One cross each day for 365 days
I meant what I said
and I said what I meant.
An elephant’s faithful
one-hundred percent!
-Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
-Hebrews 11:1 KJV
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
When I am trying to sit in stillness but feel too distracted by my physicality, I sometimes imagine myself as a collection of cells. (After all, that’s what we really are–37 trillion of them, to be exact!). It helps me extract and access the intangible part of me, segregated from my mechanical workings. I start to sense my essence/soul/
spirit/consciousness more clearly, simply feeling the air and space that I have suddenly become, around which this collection of cells congregates. Is this what people feel like when they have “out-of-body experiences?” If so, it’s very freeing. The air is lighter and clearer up there.
A healing prayer:
Holy Spirit,
Bathe my cells in your healing, golden white light.
Infuse each cell with your perfection (joy, kindness, peace, etc.),
And restore each cell to purity.
May each cell radiate your perfect light, love, joy and peace.
On the surface of the cell [are] millions of openings, like the port holes of a vast space ship, opening and closing to allow a continual stream of materials to flow in and out. -Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory In Crisis
“I AM” is a mantra that is pure, simple and stops short of labels, mental constructs, projections and interpretations. Breathing in the “I” slowly, then exhaling the “AM” slowly, brings you back to yourself–your seat, your center, your inner wisdom. Back to your oneness with God/Spirit. There’s nothing really “out there” that isn’t already inside you.
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” -Exodus 3:14 ESV
I yam what’s I yam, And that’s all what’s I am -Popeye
Sometime I think; and sometime I am. -Paul Valéry
Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again. -Joseph Campbell
Who you are cannot be defined through thinking or mental labels or definitions. -Eckhart Tolle
I must admit that I am fascinated with the concept of spiritual sight, where all of life’s illusions disappear and one sees in full daylight the secrets and mysteries behind its theatrical production. The idea of scales falling from the eyes, and suddenly seeing without the preconceived notions, inherited belief systems and judgments that have sharply narrowed our vision. To see with full clarity the rhythm of the world and the pure spirit standing behind every persona. By definition, scales are small, thin, horny plates that protect the skin of a fish. As a mass noun, “scale” refers to a flaky buildup, such as the hard white substance that forms on the inside of water pipes or the tartar that forms on your teeth. Scale can flake off or be scraped off. Either way, the goal is to restore the object to its original, pristine and natural state.
And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Acts 9:18 ESV
Above all else I want to see things differently. -A Course in Miracles Workbook, Lesson 28
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. -Psalm 119:18 NIV
Corrective learning begins with the awakening of spirit, and the turning away from belief in physical sight. -A Course in Miracles
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. -1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV
Clean but the mirror and the message shines forth. -A Course in Miracles
I will not use the body’s eyes today. -A Course in Miracles Workbook, Lesson 270
O God beautiful,
At Thy feet I do bow
In the forest, Thou art green,
In the mountain, Thou art high,
In the river, Thou art restless,
In the ocean, Thou art grave.
To the serviceful, Thou art service,
To the lover, Thou art love,
To the sorrowful, Thou art sympathy,
To the yogi, Thou art bliss.
-chant/song by Guru Nanak
This is the Season of Advent, often called the Season of Hope. The word “advent” means “coming” or “arrival.” In this case, it heralds the birth of Jesus at Christmas (which is the First Advent, the Second Advent being the eventual return of Christ). During this time, there is renewed hope for permanent, lasting joy and deliverance from suffering, as promised by God. We see glints of gold and silver everywhere, reflecting, projecting and magnifying light. Glimmers. Hope. Light at the end of the tunnel.
Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be. -Shel Silverstein
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 NIV
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
-Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream within a Dream
I’m talking about something more substantial…Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! -Barack Obama
Hope is a waking dream. -Aristotle
One morning, I was saying a prayer for my son as I often do. Without much thought, what flowed from my heart was: “Grow him up kind and clear.” The words just slipped out. Perhaps the alliteration facilitated the prayer. But as I reflected on the words, I realized that those two traits alone are the most I could wish for any child–or myself, and any adult, for that matter. What could be more important than kindness and clarity to navigate one’s life? Kindness speaks for itself. And clarity–well, clarity means the extraneous, the egoic distractions, the mindless chatter are burned away by the undeniable wisdom of one’s spirit. So that the inner voice can ring like one clear bell, guiding with unclouded integrity.
