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Living Water
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With care and love, |
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Blessings on your journey! |
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Each Monday |
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Wisdom from the Well Archive |
Wisdom From the Well is sent September - May/June. No e-mails will be sent July and August.
| Date | Message |
| 6/16/08 |
Sometimes the most important
thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the
turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes. |
| 5/20/08 |
Let yourself be silently drawn
By the stronger pull of what You truly love |
| 5/12/08 |
Dwell as near as possible to the
channel in which your life flows. |
| 5/6/08 |
A good journey begins with
knowing where we are and being willing to go somewhere else. |
| 4/28/08 |
If there’s anything worth calling
theology, it is listening to people’s stories, listening to them and
cherishing them. |
| 4/21/08 |
When I took the leap, I had faith
I would find a net; Instead, I learned I could fly. |
| 4/9/08 |
The meadow takes on a Holstein
look, patches of black and white, as the snow cover melts. Banks on
hillsides loosen, slip and trickle. Ponds and puddles sigh and settle;
beneath the blankets, sheets of water move. What jewels the brook has
hoarded in the cold it now releases. Everything moves. The brook gathers
blessings in its woven basket and bears them on, bears them on unfailingly.
What is steadfast is not immovable, but flowing. |
| 4/1/08 |
The true essence of humankind is
kindness. There are other qualities which come from education or knowledge,
but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine human being and impart
satisfying meaning to one’s existence, to have a good heart. |
| 3/24/08 |
It is terribly important to
realize that the leap of faith is not so much a leap of thought as of
action. For while in many matters it is first we must see, then we will
act; in matters of faith it is first we must do, and then we will know:
first we will be and then we will see. One must, in short, dare to act
wholeheartedly without absolute certainty. I love the recklessness of
faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings. |
| 3/18/08 |
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived—that is to
have succeeded. |
| 3/10/08 |
May my body be a prayerstick for
the world. |
| 2/27/08 |
From all that dwells below the
skies, Let faith and hope with joy arise; Let beauty, truth, and good be
sung Through every land, by every tongue. |
| 2/20/08 |
Your vision will become clear
only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks
inside, awakens. |
| 2/11/08 |
Here is a test to find whether
your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t. |
| 2/4/08 |
The world will never starve for
want of wonders; but only for want of wonder. |
| 1/28/08 |
Today, like every other day, we
wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin
reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we
do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. |
| 1/23/08 |
Faith is taking the first step
even when you don't see the whole staircase. |
| 1/14/08 | Those
who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or
weary of life…Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of
strength that will endure as long as life lasts. --Rachel Carson |
| 2007 | |
| 12/13/07 |
Be ready at all times for the
gifts of God, and always for new ones.”
-Meister Eckhart |
| 12/5/07 |
You must not only be a hearer of
the Word—you must also bring it to fulfillment. Happy are you if you
meditate upon it daily in your Heart. You will be like a tree by the running
water, whose branches will stay fresh and green, and they will keep bringing
forth new fruit. --Rule of St. Benedict for a new brother |
| 11/27/07 | They drew a circle to shut me out, Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took them in. -anonymous |
| 11/19/07 | Mid the surge of a changing world, grant us Lord, a sense of balance. |
| 11/12/07 |
You must build your life as if it
were a work of art.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel |
| 11/5/07 |
Knowing others is intelligence.
Knowing yourself is true wisdom. --Lao Tse |
| 10/1/07 | Eating is a sacrament. The grace we say clears our hearts and guides the children and welcomes the guest, all at the same time. --Gary Snyder |
| 9/25/07 |
To find our calling is to find
the intersection between our own deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger. --Frederick Buechner |
| 9/19/07 |
Within and around the earth,
within and around the hills, within and around the mountains, your authority returns to you. --Alfonso Ortiz |
| 9/12/07 |
Our aspirations are our
possibilities.
