October 15, 2023

Quote of the Week

"Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don't want it. What seems conceit, bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone." - Miller Williams

Allowables

I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her
I don’t think I’m allowed
To kill something
Because I am
Frightened

By Nikki Giovanni

–– The arch of this straightforward, humble poem travels through kindness and empathy. Spiders like humans are fragile. So is the rest of our earthly life, however inconsequential things may appear. Composed in 1968 by a celebrated poet and civil rights advocate Nikki Giovanni, this poem teaches how our fear(s) can erode compassion intrinsic to our existence, and how self-reflection on our hidden fears, our assumptions and hard-won values is a predecessor of compassion. Reflect on your own, reflect in your communities and families. By no means this process is easy. Rather tangled, as if waking sleeping shadows within us. But nevertheless can set us up to re-assess the lens with which we look at others. 

Image credits: here

Reading Corner

Name: A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle & Muddle of the Ordinary
Author: Brian Doyle
Ages: 11 and upwards

"A celebration is exactly what this book is. What a delight to be introduced to Brian Doyle by means of these one hundred quintessentially quirky, but genuinely beautiful, short prayers. The joke in the book’s title suggests that A Book of Uncommon Prayer is funny, and it often is, sometimes hilariously so. And yet these micro-meditations are truly prayers and many include expressions of pain and confusion, or supplication, or thanks which most people will identify with if they are awake and paying attention to life at all.

Doyle has a wonderful ability to show in his prayers that the miraculous and the mundane are intertwined and inseparable. He invites us to be in awe of everything. For instance, he has written “A Prayer in Thanks for Decent Shoes,” “Prayer for Cashiers and Check-out Counter Folks,” and “Prayer in Thanks for the Little Flying Dinosaurs We Call Dragonflies.” These are some of the glorious gifts that Doyle wants us to see and celebrate in life.

Doyle’s love for God, family, church and the natural world are all captured in A Book of Uncommon Prayer, as are his more worldly concerns and fears. There is something in the book for everyone – whether it is to rejoice over a hot shower, give thanks for all birds, “herons in particular”, or to pray deeply for those who are facing death. I offer a grateful prayer for Brian Doyle and this amazing little book, that as small as it is, there are 100 celebratory, mini, jewel-like meditations contained within it...."

- Amazon Review

Be the Change

This week invite your children and family to create your own uncommon prayer; start with a moment of silence. Simply bring your attention to a seemingly ordinary entity or routine that crosses your day to day life (the refrigerator, vehicle, garden, your favorite ice cream shop, diner, bathing soap, tree, window and so on). Now say out loud the ways in which this entity has helped you run your life better, or has brought calm, a sense of normalcy, humor, or a cherished memory. The idea is to more empathetically recognize 'others' so just take a moment to acknowledge those taken-for-granted entities.