Speaking of Spirit

This week, as I walked down our lovely tree-lined street, I saw it...the first leaf of autumn.  Everything in me screamed, "NO!!"  I am not ready for fall, not ready for the cold to begin to seep into my days, not ready for the thoughts of blizzards, ice storms, holidays. But, as a wise person once said, "The only constant in life is change." So, no matter how unwilling I am, how unprepared, how unhappy, the season will change in its own time.   Life happens in its own time. We may try to schedule things. We turn clocks back and forth.  We may assign days to various happenings. But, in reality, what will come to pass arrives when the time is right, in spite of all our protests, manipulations or demands. Change has to happen. If a child doesn't grow, it means something is terribly wrong. If the weather stayed constant, plants would fail to grow. If seeds stayed seeds, there would be no flowers, no food. Change has to happen. Change is a blessing. Writer ...

I remember the first time someone told me to "Forgive and Forget."  I pondered this for days. Forgiving, I felt I could do, but how could I forget?   His Holiness, the Dalai Lama said, " Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened…If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures."   When our world is filled with hate, we cannot forget. We must remember, in order to prevent the hate, the horror, from happening again. Each time we forget, hate rises its ugly head once more. However, we can forgive.  Nelson Mandela when asked why he was not resentful for his imprisonment said, " Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die." When we release resentment, when we forgive, we heal. This healing allows us the energy, the blessings, the grace to move forward in positive ways. We become conduits for positive change because we are no lon...

Evil is evil. Evil wears many faces, has many names and exists in many places. When evil rises up, we cannot hide behind politicians, who may or may not risk their political careers to condemn evil. We cannot run to our clergy, expecting them to somehow conjure up miraculous cures for evil. We cannot turn our backs, expecting someone else to deal with the problem because it isn't in our continent, our country, our state, our city, our community or our home.  Evil IS evil. We must unite and face it. We must say, not again, not now, not ever.  My father, my uncles, my friends did not fight in a land across the sea, some dying, to stop Evil from spreading.   We cannot run from Evil, for it exists everywhere we go. BUT, we can stop it.  Be a Light in the darkness of Evil. Be a Light that grows bright against the hate.  Be a Light that illuminates the shadows of fear.  Be a Light! Glow fearlessly!

There are things I was taught that have remained in my life since the day the lesson was learned. Looking back, I realized these were all things my Momma taught me.  Today, the young people would call these "Life Hacks" - tips for making life go more smoothly, more efficiently.  Momma's life hacks had a bit more oomph to them, though. They were based on a deep connection to Faith, Hope, and Love. A connection that was lived daily, not simply taught, then forgotten except for one hour or so a week. Here are the top five life hacks learned at Momma's knee: Be nice - it doesn't cost a penny. Be nice, even when others are not being nice to you. Be nice especially to your elders, who may be grumpy or cranky, but you have not lived as long as they have. You do not know the pain and sorrow they carry. Be nice, it can change someone's life. Always share what you have with others. You are never too poor or too rich to share when others are in need. Bu...