December 23 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

December 23 - Daily Feast

Great and wonderful gifts have poured in over the years to enrich and strengthen life. A piece of plaster board painted and set outside to dry before it could be used as a blackboard, was found by the cow and she nibbled off the corner in search of salt. It worked out all right, because the paint made slick spots where the chalk would not work. And on cold winter mornings around the holidays Grandmother, E li is, would skim the frozen cream that rose to the top of a crock of milk. A little sugar turned it into ice cream that was delicious, even in the coldest weather. The weather was cold and the snow was so deep I was told that Santa might not come through for a few days. But when the school bus made it to deliver the neighbor children they stopped at our house. On Christmas morning I had a doll with red hair and eyes that opened and closed. Love always triumphs.

~ Cultivate peace at home. ~

PETALESHARO - PAWNEE

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - December 23

"It's not the package and the wrapping which counts but what is inside, underneath the clothes and the skin."

Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Our eyes and ears gather information that is fed to the mind, and we tend to form judgments, opinions and assumptions on what our perception is. We might see someone act a certain way, then label that person forever, not at all concentrating on what is inside the person. It matters not our height, our size, our facial features, or our gender. What matters is our thoughts. Good thoughts overcome all obstacles.

Great Spirit, let my inside contain Your qualities.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Leisure - what is it? It is that beautiful something that escapes us most of the time. Leisure, like most everything else, can be found if we truly want it. We seem to have the ability to do most of what we set our minds to do, and the less important things can be set aside for this particular thing.

We get pretty stale when we never take time to relax. A few hours of getting away from even a beloved madhouse will make a new human being out of a bundle of nerves.

Pursuit of leisure is to lose it. We can't suddenly say that the next five minutes will be for complete relaxation. It takes that long to begin to unwind. Gaiety and rhythm and frivolity are shunned by most minds. But if there are none of these, even in the smallest amounts, then leisure is more of a restless shuffling - like a night out with no place to go.

We need to exercise our minds a little to achieve any goal, and leisure is definitely a goal!