Marker at the Canadian National Korean War Memorial in Brampton, Canada. Photo: Ian Muttoo via Flickr
Over the weekend, I met up with a friend for coffee. She had suggested meeting near the Egyptian Museum in San Jose, a place I did not even know existed. After catching up for a bit at the coffee shop, we decided to wander across the street to walk the grounds of the museum. Upon passing through the entry gate, I immediately felt an unexpected wave of peace gently wash over me. The place was like none I had ever seen, except in pictures. Ancient Egyptian-styled structures were everywhere; I felt like I had been transported in time and geography.
While we didn’t have time to tour the museum, I did pick up one of the pamphlets, which I finally took a look at this morning. On the back page was the following reminder:
Contribution to Peace
I contribute to Peace when I strive to express the best of myself in my contacts with others.
I contribute to Peace when I use my intelligence and my abilities to serve the Good.
I contribute to Peace when I feel compassion toward all those who suffer.
I contribute to Peace when I look upon all men and women as my brothers and sisters, regardless of race, culture, or religion.
I contribute to Peace when I rejoice over the happiness of others and pray for their well-being.
I contribute to Peace when I listen with tolerance to opinions that differ from mine or even oppose them.
I contribute to Peace when I resort to dialogue rather than to force to settle any conflict.
I contribute to Peace when I respect Nature and preserve it for generations to come.
I contribute to Peace when I do not seek to impose my conception of God upon others.
I contribute to Peace when I make Peace the foundation of my ideals and philosophy.
What a journey these past 40 days of healing prayer. This morning the phrase, “Life is frittered away by details, simplify, simplify” came to me after the guest we interviewed on City Enlightenment. I believe Thoreau made that statement. It’s true — how many moments are wasted by allowing distractions to take me away from my purpose and passion. That’s not to say that I don’t need down time, time to enjoy and relax — I’m talking about getting caught up in ’stuff’ — looking at ’stuff’ that feeds my negative self image or beliefs; distractions of gossiping or judging others. I am reminded of Terry Cole Whittaker’s phrase ‘what you think about me is none of my business’. Another form of distraction is reacting rather than creating. And so I have decided to take a break from Twitter and to use Facebook and Linked In with passion and purpose. I have also cleaned out my in box and am now focused on how and who and what I need to do to be in alignment with my passion and purpose. And as I take action throughout the day to stay connected to God, to live, laugh, love and play without distractions, I know that I am living the change I want to see in the world. Thank you Sumaiya for this amazing journey of the past 40 days. I shall continue to follow your blog and to post when the Spirit moves me. This discipline has helped me to awaken on a deeper level, be more aware of my actions and behaviors and I am so excited to see what next steps are revealed before me. Blessings to you and to all who gather here to read. With my love and gratitude, Mary
Day 39 – Yesterday I met with David Leskowitz who became involved with a mobile clinic helping children affected by polio in a remote village in India, Hope Charitable Trust. I also read the book Karma by Nancy Deville about sex slavery and human trafficking in India. How does one respond to the atrocities against children? That parents don’t allow their children stricken with polio to receive care because they ‘want’ them to become beggars. The mobile clinic in India needs a stream of income so they can provide care to the children and people in this village in India. http://hopecharity.wordpress.com/ It’s more than just writing out a check although I plan to do just that by donating 20% of book proceeds from “New World Greetings:Inspirational Poetry and Musings for a New World”. David and I are joining forces to find funding sources and then to dream big about building a permanent clinic for the village. And this morning during my meditation the song Impossible Dream from Man of LaMancha came into my head:
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause
And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
Day 38 – I am so grateful for the lessons and blessings I have learned on this amazing journey of 40 Days of Healing Prayer. I feel more awake and accountable to living in the Spirit. This morning I felt God saying ‘move over fear’ — when I live courageously in the Spirit, when I move ego and pride out of the way, it is truly miraculous what happens. I have had several opportunities (one of them I shared yesterday) when I could have reacted in righteous anger, or fear and cowardice. When I rise above these feelings and stay connected to the Source of All — the Source of Love — these feelings melt away and I am free! I am free to be who I truly am – a child of God to play in the Universe and to share my light. I am so glad you are along for this wonderful ride.
Day 37 — Choosing to respond in Spirit rather than react with ego — yesterday was a glorious spring day. My daughter had the day off and we decided to pack a picnic and head to one of our favorite places – Castle Island. It seemed as though the entire world was out enjoying this glorious day. Catholic school children had no school because it was Easter Monday. The sun was shining and the ocean was glistening. There were several handicap spaces available but I was feeling good and didn’t need to use my placard. I passed a few empty spaces and my daughter said – pull in here – I have to carry the chairs. I asked her if she would prefer I use the HP space since I cannot carry much weight and she said no it was fine. I opened my car door and the wind caught it. It hit the truck next to us. I could see there was someone in the car and I said, ‘ooh sorry.’ We got our things and as we were walking away this man yells across the parking lot “miss..miss…get back here. You dented my truck. You’re gonna pay for this.” I walked back and thought what? He told me he was eating his hot dog and I caused his entire truck to shake and now I dented it. Honest to God, you could not see anything. He told me to stand in the back and look at it at just the right angle. He told me we had to exchange papers. Now something amazing happened to me – I went into a total Spirit mode – almost as if I dissociated from the moment. I felt so calm and peaceful. I had my camera and God moved me to get it and my daughter took pictures of this non existent dent. She then went ahead as I exchanged papers. I was so polite and respectful and felt Jesus’ presence in the entire encounter. As I walked away, my human self returned and I thought “oh no that’s gonna cost me a fortune…and all sorts of anxious thoughts crept in. So I called my angel of an insurance agent who did a wonderful reality check and said that nothing will come of it — he just lots his brains for a minute. But you know what? I felt such compassion for this man who was causing such a stir about his ‘brand new truck’ and a dent that wasn’t even there. He felt so wounded. It was truly an act of God that had my door hit his truck and there are no accidents. And as always, it’s all about me and what lessons I learned from this encounter.
Respond with compassion, allow God to enter in every interaction and believe that truly all is well and in Divine Order!
This morning my meditation was about transition and change. Life is always full of them – the only thing that’s constant in life is change. Yet why do we resist change? The phrase the art of transition and change came to me on this 36th day of 40 Days of Prayer for Healing. If we did not resist change and instead went with God’s flow we would all experience incredible peace and healing. As humans, we tend to want to hold on. After the 40th Day of Prayer for Healing, I shall continue with my morning prayer and my evening prayer but I will be so grateful for these 40 days of focusing my prayer on healing and sharing these with all who come here. But it will be done and there is a season and a reason for everyone and everything. My prayer for today is that I have the wisdom to know when it is time to change and with God’s grace to know the art of transition.
Day 35 of 40 Days of Healing Prayer — this morning as the sun streamed through the window I let stillness wash over me listening to my breath and clearing my thoughts. It was a time to just be. This morning the quote from Abraham-Hicks that came through my email speaks to creating harmony in the world-may we all be blessed with peace, open hearts and creating beautiful harmony as we each sing our song:
Is harmony one note that everybody is singing? Or is it a whole lot of notes that are in vibrational harmony with each other? When you give your attention to anything, the Universe responds to it. When two of you are giving your attention to it, and there is no contradiction, it is a powerful vortex. That’s why a gathering such as this can achieve a great deal as you come together in greater and greater harmony and take thought beyond that which it has been before.
This morning the image of a dove came to me and since it is National Poetry Month, God decided to send along a poem:
Send Out The Dove
Pristine white, transfigured light bids all fears to cease
Cooing with its warbly voice, it lulls all into peace.
God’s messenger for all the world, majestic mighty dove
With olive branch placed in its beak a harbinger of Love.
Send out the dove to leaders,to all who are in need
On wings of wind, delivers Truth, all Spirits now are freed.
All hearts are joined together no more wars or hate or strife
The world transformed, the doves rejoice and dance their dance to life.
Sumaiya – you are such a blessing in my life for directing my prayer to focus on healing. My daughter had her 2nd road test to get her driver’s license today. Nerves and tensions were running high but the prayer of peace we prayed together transcended all that it appeared to be out of order. And this morning, the image of a dove came to me. My husband took my daughter for her early morning road test while I sent a dove to rest on my daughter’s shoulder to calm her nerves and to bless the road test situation. My daughter said it was completely different from her first road test situation and she passed! She was still very nervous (and we were able to have aha moments this afternoon to figure out why) with the test but with prayer and sending angels and the dove, the entire situation was transformed for her. Thank you Sumaiya and may the blessings of this glorious season shine radiantly upon you and all you hold dear.
Comfort – prayer on Day 33 of 40 days of healing prayer brought the word comfort. How wonderful if we could all cry out as Jesus did in our darkest hour to God knowing that love, healing and comfort are ours for the asking. If we all allowed our wounds to be open rather than allowing them to fester in ego, anger, envy, resentment, jealousy, feelings of lack and limitation and fear. How wonderful if we ALL with outstretched arms opened up to God for healing praying for forgiveness for ourselves and others and then as the skies open and all hearts cry out as one, we are transformed, transfigured, and healed.
Day 32 of 40 Days of Healing Prayer This morning I imagined the rivers swollen with the recent days of rain. I know there has been a lot of damage caused by the flooding but I wanted to transform the damage imagining everyone’s hearts swollen with love and gratitude overflowing and making clean everything in its path. I felt how I was created out of God’s Love – the Source of all that is. I wondered what it would be like if everyone sang and danced together to the tune of Sarah Buxton’s Outside My Window http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9tMjYNt1bE — oh what a world it would be!
Dear Sumaiya – You ARE the embodiment of peace and spirit. This morning, day 31 of 40 days of healing prayer, like a cow chews on its cud, I was rehashing some things that went before. And then like a rush of beautiful wind from God’s breath, I heard the words we spoke yesterday as we joined together in prayer. Words are incredibly powerful as is the intentional energy we put behind them. It is an art to use words to heal, to bring peace and to resolve challenging situations with love and grace. My prayer is that I may use the words and the gifts God has showered upon me to bring light and love to the world. My prayer is that I may reach out and give to others and to also open my heart to receive the love and blessings from the words of another. My prayer is that I use the power of God’s love to transform any situation and to use discernment and listening to lead me and the world to paths of peace. Let us all join hearts and hands and reach out to one another in love and peace. Amen.