January 31 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

Thursday
Ugineiga

2013

January 31 - Daily Feast

Sensible people do not get ruffled easily and are known to be reliable in a crisis. We want these stable people with us as friends and team members when the game is terribly important. We have heard the calm voice and felt the strong hand when our knees wobbled and our hands shook. It is easy to recall those who sustained us with their words, their caring. And sadly, we remember those who did not. Whatever common sense is, the heart has it, not the head. It is having the right priorities, knowing what is important, and giving as much as, or more than, we have received. Indians of old has this stalwart strength to stand like straight arrows to give support. They reached out to lift someone before they stopped to think whether he deserved it. The price is the same now as then - patience, love, loyalty - those things that seem so scarce.

~ I learned many English words....could recite some of the Ten Commandments....I knew how to sleep in a bed, pray to Jesus, comb my hair, use a toilet....I learned that a person thinks with his head instead of his heart. ~

SUN CHIEF, 1890

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 31

"In sharing, in loving all and everything, one people naturally found a due portion of the thing they sought, while in fearing, the other found need of conquest."

Chief Luther Standing Bear, SIOUX

There are two systems of thought that are available for us to choose from. One is the love-thought system and the other is the fear- thought system. If we choose love, we will see the laws, principles and values of the Creator. If we choose fear, the results will be so paralyzing that it will cause us to take over and not rely on the Great Spirit. The fear-thought system will automatically cause attack, conflict, need to control over others. The love-thought system seeks peace of mind, unity and causes us to be love seekers.

Great Spirit, today let me see only love.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Everyone is a collector of something. And everyone's collection looks peculiar to someone else. And yet, who knows why an item may have a certain appeal to one particular person. The shape, the color, the whole idea may have a hidden background, but it is most definitely there!

It may be old books, or magazines. Perhaps it is pill bottles, fishing hooks, or something "I may need someday when..." Who knows the reason old calendars continue to hang, and scraps of this and that may someday be just what I need.

But more dear than any of these are the happy thoughts we collect to use along the way. We can use them to cheer someone, to pass along a word of courage, a simple prayer, a smile. And when someone has time to share with us an experience that we may profit by the pain they felt - yes, these are collector's items. These priceless bits of life's fabric, woven by someone's cares and offered to us in hopes that it will help.

Whatever it is that we collect, we must never forget the dearest collections are the kindnesses, the thoughtful acts, the smiling faces that can be ours by giving the same.

What could be so priceless as true friendship? Friends for which time and space do not exist! It is written, "What a great blessing is a friend with breast so trusty that thou mayest safely bury all thy secrets in it, whose conscience thou mayest fear less than thy own; who can relieve thy cares by his counsels, thy sadness by his good humor, and whose very looks give thee comfort."

All of us have had many friends, but the special ones remain forever in our memories. The dearest are those who believe in us and are willing to trust us with their friendship.

We cannot force friendship. It is something mutually understood and silently accepted. It is our opportunity to demonstrate our very best selves - to as no questions and to pass no criticisms.

"Before us is a future all unknown, a path untrod;
Beside us a friend well loved and known -
That friend is God."