanks for the abundance of water when it’s available. And for its precious presence, when it is scarce. — Rev Gail
You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges,
softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
- Psalm 65
The Dead Sea in the Middle East receives fresh water, but it has no outlet, so it doesn’t pass the water out. It receives beautiful water from the rivers, and the water goes dank. I mean, it just goes bad. And that’s why it is the Dead Sea. It receives and does not give. In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful. ― Desmond Tutu
Mon, Nov 16 Gratitude Reflection
Consider the earth. Give thanks for the ground beneath your feet. The glacier-driven cliffs and outcroppings, twisted into waterfalls and ledges, that shape our landscape. Imagine the rich soil that yields summer and autumn harvests. The fierce and ancient mountains, upthrust and worn low, that frame our valley.
Stone. Soil. Rock. Dirt. May we appreciate the holy ground on which we stand, reside, play, work and learn. May we pause to recognize that she is more than mere rock, but an interconnected part of creation. She holds us up. Gives us a home. Groans, and continues to live. — Rev Gail
… you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
— Psalm 65
Fill the earth with your songs of gratitude.
— Charles Spurgeon
There are three requisites to the proper enjoyment of earthly blessings: a thankful reflection, on the goodness of the giver; a deep sense of our own unworthiness; and a recollection of the uncertainty of our long possessing them. The first will make us grateful; the second, humble; and the third, moderate. – Hannah More
Nov 1 Gratitude: Intro & First Reflection
INTRODUCTION
For the month of November, we offer you a daily meditation on gratitude. Use this to help create a positive, resilient framework of hope and healing for yourself, your relationships, your community, your nation and world. Gratitude changes perspectives and even makes the impossible become more possible!
We are grateful for each of you, and the unique ways in which you contribute to our community. You have probably leaned heavily on special gifts, experiences and strengths to flourish through these days and times, so we offer you a blessing from the church.
We have prepared these daily reflections for you. We invite you to turn to these sacred texts and poems, and brief commentaries by different people, to lift up one thing for which to be grateful. When you make gratitude an every-day habit, it soon becomes a spiritual practice and mindfulness discipline. Giving thanks, for one simple thing, helps create greater bodily, emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing.
Begin or end each day with the advice of the poet that follows. — Rev Gail
START HERE — Steve Garnaas Holmes
Those mornings when you wake up burdened,
already thinking Oh why bother,
start here:
thank God for one thing.
One person whom you love will do,
though even a remarkable coincidence is acceptable.
You don’t even need to go into peaches,
the color blue, or migratory birds,
or a child’s laugh you heard the other day,
let alone the angelic speech of nerve synapses
or the inscrutable ballet of spiral galaxies,
or God’s outlandish love for you.
Just one thing to give thanks for.
Then resolve to live the day
in adequate gratitude for that one thing,
and begin.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1
Today is the first day of the month. We could get wrapped up in the calendar, the upcoming holidays, the need to make plans for the weeks ahead balanced with so many uncertainties that making planning tough. We could focus on tomorrow, instead of taking the opportunity to be present to now. To focus on today.
Also, in addition to being the first day of the month, it’s Sunday. For some people, this marks the beginning or end of a busy week. While Sunday is a recreational day for some people, out of necessity it’s a work day for others. Yet within our faith tradition, we are encouraged to set aside this day — or some other day which we claim as a sabbath — for respite and renewal.
So let’s begin the whole month, and this spiritual exercise, by simply being grateful for this measure of life and consciousness. Give thanks for today — for this 24 hours — for one more day — for this gift of time. — Rev Gail
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
— Psalm 118: 23-24
Whoever says “I have lived” receives a windfall every morning he gets up. — Virgil, Aeneid
“Death is certain; the time of death is uncertain.” That reflection awakens in us the precious gift of the present moment—to seize this chance to be alive right now on Planet Earth. — Joanna Macy