Your greatness is measured by your kindness… -William J.H. Boetcker
Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind. -Henry James
Tenderness and kindness are…manifestations of strength and resolution. -Khalil Gibran
It means integrity; it means honesty; it means the absence of sentimentality and the absence of nostalgia; it means simplicity; it means clarity. -Paul Rand
Did you know that the “fleur-de-lis” sexual side effects accutane is a stylized iris? And in ancient Greece, Goddess Iris was the messenger of the gods and the personification of the rainbow. She acted as the link between heaven and earth.
Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest,
Who, armed with golden rod
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest
The message of some God.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Iris
Then we had the irises, rising beautiful and cool on their tall stalks, like blown glass, like pastel water momentarily frozen in a splash, light blue, light mauve, and the darker ones, velvet and purple...
-Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heav’nly song?
-from Angels We Have Heard on High
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim
‘Christ is born in Bethlehem’
– from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Winter snow is falling down
Children laughing all around
Lights are turning on
Like a fairy tale come true
And all I want is You
forever
All I need is You
more everyday
You gave Your love away
and I’m thankful
everyday
for the Gift
-adapted lyrics from “The Gift” by Jim Brickman
O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
We shall find peace.
We shall hear angels.
We shall see the sky
sparkling with diamonds.
-Anton Chekhov
There is no rose of such virtue
as is the rose that bare Jesu;
For in this rose contained was
heaven and earth in little space
By that rose we may well see
that He is God in persons three
The angels sung the shepherds to
“Gloria in excelsis Deo!”
Leave we all this worldly mirth,
and follow we this joyful birth.
-15th century English carol
Just as the rose consists of many petals held together, so the person who attains to the unfoldment of the soul begins to show many different qualities. The atmosphere of a spiritual being pervades the air like the perfume of a rose.
–Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sufi teacher
All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall…
but the word of our God endures forever.
-Isaiah 40:7-8 (NIV)
When life hurts and family doesn’t work, friends lift you up, help you out, provide support. And deliver a cross to your inbox when you don’t have one ready for that day (thank you, Kim!).
And always, what we’re left with after a glorified event is the aftermath: fragments, remnants, reflections, ribbons undone.
A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller. -Paul Klee
…remember who you really are–your essence, your spirit, your all-knowing, wise and peaceful self–apart from your physical being and worldly persona.
You are here to become, more fully, that which you already are. -Eckhart Tolle
It takes courage to grow up
and turn out to be who you really are.
-e.e. cummings
Today you are You, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive who is Youer than You!
-Dr. Seuss
How does one plan the future while simultaneously staying in the present? It seems impossible. Come from a clear place and use the guidance, intuitions and instincts you feel now, to make decisions about events in the future. Even then, the results will sometimes appear to be a mistake. In those instances, perhaps that’s exactly what you needed for your personal growth. The universe is clever (and loving) that way.
Look closely at the present you are constructing. It should look like the future you are dreaming. –Alice Walker
There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live. -Dalai Lama XIV
As for the future, your task is not to foresee it but to enable it. -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Being on the brink” can mean so many things. On the edge of danger or destruction. On the verge of a positive breakthrough. At the threshold of a meaningful life shift. Either way, it indicates that change is coming. And change, even when not wanted, is often what is needed.
You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living…It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken. -Anais Nin
Men live the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hands on the door-latch they die outside. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Upon the brink of the wild stream
He stood, and dreamt a mighty dream.
