August 23 Daily Feast, Elder's Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

August 23 - Daily Feast

Painting a picture is much the same as living a life. Some of us only get the outline sketched while others find the time and desire to mix beautiful colors and brush them on canvas. Color is used sparingly on some canvases, others are somber and dark with little or no highlights. But those whose cheerful colors, cardinal reds, sunflower yellows, and all shades of purple and lilac, show us that life does not have to be ordinary. The Master Artist, U ne la nv hi, gave us all pallets and pots of bright colors to use boldly, or to mix in subtle but lively shades. We have been given the general sketch but it is left to us to fill in the colors, harmonizing and blending until we get the right tones. Each of us is a painter and each has the charge to make life a work of art.

~ They searched for a long period of time for the source of life, and at last came to see the thought that it issues from an invisible creative power to which they applied the name Wa-ko-da. ~

PLAYFUL CALF

"A Cherokee Feast of Days" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 23

"They also learned, and perhaps this was the most important thing, how to look at things through the eyes of the Higher Powers."

Fools Crow, LAKOTA

Our eyes can only see our beliefs. Our beliefs cause us to make assumptions, draw conclusions and cause confusion. Our five senses are very limiting. The Creator has a way of allowing us to see or know in the spiritual world. This is called the Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense is like a radar system; our personal radar system. It will help us "see" opportunities and help us avoid disaster. This Sixth Sense is controlled by God. We must learn to listen to it. We must learn to trust it. We must learn to act on it even if our head says differently. We must learn to look at things through the eyes of God.

My Creator, guide me today. If my eyes cause confusion, let me close them and see through Your eyes. If my ears
Hear confusion, let me listen to my heart. Let me let You guide me.

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Chief Standing Bear talked of his Lakota people. He said they loved to worship and the contact was immediate and personal and that blessings flowed over them like rain showered from the sky.

Can worship really produce such blessings? Indeed, yes. Indian people were born to believe and they have long proved that the "vanishing American" is so much high talk that came to nothing.

To the Indian, Spirit is not aloof, not a figment of the imagination but real life and real power. How sad that lukewarm attitudes silence those who do not want to be known as religious. It is not religion at all, but faith, Spirit, and something to rely on when life goes dry.

Donadagahv’I

Tawodi Unega
( White Hawk )

"Be good, be kind, help each other."
"Respect the ground, respect the drum, respect each other."

Abe Conklin - Ponca/Osage, (1926-1995)

May The Creator walk with you.

A-na-s-gv-ti U-ne-la-nv-hi Ni-go-hi-lv-i
Wa-tsi Ga-wo-hi-lv-do-di Ni-hi
( May God Always Watch Over You )