Listening

This morning I checked out the wisdom of the Society of Saint John in Cambridge, MA and watched their short daily video.  Today's theme touched on the gift of listening.   The prophet Isaiah asks "what shall I cry" (Isaiah 40:6); and I ask the same, adding to it "what shall I hear?"  The Jewish affirmation of faith  comes to mind "Hear O Israel the LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 40:6).  When I listen to another person with the knowledge of our universal human experience, our oneness in God,  I can be a channel of at-one-ment or atonement. Here is a prayer from  my book The Heavenly Body:

Prayer for the Ears

Creator of hearing, I pray for the healing of
__(name)__’s ears.   May __(name)__ hear the Good News.
May (he/she) listen for your Word.
Stop __(name)__’s ears to the sounds of destruction,
and open them to your love.
Amen.

Leaping and Dancing

Of all places, I was reminded at a high school performance of "Footloose," directed by my daughter Fran that dancing is part of the testimony of scripture, "there is a time to mourn and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4).  This morning I used my favorite Bible search site  BibleGateway to look at the other references to dancing and leaping in the Scripture.  A wonderful connection is that during the energy healing treatment in Brookline two days ago, the healer, a dancer was able to enliven the energy in my legs, and I expressed this to her by saying "I experienced the feeling of leaping."

Healing Vision

Yesterday during an energy healing session in Brookline, I had an image of a healing room where illustrations from my Heavenly Body manuscript were hanging on the wall, and the background sound was a recording of me reading poems, scripture, and prayers from the book. To act on this idea, I downloaded the iTalk App where I will make a short recording of a few of the Heavenly Body poems.

Lenten Wilderness

My Lenten practice this year is silencing the inner static. The root of the desire was to stop judging self and others.  After listening to Richard Rohr "On Silence" (check it out on Youtube), I discovered that there is more ease in a general inner silence than in confronting every judgmental thought as it arises.

New Beginning

My brother Len suggests that I return to writing this blog with the topic being my creative process.  I'm willing to try that.... He's had good ideas before.
He's wanting to make it easier for me to get my book project done; The Heavenly Body  has been in the works for 20 years.  I'm not sure who wants to hear about this.

Joshua 22:5

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and

the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged

you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all

his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to

cleave unto him; and to serve him with all your

heart and with all your soul.

Meditation:

What associations do I have with the idea of soulful service?

Affirmation:

I give heart service to God today.

Prayer:

Thank you, Lord, that you desire the service of your people.

Deuteronomy 13:6

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son,

or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy

friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee

secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods,

which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers...

thou shalt not consent unto him...

Meditation:

What pressures have I experienced from and family and/or friends

to involve myself in unwholesome activities?

Affirmation:

I serve only the LORD in every way.

Prayer:

Lord God, please keep me steady in my service to you this day and always.