December 21 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

December 21 - Daily Feast

Rebellion rises in us when one of our customs has to be changed. We think even when times were not east, bits and pieces meant something to us. Leaving it behind means a little of us must stay as well. Familiar memories can be treacherous. They grip the spirit and tell us we are losing something that cannot be replaced. But therein lies the fallacy. We do not replace what has been dear to us. We fold it in love and put it in safekeeping - while we add something new that has a place of its own. One thing does not have to pay the price for the other. Knowing this, we love what was, and enjoy what is.

~ Let us both own this place and enjoy in common the advantages it affords. ~

LITTLE TURTLE - MIAMI, 1700s

'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Elder's Meditation of the Day - December 21

"He [The Great Spirit] only sketches out the path of life roughly for all the creatures on earth, shows them where to go, where to arrive at, but leaves them to find their own way to get there. He wants them to act independently according to their nature, to the urges of each of them.

Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Every person is created with purpose and with direction. This purpose and direction is written in our hearts when we are conceived. In addition, we are given access to a quiet guidance system which helps us find our purpose and our direction. We need to recognize this guidance system. It's called intuition, the quiet voice, urges, the knowing or the feeling. Once we locate our purpose and direction, we are given skills, talents and abilities that are unique to only ourselves. We must practice daily prayer and meditation with God to find this information. To be solid and confident in ourselves, we always need to be able to answer three questions: why am I?, who am I?, and where am I going? If I can answer these three questions, I always know I'm OK!

Great Spirit, show me my path of life.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

America's art critic Henry Theodore Tuckerman believe the hand to be the mind's own perfect subject. As physical labor shows in a man's hands, so does illness, or greediness, or strength.

No other part of the body so expresses human behavior. With our hands we work, play, communicate, love, and express our fear, joy, and grief. These beautifully sensitive symbols of faith, love, and friendship are the hands of time that never stand still. They clasp to us the things we love, the books we read, the seeds we plant, the stitches we sew, and the civilization we build.

This marvelously made human hand, directed by the mind's eye, the mind's ear, and the heart's desires, works every waking moment to express it's owner's life.

The gentle touch, so closely linked with our emotions, can also be the unmistakable expression of strength and honesty. And the most beautiful of all, the praying hands, for surely they are conscious only of God.