May 11 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

Saturday
Dodaquidena

2013

May 11 - Daily Feast

Honeybees that relied on early flowers in the garden can now feast all across the meadows. Red clover, honey locust trees, and rose-colored Indian paintbrush abound in clusters to feed the bees and give peace to the eye. An evening chorus of field sparrows trills in the wheat field and a nesting killdeer demands privacy by doing her broken-wing act to sidetrack walkers. The whole meadow teems with activity until dusk - and then a silence pervades, only to be broken by the throaty voice of the tree toad. It is common knowledge among the Cherokee that every animal, except man, knows the main business of life is to enjoy it, and he, the Cherokee, sides with nature.

~ Seed time is here but your grounds have not been prepared for planting. Go back and plant the summer's crop. ~

KEOKUK, 1832

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day May 11

"The Old People would gather words as they walked a sacred path across the Earth, leaving nothing behind but prayers and offerings."

Cleone Thunder, NORTHERN ARAPAHOE

Whenever we walk on the Earth, we should pay attention to what is going on. Too often our minds are somewhere else, thinking about the past or thinking about the future. When we do this, we are missing important lessons. The Earth is a constant flow of lessons and learning, which also include a constant flow of positive feelings. If we are aware as we walk, we will gather words for our lives, the lessons to help our children; we will gather feelings of interconnectedness and calmness. When we experience this, we should say or think thoughts of gratitude. When we do this, the next person to walk on the sacred path will benefit even more.

My Creator, today, let me be aware of the sacred path.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Most successful ventures have behind them some hardships. We as human beings, demand such experiences before we can truly appreciate the meaning of victory. No one promised that life would be son long gala event, but if we're made of durable stuff, we neither let it hinder us nor make us run roughshod to get ahead.

We must always recognize past hardships for what they are. We cannot ignore them, for they are a part of our makeup. But neither can we let them become crutches to lean upon when there's a need for an excuse.

Bitterness over past experiences wastes valuable time. Perhaps it was those hardships that gave us the strength to rise above the mediocre things. However crude, ugly or unhappy, even when combined with all our other knowledge they form the perfect circle and play no more important part than all the rest.

In the words of American poet John Neal, "No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm."