February 4 Daily Feast, Elder's Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

February 4 - Daily Feast

To stand alone does not mean there is no one else around. It means we are u na tse li dv-u na to tiv hi.... We think for ourselves in an independent way, using our heads rather than our feet. We fit life to us instead of letting it press us into a mold that would not makes us happy. Letting the world dictate to us is being one of the herd that runs - not because it is the right thing to do, but because we think everyone else is doing it, and so must we. Is it the right direction? Refusing to be swept along with every trend is cultivating our inner awareness of right and wrong. Awareness is there within us, but we have to hear it and heed it. This is why we were given intelligence - to stand alone so that we may have something to offer when someone else needs us.

~ Too many misinterpretations have been made....too many misunderstandings.... ~

CHIEF JOSEPH

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 4

"We say there is a right time and place for everything. It's easy to say, but hard to understand. You have to live it to understand it."

Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE

The Elders tell us there is a right time and a right place. Don't plant seeds in the fall-wrong time. One way we find out about the right time and right place is our experience. If we are lucky, we have a few friends who will share their experience; this will help us too. The best way is to let God guide us. Only He knows the right time and the right place. So we need to pray and ask Him for guidance.

Great Spirit, show me patience so I can live in the right time and right place.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So often it is difficult to know where the line lies between kindness and domineering. It doesn't sound as if the two could possibly mix, but sometimes in our watchfulness over those we care about we're inclined to think it a kind of goodness when it actually becomes domineering.

It is often the best and kindest thing to let others think for themselves. Even though the helpfulness is of love, it can be smothering to the ones who want to breathe freely, even of their own problems.

Concern can turn to possessiveness in the space of a moment and do it so subtly it is almost impossible to comprehend. All individuals have the right to make their own mistakes and also the undeniable right to correct those mistakes. It makes help appreciated when it comes and then help is recognized as help and not as ownership.

If we were all told what to do, it would relieve us of the burden of the responsibility of thinking, planning, or making decisions. Our lives would be literally free of care. And there are those among us who love to direct the traffic of other people's lives. But have you noticed how detestable it is to them to have the smallest suggestion made concerning their own? What a display of vanity!

There are always sycophants, or "apple polishers," if you will, who fawn and flatter the vanity. But to have one's vanity built to great heights is not always an act of love, but more often subtle scorn.

Love is the only force against vanity. Love does not wish to command, but only to serve. If love cannot tell the truth it does not speak. Vanity separates, love joins. Love does not ask that another take the responsibility, but it asks only the strength to bear it.

Donadagahv’I

David Son of Lone Wolf