Daily Dose (May 6 – 9)

TUESDAY MAY 6 — “Dear God, anchor us in the stillness beneath the noise. Guide our hearts to respond with courage, compassion, and clarity when the world feels too heavy to hold. Amen.” (Thank you, Maria Shriver)

“Courage is one of the most contagious things you can imagine.” (Jon Meacham)
It doesn’t matter what we expect from life, but what life expects from us. In other words, we can choose.
We can choose to unbridle our heart, in order to be our better selves.
We can choose to release grief, to heal emotional wounds, and to open ourselves to forgiveness.
We can choose the gift and healing power of courage.
Viktor Frankl reminds us: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”.

So, here’s our question. How do we remind one another of the courage and sufficiency that is within us, when times are tough, dark and hurtful?
And how do we remember, even in the belittling and demanding places, that we can hear and affirm that voice of courage, and with it, walk one another home?
It is so easy (and tempting) to see our vulnerability as a weakness, or limitation or flaw, and not as the affirmation of a strong and resilient heart.

“I hope you’re finding ways to recall and sustain the joy in your soul. Maintaining your joy is an act of defiance in a world that wants to shut people down. The grief and anger you may be feeling just affirm that you care about people. But joy is the deeper life force, the part of you that knows beauty, the part of you that knows love.” (Thank you, Deb Pierce McCabe)

I write this from Port Ludlow, Washington, where I can now drive on the right side of the road. A very long day of travel, and I am grateful to say goodnight to a setting sun.

WEDNESDAY MAY 7 — “In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.” Deepak Chopra

Nelson Mandela served 18 of his 27 years in Robben Island. Margaret Wheatley tells this story of a time that she had the unique privilege of touring Robben Island (now a UNESCO World Heritage Centre).
The tour group stood in a long narrow room that had been used as a prison cell for dozens of freedom fighters. Picture yourself in a space crowded, cramped and barren. The prisoners lived without cots or furniture, cement floors now their beds. The only light entered through narrow windows near the ceiling.
The tour group listened to their guide’s narration. “I was a prisoner in this very room,” the guide tells them. The gravity of his words co-mingles with the cold seeping up through the floor. There is a chill.
The group stares through prison bars, surveys the lifeless cell, and tries to imagine the stories about the suffering from relentless threats and capricious brutality.
The guide pauses, as if remembering, gazing the length of his former cell. Speaking quietly, almost a whisper, he says, “Sometimes, to pass the time here, we taught each other ballroom dancing.”
Okay, when I first read this story, I wasn’t ready for that ending. Even with the gut-wrenching bleakness, I confess to grinning, and then, admiringly, laughing out loud.
Ballroom dancing? A group of demoralized and weary men, beaten down and brutalized—and yes, vulnerable—teaching one another to dance.
The affirmation of the infinity–and yes, the courage–within.
You gotta love it.
“Dear God, anchor us in the stillness beneath the noise. Guide our hearts to respond with courage, compassion, and clarity when the world feels too heavy to hold. Amen.” (Thank you, Maria Shriver)

Cole Arthur Riley’s affirmation, “Liberation begins with an awareness that you are worthy of so much more than whatever form your chains have taken today.”

A beautiful day in the PNW. There are leaves now on the trees, and my garden, columbine, bleeding hearts, camellia and daphne blooms all welcoming us home.

THURSDAY MAY 8 — The Talmud reminds us, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
A “work” that is fueled by, and sustained by, courage.
This week, I choose to invite this self, this vulnerable broken Terry, to the table to speak. The sacrament of the present becomes a place for the “work” of honesty, and confession and learning, and empathy and mercy, and healing.
And here’s the good news: we will not lose laughter, or wonder and awe, or gratitude and gladness, or empathy and compassion. They will all be strengthened. And the gift? Courage spills when we embrace and reassure the joy in our soul.