--Samuel Johnson |
| 6/18/07 | Who
can afford to live without beauty? Beauty fills us with passion; it graces
us with joy and lights up our existence. A landscape, a piece of music, a
film, a dance— suddenly all dreariness is gone, we are left bewitched and
bedazzled. If we get lost in dark despair, beauty takes us back to center.
--Piero Ferrucci |
| 6/4/07 | What
a joy it is to feel the soft, springy earth under my feet once more, to
follow grassy roads that lead to ferny brooks where I can bathe my fingers
in a cataract of rippling notes, or to clamber over a stone wall into green
fields that tumble and roll and climb in riotous gladness!
--Helen Keller |
| 5/29/07 | The
earth laughs in flowers. --Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| 5/21/07 | Each
morning we must hold out the chalice of our being to receive, to carry, and
give back. --Dag Hammarskjold |
| 5/14/07 | If we
really want to pray, we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of
the heart, God speaks. --T.S. Eliot |
| 5/7/07 |
Waking up this morning, I smile, Twenty four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of
compassion. --Thich Nhat Hahn |
| 4/30/07 |
Simplify, simplify, simplify. |
| 4/24/07 | We
can think of ourselves as musical instruments that imprint the world in a
unique way. Our body is the instrument, our nerves are the strings, and the
musician is our spirit. When in a music store, if you pluck a string on a
guitar, all the other guitars in the room will vibrate to that tone. What
type of music are you making? --Terry Lynn Taylor |
| 4/18/07 | A
listening heart is always open, sensitive to the joy and pain of others,
offering a space within itself for the other to enter. It gives each person
what is so badly needed—an affirmation of their place in this world. --Eliszer Shore |
| 4/9/07 | My
heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to
cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary
power, reconstitute the world. --Adrienne Rich |
| 4/3/07 | The
soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience. --Emily Dickinson |
| 3/26/07 | I
pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart
upward. I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their
songs begin and end each day—the invocations and the benedictions of the
Earth. I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather
than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to
listen. --Terry Tempest Williams |
| 3/20/07 | Lord
of the springtime, Father of flower, field and fruit, smile on us in these
earnest days when the work is heavy and the toil wearisome; lift up our
hearts, O God, to the things worthwhile—sunshine and night, the dripping
rain, the song of the birds, books and music, and the voices of our
friends. Lift up our hearts to these this night and grant us Thy peace.
Amen. --W.E.B. DuBois |
| 3/12/07 | I
slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I
acted and behold, service was joy. --Tagore |
| 3/5/07 | I
said to my soul, be still, and wait…So the darkness shall be the light, And
the stillness the dancing. --T.S. Eliot |
| 2/26/07 | What
is insight? It is the awareness that the external world is but a mirror.
Whatever you see therein is but reflection of yourself.
--Ba’al Shem Tov |
| 2/12/07 | We
all live in a fear of being judged by others, while the empty space between
us is waiting to be filled by a simple gesture of honest caring.
