Lenten Reflection Day 23 (Mar 16): BELIEVE (from John 4:5-42).
SONG: Believer by Imagine Dragons: https://youtu.be/7wtfhZwyrcc
POEM: Mahogany L. Browne: Country of Water (excerpt): I know who I am because I believe it / The breath in my chest / Insistent in its choice / The skin that I’m in / The bones and blood and veins / It carries like a promise
QUOTE: Anne Frank: It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
Lenten Reflection Day 22 (Mar 15): GIVE (from John 4:5-42).
SONG: Give by LeAnn Rimes: https://youtu.be/vALhBgHC_FE
POEM: Kahlil Gibran: On Giving (excerpt): Then said a rich man, Speak to us of Giving. And he answered: You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give… And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes. He smiles upon the earth.
QUOTE: CS Lewis: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
Lenten Reflection Day 21 (Mar 14): DRINK (from John 4:5-42).
SONG: Drink Water by The FeelBetterMinnesota: https://youtu.be/3MZK5eRv7L0
POEM: Laura Cronk: Thirst (excerpt): I’m pouring water from cup to cup. This is the water we are meant to drink with the other animals. There are daffodils by the water, a road leading from the water to the shining crown of the sun.
QUOTE: Rumi: So come! Drink! Return to the root of the root of your own soul.
Lenten Reflection Day 20 (Mar 13): ASK (from John 4:5-42).
SONG: Ask by The Smiths: https://youtu.be/zoo9Vu1a9bU
POEM: Esther Berlin: I Hope to God Yoy Will Not Ask (excerpt): I hope to God you will not ask Me or my People to send Postcard greetings… Yes, we may share the same sun setting But the in-between hours are hollow The People fill the void with prayers for help Calling upon the Holy Ones Those petitions penetrate and loosen The binds you tried to tighten Around our heart …
QUOTE: Mahatma Gandhi: Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Lenten Reflection Day 19 (Mar 12): DRAW WATER (from John 4:5-42).
SONG: Draw Me a Bucket of Water by Bessie Jones: https://youtu.be/8bWCRraSixo
POEM: Edith Wharton: The Mortal Lease (excerpt): Because our kiss is as the moon to draw The mounting waters of that red-lit sea That circles brain with sense, and bids us be The playthings of an elemental law, Shall we forego the deeper touch of awe On love’s extremest pinnacle …
QUOTE: Henry David Thoreau: I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Bramin, priest of Brahma and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.