Speaking of Spirit

At the beginning of September, I put up on my Facebook page a call to pray for schools, teachers and students around the world.  Some wonderful things have happened.   Harvard University launched Online Classes for students anywhere.  In Philadelphia, students at-risk learn life lessons through horseback riding.  Northern Ireland students make a 100 ft. bridge from Meccano   Outernet, a small company out of Chicago , is making access to knowledge world-wide for even the world's poorest and most remote countries.  This is just a few of the stories that show how knowledge is being shared to create a better world.  If you hear of more, please post your news in the comments so that we can share how our prayers, intentions, meditations and good thoughts have rippled out to bring Peace and Love to the world. Namast é! #GlobalGoals #QualityEducation 

World Leaders came together recently to re-evaluate the Global Goals set a few years back.  They agreed on 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development.   Here is a video with a little background:   One of the initiatives to get this news out to everyone and to inspire everyone to support the goals in the #PrayerforEveryone Campaign. Prayer for Everyone asks faith leaders to share the 17 goals with their congregations. In addition, educators are being asked to joint The World's Largest Lesson were they will find lesson plans, media and other resources to help students of all ages understand the importance of these goals. Teaching #GlobalGoals helps create ripples of change that will encompass the world! Please join me in spreading the news about the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.  Together, we CAN make a difference!  

Filmmaker and artist, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has created a film which is a masterpiece of beautiful images, heart-wrenching stories, enlightened views and difficult questions.  HUMAN is the story of us all.  Real people, real struggles, real memoirs - a story of #WhatMakesUsHUMAN. I watched the entire first volume of this inspirational film,  (There are more volumes.) thanks to Google. Google, along with the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, French TV France 2, and the GoodPlanet Foundation, made it possible for Yann to bring the world these films. I am grateful! In my ministry and in my life, I have found that when we remember we are all part of humanity, magic happens.  Thanks to instant media, we have all been witnesses of this. Our humanity has been present in the various natural disasters that have raced across this tiny planet of ours as strangers help each other survive.  Our humanity has shown in our own communities when we join together to help...

  First Steps - Vincent Van Gogh Publi c Domain From our first breath, we are learning.  We learn to recognize voices, scents and faces of our loved ones. We learn to form sounds into words, sentences, and eventually, put those words onto paper creating written language. We learn to make our bodies move.  We rollover, crawl, walk, skip, run, swim and climb. Throughout our lives, we learn hundreds of thousands of things. We never stop learning, which is one of the gifts Creator gave us...the ability to continue to learn.  There is no expiration date on our ability to learn.  Even those with diseases and conditions such as stroke or Alzheimer's can still learn. So, as the students return to our schools, as the big yellow buses pass us on the road, on the highways, as our leaders gather to debate the future of our country and the world, let us remember that we are still learning. We may learn that those we placed in office are not doing what we hoped ...

Over the last few days, I have been haunted by the images of refugees fleeing Syria.  As a mother and grandmother, my heart has once more been broken by the total horror of this world.  The little one found on the shore wasn't so much flotsam and jetsam.  He was someone's precious little boy, someone's blessed little grandson.   I am of the belief that all children are our children - whether we birth them or they live thousands of miles away - they are our children.  We, as a global community are responsible for them, as responsible as if they lived in our own homes.   I, like many of us out there, feel helpless in these situations. BUT, one thing I have learned - I cannot, will not stay silent .  I must raise my voice in prayer and protest when the horrors of war and injustice slither out from under the rocks in which they hide.  That being the case, this is my offering, humble as it is.  Perhaps it will reach those who have the...