--Kent Nerburn |
| 2/6/07 | I
only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown,
for going out, I found, was really going in. --John Muir |
| 1/29/07 | In
the body there is a little shrine. In that shrine there is a lotus. In that
lotus there is a little space. What is it that lives in that little space? The whole universe is in that little space, Because the Creator, the source of it all, is in the heart of each one of us. --Parable from the Upanishads |
| 1/22/07 |
Something we were withholding made us weak – Until we learned It was ourselves we were withholding From this land of living – and henceforth found salvation In surrender. --Robert Frost |
| 1/16/07 | Every
human being has a great, yet often unknown gift to care, to be
compassionate, to become present to the other, to listen, to hear and to
receive. If that gift would be set free -- and made available -- miracles could take place. --Henri Nouwen |
| 1/9/07 | PEACE Comes within human souls when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Creator whose Center is really everywhere within each of us. --Black Elk |
| 1/2/07 | ALL THAT WE LOVE MIRRORS WHO WE ARE. |
| 2006 | |
| 12/18/06 | Peace
of heart will come when you hardly notice, like the first star in the
evening sky--- and you will not strive for it or seek it… it will find you as surely as light dawns, as purely as water bubbles from a mountain spring… Time goes by, and peace of heart tiptoes softly into your days and whispers in the night… Be still. All will be well. I am here. |
| 12/11/06 | Dear
God, we give thanks for places of simplicity and peace. Let us find such a
place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty. Let
us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of nature’s
truth and freedom, of joy, inspiration and renewal, places where all
creatures may find acceptance and belonging. Let us search for these places:
in the world, in ourselves and in others. Let us restore them. Let us
strengthen and protect then and let us create them. May we mend this outer
world according to the truth of our inner life and may our souls be shaped
and nourished by nature’s eternal wisdom. Amen. --Leunig |
| 12/4/06 | I
have a friend who is so deeply connected with God that he can see joy where
I expect only sadness. He travels much and meets countless people. When he
shares, he tells of the hidden joys he has found: someone who brought him
hope and peace…little groups of people who are faithful to each other in the
midst of turmoil…the small wonders of God. At times I realize that I am
disappointed because I want to hear “newspaper news,” exciting and
exhilarating stories. But he never responds to my need for sensationalism.
He keeps saying, “I saw something very small and very beautiful, something
that gave me much joy.” --Henri Nouwen, Return of the Prodigal |
| 11/28/06 | I
would describe spirituality as the practice of bodily, social, political,
and personal connectedness so that life comes together in a way that both
transcends and includes the bits and pieces that make up our search for
wholeness, freedom, rationality, and full human dignity.
-Letty M. Russell |
| 11/20/06 | To be
a contemplative we must become converted to the consciousness that makes us
one with the universe, in time with the cosmic voice of God. We must become
aware of the sacred in every element of life. We must bring beauty to birth
in a poor and plastic world. We must grow in concert with the God who is
within. We must restore the human community. We must be healers in a harsh
society. - -Joan Chittister |
| 11/14/06 |
Celtic Benediction In the quiet of this place In the dark of the night I
wait and watch. In the stillness of my soul and from its fathomless depths
the senses of my heart are awake to You. For fresh soundings of life for new
showings of light I search in the silence of my spirit, O Blessing God.
--J. Philip Newell |
| 11/2/06 | There
are billows far out on the ocean that never break on the beach. There are
thoughts in the temple of silence too great for our hearts to speak. -Paramahansa
Yogananda May your silence be in holy communion with the Indwelling Guest of
your heart… --Friends of Silence |
| 10/23/06 | It so
happens that the work which is likely to be our most durable monument, and
to convey some knowledge of us to the most remote posterity, is a work of
bare utility; not a shrine, not a fortress, not a palace, but a bridge. --Harper’s Weekly 1883 |
| 10/16/06 |
Wisdom is a living stream, not an icon preserved in a museum. Only when we
find the spring of wisdom in our own life can it flow to future generations.
--Thich Nhat Hahn |
| 10/9/06 |
Patient prayer is the holy ground from which our dreams for a just and
peaceful world begin to grow. --Joseph Nassal |
| 10/3/06 | In
honor of Gandhi’s birthday: Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if
you were to live forever. --Mahatma Gandhi |
| 9/25/06 | We
must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. The one who is devoid of
the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. Forgiveness is not an
occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.
--Martin Luther King jr. |
| 5/30/06 |
The wonderful beauty of prayer is that the opening of our
heart is as natural as the opening of a flower. To let a flower open and
bloom it is only necessary to let it BE; so if we simply ARE, if we become
and remain still and silent, our heart cannot but be open, the Spirit
cannot but pour through into the whole of our being. It is for this we have been created.
--John Main |
| 5/22/06 |
The whole thing boils down to giving ourselves in prayer a
chance to realize that we have what we seek. We don't have to rush after
it. It was there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make
itself known to us. There is in all this a sense of the unfolding of
mystery in time, a reverence for gradual growth.
