Monday Whatevers
All-Hallows Eve 2022
Hello, Friend!
It’s Monday, so… inspired by on one of my favorite bits of the Bible, let’s start every week off with a little bit of whatever’s good and noble in the world. Here are a few excellent and noteworthy things I’m seeing in the world right now. Some are beautiful, promising, and reassuring. Some are poignant, thought-provoking, and necessary. All of them add to a greater knowing of God’s presence in this world, within our humanity, and out in the great beyond. And, they all prove there’s an abundance of spectacular, breathtaking tangible and intangible cosmic matter between us.
Please feel free to share in the comments whatever is good that you’re seeing in the world as well.
Blessings,
Marcie
In honor of Halloween (aka All-Hallows Eve) and All Saints Day, this week I’m sharing spiritual practices from one of my favorite online hangouts Spirituality & Practice.
I hope one calls you to incorporate it into your life.
May your spirit be light.
WHATEVER IS TRUE…
Imagining the Sacred by Vernon Ruland
We must love them both —
Those whose opinions we share,
Those whose opinions we don't share.
They've both labored in the search for Truth
and have both helped us in finding it.
—Thomas Aquinas
To Practice This Thought:
Make a list of people you agree and disagree with and then contemplate it with love.
WHATEVER IS HONEST…
How to Be Happier Day by Day by Alan Epstein
Make a list of what you like about yourself. The qualities can be trivial or big. You can say that you are always willing to help a friend, or that you like the way a wave of hair falls on your forehead. What's important is that you think about yourself deeply and thoroughly, perhaps in a way you never thought of yourself before.
Be honest. Include only those things that really please you.
Are you efficient and responsible about home and car repairs?
Do you have a special artistic flair when it comes to your clothes?
Is your house always a hospitable haven for your friends and neighbors?
Don't underestimate yourself. Don't overlook or minimize anything.
Do you like the sound of your voice?
That you're a good listener?
That you have a green thumb?
That you have leadership qualities that emerge in subtle ways?
Keep your list up to date. Add to it when new things come up, or as you realize that you have more attractive qualities than you first thought.
WHATEVER IS JUST…
Break Open Our Hearts by Mary Lou Kownacki
Spirit of Justice,
Break open our hearts.
Break them wide open.
Let anger pour through
Like strong storms,
Cleansing us of complacency.
Let courage pour through
Like spring storms,
Flooding out fear.
Let zeal pour through
Like blazing summer sun,
Filling us with passion.
Force of justice,
Grant me anger at what is,
Courage to do what must be done,
Passion to break down the walls of injustice
And build a land flowing with milk and honey
For God's beloved, God's special love, God's poor ones.
Spirit of Justice,
Break open our hearts.
To Practice This Prayer:
Say this as a morning prayer, once a week. Choose a line or phrase for lectio divina.
Record your daily reflections in your prayer journal. Review these insights at the end of six months or a year.
WHATEVER IS PURE…
Church of the Wild by Victoria Loorz
Listen to your breath. Listen to the wind.
We are connected through the breath of God.
Slowly allow yourself to relax into this welcoming place.
You belong here with this oak tree and the stones and the flies and scrub jays and poison oak.
Listen for the water, arteries of life flowing throughout the planet mirroring the arteries of blood flowing through your own body.
You are a welcome part of this ecosystem.
They welcome us because they have not forgotten that we are related, that we come from the same dust and return to the same dust.
Take another deep breath of gratitude to acknowledge that our lives are fully dependent on the healthy functioning of this particular bio-system.
To Practice This Thought:
Take deep, grateful breaths. The presence of God is often described as the ruach — the wind, the breath. Our own breath is literally dependent on the breath of the tree.
WHATEVER IS LOVELY…
Surrendering to Your Inner Smile by Raphael Cushnir
Feeling joyful is not necessary for presence, but it's one of the most powerful ways to induce it. Joy creates an almost instantaneous sense of expansion — an inner smile that's like a warm bath. Some call this warm bath "flow" or "spirit." Experiencing it connects us to ourselves and to everyone and everything around us.
