Tag Archive for: courage

Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day
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Rise and Shine 21: LOVE ONE ANOTHER

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important:

‘Love your neighbor as yourself'”.

                                                                                            Matthew 22: 37-39 NLV

“Love your neighbor as yourself” appears in the Bible nine times.  It appears that many times because God wants us to realize the importance of loving one another. In fact, relationship, love, is what matters most in life.

Our world has entered a time of great uncertainty and fear.  A thing called a coronavirus, or Covid-19, has disrupted all certainties, all privileges, all beliefs about our ability to choose and to be safe.  We cannot cross borders or go to grocery stores anymore.  All life is focused on containing the spread of this pandemic; all choices are being curtailed in order to achieve that goal.

We are afraid, and our fight-or-flight system is in control.   What we need desperately is an antedote to this terror, and, miraculously we have one — love and love thy neighbor.  Fear cannot continue to exist in the light of love.  Now is the time to be the source of that light.  Instead of judgment for irrational behavior give compassion for the uncertainly that drives it.  Love is the answer and always has been.

My favorite Bible verse has always been I Corinthians 13-13: “Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.” NLV.  It comforts me as I sit alone in my home, practicing the recommended social distancing.  It will comfort you wherever you are.  Take it into your heart and share it with others.  The light of its truth will grow ever brighter as we share it and stand together against this pandemic with courage and loving kindness.

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Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day
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Rise and Shine 15: A Blessing from St. Therese

ST. THERESE

 

        She said, “May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you .  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us.”

 

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that reflects St. Therese’s words.  Can you see it?  Can you see yourself living in a world that honors you as exactly who you are — a world that allows “your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love?”

Keep your eyes closed and experience this place.  As your mind embraces the beauty and wonder of a world of light and love rather than a world of darkness and hate, your body begins to experience a lightness that it can only vaguely remember.  You see yourself as the joyful child you were before the world blew holes in you and locked you in a prison of pain.    Suddenly, miraculously,  the fear of being “less than” and of enduring the excruciating pain that you believe the world inflicts on you because you are “less than” vanishes.  You are free!  The wonder of being free fills your eyes with tears of joy.

Open your eyes!   The picture of the life and the world that St. Therese paints is exactly what God intended for you all along.

Freedom or fear?   You have the God-given free will power to set yourself free.  CHOOSE!

 

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Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

Rise and Shine 14: Choosing to Shine

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

By Maya Angelou

 

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing of my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

Maya Angelou chose to shine as herself rather than as the person the world told her she had to be in order to be accepted…and it made all the difference to her and to the world.  Who would you be if you chose to shine as yourself?  Your light just might transform the world…and you.

 

 

 

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Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

Rise and Shine 15: A Blessing from St. Therese

ST. THERESE

 

        She said, “May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you .  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us.”

 

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that reflects St. Therese’s words.  Can you see it?  Can you see yourself living in a world that honors you as exactly who you are — a world that allows “your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love?”

Keep your eyes closed and experience this place.  As your mind embraces the beauty and wonder of a world of light and love rather than a world of darkness and hate, your body begins to experience a lightness that it can only vaguely remember.  You see yourself as the joyful child you were before the world blew holes in you and locked you in a prison of pain.    Suddenly, miraculously,  the fear of being “less than” and of enduring the excruciating pain that you believe the world inflicts on you because you are “less than” vanishes.  You are free!  The wonder of being free fills your eyes with tears of joy.

Open your eyes!   The picture of the life and the world that St. Therese paints is exactly what God intended for you all along.

Freedom or fear?   You have the God-given free will power to set yourself free.  CHOOSE!

 

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