--Thomas Merton |
| 5/15/06 |
Diversity is the world of form in all its infinite variety
of textures, colors, contrasts, and differences. Not only are we
different from each other, but everything is different from one moment to
the next -- everything is change. We are all part of one single unity,
but we're also very different. We can't do peacemaking in the world -- in
fact, we can't do anything effective in the world -- without taking our
differences into account.
--Bearing Witness by Bernie Glassman |
| 5/8/06 |
May the nourishment of the earth by yours. May the clarity of light be yours. May the fluency of the ocean be yours.
May the protection of the
ancestors be yours. And so may a slow wind work these words around you as
an invisible cloak to guard your life.
--A Celtic Prayer |
| 5/1/06 |
May 5 is National Day of
Prayer... Which of these descriptions of prayer resonates with you?
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| 4/25/06 |
Listening to the heart and
taking small steps into the unknown is the way we stay alive.
--Integrities Magazine, vol. 13, 1999 |
| 4/17/06 |
“In the point of
rest at the center of our being, we encounter a world where all things are
at rest in the same way. The tree becomes a mystery, the cloud a revelation,
each individual a cosmos of whose riches we can only catch glimpses.”
--Dag Hammerskold |
| 4/10/06 |
As we look back in
memory on our life’s tapestry. The past weaves into the present, and
precious scenes we see. A song brings us remembrance of friends from long
ago. A letter carries treasures; a child’s face brings a glow. Some memories
bring sorrow of hurts that are long past. Regret and guilt stay with us; we
fear that failures last. Yet all we weave has meaning, each thought, each
deed, a strand. The bright and darker colors reveal God’s gracious plan. O
Timeless Wondrous Weaver, You weave your perfect will. The threads of gold
that glisten display your matchless skill. And when our fingers falter at
our life’s eventide, You turn our weaving over, and show the other side.
--Edith Sinclair Downing |
| 4/3/06 |
Waking up this
morning, I smile, twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live
fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
--Thich Nhat Hahn |
| 3/27/06 |
You do not know the
power of the wind until you get into some high upland where it is always
blowing. Then you see, in the sparse grass, the shining reflection of stones
on which no lichen can secure a foothold. The rocks have lain there for ages
while the wind has passed over them, until like pebbles in a stream, they
have been polished by the mere passage of an unseen thing—the wind. Lift
them up and turn them over and the underside has the rough crusty appearance
of the original stone. It is a testimony to time and the passage of
invisible powers. --Loren Eisley |
| 3/20/06 | Lord of the springtime, Father of flower, field and fruit, smile on us in these earnest days when the work is heavy and the toil wearisome, lift up our hearts, O God, to the things worthwhile--sunshine and night, the dripping rain, the song of the birds, books and music, and the voices of friends. Lift up our hearts to these this day and grant us Thy peace. --WEB DuBois |
| 3/6/06 |
I hear the heartbeat
of the world because it beats in me. The heart that breaks open can contain
the whole universe. --Joanna Macy |
| 2/21/06 |
Not everything
that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
--James Baldwin |
| 2/13/06 |
An act of love that
fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that
succeeds, for love is measured by its fullness and not by its reception.
--Harold Loucks |
| 1/30/06 |
Only when we let go
of that which we are clutching, gripping, strangling, hanging onto, will we
be free to be carried to the places where our love and energy are most
needed. --More Thoughts for the Journey. |
| 1/23/06 |
Have patience with
all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in
considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying
them—every day begin the task anew. --St. Francis De Sales |
| 1/16/06 |
Only through
spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the
evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.
--M.L. King jr. |
| 1/9/06 | The past is a reality that was and is no more. The future is the reality that is yet to be but isn’t yet. The present is the only moment that is real. If we are out of touch with the moment, we are out of touch with reality. More Thoughts… |