April 16 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

April 16 - Daily Feast

April is the color of jonquils, the fragrance of hyacinths, and the dewiness of violets. The sunlit meadows are carpeted with tiny blue flowers, and along the ravines wild strawberries are as sweet and tart as April air. We forget that while the earth sleeps, life goes on, growing, developing, spreading, until at the right moment it reveals itself in glorious colors and shapes. A few short weeks ago everything was brown and somber. Now the colors are radiant and the very air is tinted the color of new leaves. A new aura outlines the distant hills and only human beings have to see and taste and stir themselves to new life.

~ I love the land and....the trees which cover it, the grass growing on it. ~

COMO

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day April 16

"But one should pray in one's heart during a sacred ceremony; this is the purpose of the ceremony, to purify the participants both inside and outside."

Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

How do you know if you are praying from your heart or from your head? Pray from your head and you will feel nothing; pray from your heart and you will feel feelings. You may feel sorrow, you may feel joy, you may want to cry, depending on what you are praying for. During the ceremony, the cleansing will take place. The Medicine Wheel teaches the four directions of inner power: emotional, mental, physical and spiritual. The prayer controls the emotional, mental and physical. When we ask for purification of our feelings, our mental mind and our physical body, the spiritual direction causes the cleansing to happen.

Great Spirit, create in me a clean heart.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

In this jet age when almost "instant there" is commonly accepted, the world has become very small. The days of remaining in one's own birthplace are near an end, and those who never dreamed of traveling have adjusted themselves to it quite well.

And with shorter distances between us and our neighbors it seems our worlds should find more opportunities for mutual understanding. But we must realize that even though our material worlds may be easily crossed, our thoughts are worlds apart. Until we can bring together a thinking people with the desire to create living conditions that are peaceful and full of kindness, fast travel can waver between good and bad.

A British novelist and poet, George Moore, said, "It is thought, and thought only, that divides right from wrong; it is thought, and thought only, that elevates or degrades human deeds and desires."