-Alexander Pushkin
Whenever cannibals are on the brink of starvation, Heaven, in its infinite mercy, sends them a nice plump missionary. -Oscar Wilde
tomorrow you will know there’s no day better than today
we don’t see how lucky these days are until they go away
gotta live it with love
again again again
tomorrow you will know there’s no day better than today
we hold up and fall down, these days are fading all away
gotta live them with love
again again again
how’d we get so far
far from who we really are
gotta live it with love…
-Lyrics from “Live it With Love” by Ingrid Michaelson
The answers that gently reveal themselves to us on their own terms have a different quality than the ones we hungrily hunt down and skewer on a fixed timeline. So we are asked to settle in, ask for guidance, listen, watch and wait. To practice heroic feats of patience, trust, faith. Maybe, sometimes, not taking action can be the most noble action of all.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
-Psalm 32:8 ESV
i’ll fall on my knees
tell me how’s the way to be
tell me how’s the way to go
tell me all that i should know
tell me how’s the way to see
show me all that i could be
-selected lyrics from “Everywhere I Go” sung by Lissie
Faith is the compass that points the way.
-Tom Hackett
A big thank you for following A Cross a Day.
I appreciate you all so much.
Life has loveliness to sell
All beautiful and splendid things
Blue waves whitened on a cliff
Soaring fire that sways and sings
And childrens’s faces looking up
Holding wonder in a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell
Music like a curve of gold
Scent of pine trees in the rain
Eyes that love you, arms that hold
And for your spirit’s still delight
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness
Buy it and never count the cost
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost
And for a breath of ecstacy
Give all you have been, or could be.
-Sara Teasdale, Barter
I painted this cross in a startling neon pink with a vague idea for additional embellishment. The problem was that I began to love the simple saturation of this throbbing color on the plain, wood, cross shape. Problem? Well, yes. Because immediately I questioned whether the result was “enough.” Enough to present to my readers and followers. Enough to justify today’s post. It was a struggle. But my own desire won out, and I’m glad. Simplicity is more than enough. Enough is good. Enough is restful. It’s a matter of defining what is “enough” for you.
I suggest that sufficiency is precise.
Enough is a place you can arrive at and dwell in.
-Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money
What messages do you send to yourself on a regular basis, via your thoughts? Many of the great teachers have told us that “thoughts create.” It’s the concept behind affirmations–that life responds to and shapes itself around the energy of thought forms. It’s the basis for positive thinking and manifesting what you want in your life. But if you really believe it and want to begin using your thoughts as tools to change your life, it’s a full time commitment. Just as one step in front of the other leads you to a destination, every thought has to be carefully aimed at your goal without backsliding, and without influence from the outside world. That takes determination and vigilance. It takes a firm belief that what we think in each moment affects our experience in the future. So you have to watch your thoughts very, very carefully. You ask yourself, as if you are on a diet, “is it really worth the splurge of this negative thought?” And like a diet, it’s easy to start and hard to maintain. So what can we do to keep our thoughts consistent and on track? And, what’s in your thought bubble today?
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. -Henry David Thoreau
Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts! -Buddha
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly… -Marcus Aurelius
You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. -James Allen
Every one of us is the sum total of his own thoughts. -Earl Nightingale
The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Your mind is an instrument, a tool. -Eckhart Tolle
If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought. -Peace Pilgrim
You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought -Book by Peter McWilliams
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he -Proverbs 23:7 KJV
So one of these nights and about twelve o’clock
This old world’s going to reel and rock
Saints will tremble and cry for pain
For the Lord’s gonna come in his heavenly airplane
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?
-Lyrics to “One of Us” sung by Joan Osborne, written by Ed Mann
If you are a believer in God/Spirit, you either believe that this Higher Power is separate and outside of you, or that its Divinity lives within you, to be continually sought and experienced. How do you think the two perspectives differ, and how does each one feel to you?
The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they see God, as if He stood there and they here. That is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge. -Meister Eckhart, 13th century Christian mystic
Know this, O Man, sole root of sin in thee
Is not to know thine own divinity!
-James Rhoades, O Soul of Mine
You who seek God apart, apart,
The thing you seek, thou art, thou art;
If you want to see the beloved’s face
Polish the mirror, gaze into that space
-Rumi
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. -Luke 17:21 KJV
