January 26 & 27, 2016 Daily Feast Of Wisdom (Tsugitsvnvda Danalisdayvhvsgv Agadohvsdi ) (ᏧᎩᏨᏅᏓ ᏓᎾᎵᏍᏓᏴᎲᏍᎬ ᎠᎦᏙᎲᏍᏗ)

2016

January
Dunolvatni
ᏚᏃᎸᎠtᏂ

Wednesday
Tsoineiga
ᏦᎢᏁᎢᎦ

January 26 - Daily Feast
Volume II

Peace at any price is not peace, it is hiding until the danger passes. Sooner or later those who have no honor will find another way to break the treaty. Tread water when necessary, avoid confrontation with those who love turmoil, and never be so self-sufficient as not to be able to say an honest prayer when it is needed. Cultivate peace, to hi dv, but do not give in to darkness.

~ Take away your guns and swords, the cause of all our jealousy, or you may die in the same manner. ~

WHAHUNSONACOCK - POWHATAN, 1600

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 26

"All life is a circle."

Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE

The atom is a circle, orbits are circles, the earth, moon, and sun are circles. The seasons are circles. The cycle of life is a circle: baby, youth, adult, elder. The sun gives life to the earth who feeds life to the trees whose seeds fall to the earth to grow new trees. We need to practice seeing the cycles that the Great Spirit gave us because this will help us more in our understanding of how things operate. We need to respect these cycles and live in harmony with them.

Great Spirit, let me grow in knowledge of the circle.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Human dignity is that silent something in us that keeps from falling below the level where others look down on us to make light of our very existence. None of us exists who cannot sense to some degree the feeling that others hold for us. It may create in us a "show them" attitude that takes us through life more successfully, but it will more likely destroy our desire to be anything more than what is expected of us.

It is an appalling thing to see others impose their superiority upon human dignity of those whose literacy may not be equal to their own. Only profound ignorance could convince anyone they have the right to see and idly judge another's intelligence, or to insult the dignity of any human being.

The little silent people who have not yet discovered within themselves the abilities they need to lift themselves, still have the right and dignity of being human. A small amount of respect and direction might start them on the road to better things, though it might be all uphill. At least if they know it is all uphill they may work harder and reach and place where they can look back at those with lofty ideas about themselves, standing forever stagnant, and feel more compassion than they could ever have felt.

2016

January
Dunolvatni
ᏚᏃᎸᎠtᏂ

Thursday
Ugineiga
ᎤᎩᏁᎢᎦ

January 27 - Daily Feast
Volume II

Trust is a fragile gem that most people never intend to lose. Too often a promise is easily made and easily broken. It reveals a deeper nature that may never have been trustworthy. A Cherokee elder once commented, "Indian may forgive - but Indian never forget." No grudge, but wisdom that a trust shattered one time may well be broken again. Trust is a stand - a ga to gv - says the Cherokee. If the Spirit is trustworthy, then we should be trustworthy. He is the Gem, the Power of the stand we take. We personally have no power - but the Gem has it all.

~ The Indian world was devoted to living; the European world to getting. ~

HISTORIAN, 1764

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 27

"The journey to the Spirit World is a long one, my friend. But when you die, that doesn't mean that this is the end."

Buddy Red Bow, LAKOTA

The Elders tell us of the other dimension, the Spirit World. Our spirit in our bodies does not die, it only looks that way to our eyes and our brains. Some of our ceremonies allow us to see into the Spirit World. Death is only part of a process of life. It shows the transition into the Spirit World. The Elders tell us this is a joyful life journey.

My Creator, help me to understand both the seen world and the unseen world. Let me not be afraid of the world You live in.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There is much to be said of small things. Even in this age of emphasis on bigness we must realize that bigness is only a mass of small things. An idea is a small thing. With it we can change our world. We can take a tiny seed and give it careful attention and reap a hundred fold. We can take a little idea and give it our attention and build it into a fortune.

A smile is a small thing. Smile once at someone in passing and three will return the smile. Smiling is so contagious that it moves from person to person until a hundred smiling faces are the result of one.

A thought is a small thing. One thought inspires another and another until a mental image is formed. From that mental image blueprints are drawn. And from those blueprints worlds are built.

Hope is a small thing. One tiny glimmer of hope can lift us out of the deepest pit of darkness. One whisper of encouragement will help us to know that as long as there's hope there is an excellent chance.

A wish is a small thing. Like a little prayer, it climbs the steps to an idea that makes a smile and gives us hope to make our wishes come true. For in small things are all great things formed, in little beginnings the possibilities of great events.