To Practice This Thought:
Think about someone or something that you love. This could be a child, a place in nature, or a favorite memory. Whatever you choose, make sure that just reflecting upon it creates an automatic inner smile. Then surrender to that inner smile. Let it light you up. Feel it spread though your body and even beyond it, uniting you joyously with your surroundings.
WHATEVER IS GRACIOUS…
Different Seasons by Dale Turner
You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, and swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in ink.
— G. K. Chesterton
To Practice This Thought:
Begin each new activity with a brief grace.
WHATEVER IS EXCELLENT…
An African Invocation of Divine Names by Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator
Ancient Deity
Unbreakable Stone
Consoler & Comforter Providing Salvation
Grandfather Who Alone Is The Great One
Watcher Of Everything Who Is Not Surprised By Anything
Piler Of Rocks Into Towering Mountains
Divider Of Night & Day
Sun Too Bright For Our Gaze
Eye Of The Sun
Artist-In-Chief
Drummer Of Life
Owner Of Our Head
Large & Deep Pot
My Feathered One
Mother Of People
Great Nursing Mother
Great Eye
Great Rainbow
Great Personal Guardian Spirit
Unsurpassed Great Spirit
Great Source Of Being
Great Mantle Which Covers Us
Great Leopard With Its Own Forest
Great Healer Of Eternal Life
Great Water-Giver
Great Well
Greatest Of Friends
Great Spider, The All-Wise One
Controller Of Destiny In The Universe
All-Powerful, Never Defeated
Father Of Laughter
King Without Blemish
Caller-Forth Of The Branching Trees
Unique Great One To Whom One Can Take Petitions & Requests For Counsel
The First Who Always Existed & Will Never Die
The Only One Bull In The World
The One Who Sees Both The Inside & The Outside
The One We Meet Everywhere
The One Who Is In All Ages, Everywhere & At All Times
The One Who Turns Things Upside Down
The One Who Has Power To Destroy Completely
The One Who Makes The Sun Set
The One Who Gave Everything On This Earth & Can Take Everything Away
Axe That Fears No Thistle
Hoe That Fears No Soil
Ram of Majestic Sinews & Majestic Carriage
Hero Who Never Flees Before The Enemy
Big Boundless Hut
Victor Over Death
Prayer:
We praise you!
Bless us!
Enlighten us!
Hear us!
Guide us!
Protect us!
WHATEVER IS WORTHY OF APPLAUSE…
Daily Awards For Good by Drew Leder
The Academy Awards and other such ceremonies are enormously popular. They celebrate outstanding accomplishments in a variety of endeavors. It's not only the public, but the industry that likes them. They focus attention on the nominees and effectively sell their products.
Why not turn this device toward spiritual ends? In this game, focus attention on the good in and around you by presenting daily awards. The product you're selling is nothing less than a fulfilling experience of life.
You might work initially with three categories. The first is My Positive Accomplishments. As you go through the day, note things you have done well: unselfish acts, constructive approaches to problems, moments of kindness to yourself and others. Perhaps you were courteous to a next-door neighbor, or tackled a chore you'd been putting off. Add it to the list you're keeping mentally or on paper.
The Second Category is Positive Accomplishments of Others. Keep track of the good things that those around you do this day, Your child care provider greets your kid with a hug; she treats him like one of her own. Today, don't just take that for granted. Put it on the list. After arriving on the job, a co-worker offers to bring your coffee. That's considerate. On the list it goes.
The third category is something like Special Graces from God or the Universe. Here note any positives that Spirit has sent your way; a parking space appearing when you desperately needed one; some relief from fear as a result of prayer; a well-timed phone call from an old friend; coming home at night to a basically happy marriage. Search out blessings you might otherwise overlook.
Happy All-Hallows Eve!
May your week be filled with whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise.
Much Peace,
Marcie