A Zen roshi is dying. All of the monks gather—an eagerness restrained—around the deathbed, hoping to be chosen as the next teacher.
The roshi asks slowly, “Where is the gardener?”
“The gardener,” the monks wonder aloud. “He is just a simple man who tends the plants, and he is not even ordained.”
“Yes,” the roshi replies. “But he is the only one awake. He will be the next teacher.”

“And suddenly you know,” Meister Eckhart wrote (I am certain just to encourage me), “It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”
I know that the magic is in the invitation; in this case, the invitation to be awake.
First, the invitation to pause, to take time to re-examine our priorities and recall what we treasure most. To ask questions about what really matters. It’s not the labels we wear, or the address, vocation, or prefix in front of your name. It’s about the kind of people we want to be.
Which brings us back to courage.
So. Let us continue to be a community resource for sanctuary, replenishment, tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, justice and wholeheartedness. Through Sabbath Moment Monday and Daily Dose, I want to remind us that peace, reconciliation, rediscovering charity and finding ways to grieve, keep us spiritually hydrated. And that radical kindness always matters.
Here is what I know: I want to be a dispenser and bestower of grace.

And secondly. “Which is more important,” asked Big Panda. “The journey or the destination?”
“The company,” said Tiny Dragon.  (Thank you James Norbury)
Meaning, your well-being matters to me. Because we need one another. No one of us is on this journey alone.
Let us together build sanctuaries of empathy and humility.
Of this I am certain; From time to time, I will forget the power of grace and sufficiency…
But gratefully, in the garden memories of my heart, there are those lucky days, when the sun illuminates the translucent “bat wing” ruby thorns of the rose sericea pteracantha, or a swallow-tail butterfly provides a cabaret while sipping at a wallflower, or a rainbow arches its back through the northern sky after a morning of fateful clouds have skittered and leapt, or peonies glow, faithful and sanguine near the maple tree, or the late spring sun stays in the sky well into evening, letting you sit on the back deck listening to frogs in the pond well past bedtime, or the candied scent of a bearded iris transports you back to a high school dance when the best looking girl in town really did want to drape her arms around your neck during all the slow numbers.  

FRIDAY MAY 9 — “Courage is one of the most contagious things you can imagine,” Jon Meacham reminds us. And I love stories about people with contagious courage.
John Lewis left some awfully big shoes to fill. But also, a word of encouragement. And some advice about filling them; “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way.”
So. Today, we’re invited to a paradigm shift. We often hear people say, “I know my rights,” but seldom hear, “I know my responsibilities and obligations.”
With no ego to protect, I can give my heart to create sanctuaries of kindness.
To place love at the center.
And no one can take that away. They can demean us, belittle us, criticize us and silence us. But no one can take that away.
So. Today. Let us choose to speak the language of the heart. To give and to build places where mercy and sanctuary and justice and compassion are real.
One choice at a time.
What about tomorrow? We can’t control that.
What about reaction or public opinion? We can’t control that.
What about acceptance? We can’t control that.
There is no technique here. Simply to choose to “lean toward the whispers” of our heart.
Because we are made of stronger stuff? No. Because ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
“Our actions entrench the power of the light on this planet. Every positive thought we pass between us makes room for more light. And if we do more than think, then our actions clear the path for even more light. That is why forgiveness and compassion must become more important principles in public life.” Thank you John Lewis (Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change).

Pope Francis said, “Never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope.”
And following the footsteps of Pope Francis, we welcome Cardinal Robert F. Prevost (Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis), now, Pope Leo XIV. Blessings and peace.

“whenever I feel helpless
in this overwhelming world
I become a helper
oh, oh,
my love
on the days
when it feels like
I have no power
I serve others
you see,
whenever I wash
the world’s feet
my hands
immediately
stop shaking”
John Roedel

Prayer for our week…
May God bless us with discomfort — discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger — anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless us with tears — tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless us with foolishness — enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done.
A Franciscan blessing

Photo… “I don’t see how one can be ‘neutral’ with the issues we face. It seems that to be neutral is to not care. We must care and care deeply. Here are some Easter Photos. Easter Blessings,”
Faith Lang (Glendale, OH)…