May 22 & 23, 2016 Daily Feast Of Wisdom (Tsugitsvnvda Danalisdayvhvsgv Agadohvsdi ) (ᏧᎩᏨᏅᏓ ᏓᎾᎵᏍᏓᏴᎲᏍᎬ ᎠᎦᏙᎲᏍᏗ)

2016

May
Anasgvti
ᎠᎾᏍᎬᏘ

Sunday
Dodaquasgvi
ᏙᏓᏆᏍᎬᎢ

May 22 - Daily Feast

We were made to be different - you and I. The same diversity is in nature but it never argues about who is good, better, or best. Each one of earth's creatures goes about its own business - some yipping in the woods at night, some in high flight, some beneath water. One biological group does not look at another in abject disapproval - but all blend in a harmony that makes us peaceful to watch. At times I may see you as bizarre and you may view me as lacking intellectually, but we are still God's creations, and it is the diversity that makes life colorful, and certainly not monotonous.

~ God made me an Indian.....but not a reservation Indian. ~

SITTING BULL - HUNKPAPA TETON

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - May 22

"The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was... The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it..."

Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE

There is danger when we start to draw lines and boundaries. This is true whether outside ourselves or inside ourselves. The danger is losing sight of the interconnectedness. When we lose sight of interconnectedness, separation, possessiveness (this is mine, I can do what I want) and infighting results. Even at an individual level, if we don't believe we are connected to all things we get self-centered and have self-seeking motives. We must think in harmony, balance and integrity. We must see our relationship to the great whole and conduct ourselves accordingly.

Great Spirit, today, let me think beyond boundaries.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Courage must have its everyday face. We can't preserve it just for special occasions. We must have courage when we are disappointed, because disappointment is a robber of reason and faith, and even dignity. We must remember that whatever we have to meet there is something within us to help us meet it. But it is like a vein of rich ore. We must tap it, know what it is, and turn it into a finished product that will serve a purpose.

Every day we must have courage to forgive. The adamant we shall always face, but to forgive is to disarm. To forgive is to release and to release is to remove the graceless things that make it necessary to forgive.

A little common, everyday courage can give a life so much more to live for and to find contentment in the knowledge that today I did not give in to the smaller self. And I can draw on the strength from One who bore personal suffering with supreme courage.

A comforting adage is that it is always darkest just before the dawn. The darkness of fear and worry and misunderstanding can last only so long, and then the light of dawn breaks through to show everything in its true perspective.

To someone who is troubled, the darkness holds only the most frightening difficulties. This kind of night seems to have no end, but given a little time it will pass, as will our problems.

The very fact that we are not alone should give some comfort, for no matter what we are experiencing someone else has been there too. We must not delude ourselves with notions that we are meant to be cross-bearers forever.

And frequently, they are much better people who emerge from their own night to remember that it is as important to have faith in the dark as it is easy to have faith in the sunshine.

2016

May
Anasgvti
ᎠᎾᏍᎬᏘ

Monday
Dodaquonvhi
ᏙᏓᏉᏅᎯ

May 23 - Daily Feast

Get up! Fight the belief that you are a lost cause. You have power you have not touched, and because of your toughened mind you refuse to change it. Stop fighting your own better nature. It is there, waiting for you to touch it, to use it, and to become a whole. No one made you poor or sick or lonely. You have simply let your lower nature walk in and take over and it had nothing but trouble in mind. Turn around and see that you are no different from most of the ones you dislike. Turn on your lights, walk away from trouble - see your new person. See the joy and peace and forget the past and let it slide away.

~ Why will you take by force what you may have quietly by love? ~

WAHUNSONACOCK - POWHATAN

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - May 23

"To me, if you're Indian, you're Indian. You don't have to put on your buckskin, beads, and feathers, and stuff like that."

Cecilia Mitchell, MOHAWK

The most important thing that determines who we are is on our insides, not our outsides. If we are Indian inside, that's all that matters. Being Indian means to think right, to be spiritual and to pray. Feathers and beads don't make us Indian. Being Indian means to have a good heart and a good mind.

Great Spirit, today, let me think Indian.

'THINK on THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler'

Why is it that the things we love can cause us so much pain, and perhaps without realizing it? Why is it that we find so much to worry about in all the "what ifs" that cross our minds with such persistence? What makes fatigue follow us through the hours and drain away precious strength that we need to help us in our daily routine?

All the things that plague us daily have one common cause - fear. To some, fear is a constant companion. We may call it by many other names such as necessity, time, busyness, demands, but all of these can be forms of fear.

Fear produces the most mental, physical, and spiritual fatigue that has ever overtaken humans. It rushes us so that we have accidents. It drains us of strength to resist illness. It tells us we cannot produce enough to meet the demands upon us. And it builds within our minds such dire images so that we cannot face the simplest.

Fear has one antidote. It is not to stop worrying and take it easy, but it is faith. Adverse conditions cannot break us in the face of faith. Faith allows us to look fear in the eyes with such confidence that it loses its power over us.

English divine, Frederick William Robertson, wrote, "To believe is strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power."