Daily Feast - August

[bluidkiti]

August 16 - Daily Feast

Some people claim to have no need of solitude. Others insist on privacy, a time away from everything to get a better perspective. Most of us want our moment of quiet - but we want to decide when they are to be. We want the, u tse li dv, solitary hour as long as it has a spirit and aliveness. It is in the quiet times that we build our strengths and know we have something to rely on. Solitude is not withdrawal into a place where no one and no sound can penetrate. It is a sweet moment of peace with or without other people that lets us recenter and rest the rhythm of the mind, body and spirit. It is wisdom to stay close to the solitude of nature to keep us young and pliable.

~ Old Lakota was wise.....he kept his youth close to its softening influence. ~

STANDING BEAR

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 16

"The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly - we only think it does."

--Joseph Bruchac, ABENAKI

There are no short cuts. Every tree must grow according to the growth plan of the Creator. Every flower must grow according to the plan of God. The moon must make its trip around the earth according to God's plan. Every human being must grow according to the plan of the Creator. Sometimes we look at ourselves and we think we are not growing but we are always growing. Because we cannot see it with our mind does not mean it is not happening. We must be patient with ourselves and let the Creator direct our growth.

My Creator, let me be patient. Let me realize that You are in charge of all things. Let me realize that I must grow my roots a little at a time to become strong.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Cooperation is said to be the essence of success. Without it confusion and chaos are the ruling factors and in harmony the main thought. Cooperation is a result of excellent leadership, the ability to build a team of loyal players who can follow instructions or think for themselves, whichever is for the best of all concerned.

A team is a group with specific parts to play. In all wisdom they know a little about every part, but they play their own positions with precision and efficiency.

Every player cannot be captain, and every person cannot play quarterback. The part may be small, but if it is played with fairness and dignity and to the utmost of ability, then it will be as important to the successful outcomes or results as the biggest job in the team.

The practical view of cooperation is vivid in John Dickinson's words, "By uniting we stand; by dividing we fall." We are only as strong as the weakest, only as cooperative as the spirit in which we work.


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August 17 - Daily Feast

We never really lose anyone. If they were ever a part of our lives, they are always a part of our lives. The important thing is not to regret what has gone before but to take from it the lesson, the experience that was in it for us. Lie is a two-way street, not always sunshine and flowers but a few clouds, a few tears, go with it. It is a complex mixture of many things we are supposed to glean from it. We cannot park by what went wrong, nor can we linger forever by something we might have done right. It is a progressive, moving time filled with new experiences, memories both good and not so good, and many promising hours. It is possible to put our emotions aside and remember joy. But above all, the best is yet to be.

~ The Great Spirit placed me here.....to take good care of the ground and to do each other no harm. ~

YOUNG CHIEF

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 17

"If a child hasn't been given spiritual values within the family setting, they have no familiarity with the values that are necessary for the just and peaceful functioning in society."

Eunice Baumann-Nelson, Ph.D., PENOBSCOT

When we are born, we start with a beautiful empty mind ready to be given our beliefs, attitudes, habits and expectations. Most of our true learning comes from watching the actions of others. As we watch our family or relatives, whatever their actions and values are, so will be the children's values and acts. If we see our families living a just and peaceful way of life, so then will the children. If we see our family shouting, arguing and hateful, so will it be for the children. The cycle of life - baby, youth, adult and Elder is all connected. If the older ones have good values, it will be connected to the children.

Oh my Creator, if there are values I have missed, it is not too late. I can get them from You. Teach me today Your spiritual values. Respect, trust, giving, honesty, wisdom - teach me these.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

In this jet age when almost "instant there" is completely accepted, the world has become very small. The days of remaining in one's own birthplace are near an end, and those who never dreamed of traveling have adjusted themselves to it quite well.

And with shorter distances between us and our neighbors it seems our worlds should find more opportunities for mutual understanding. But we must realize that even though our material worlds may be easily crossed, our thoughts are worlds apart. Until we can bring together a thinking people with the desire to create living conditions that are peaceful and full of kindness, fast travel can waver between good and bad.

A British novelist and poet, George Moore, said, "It is thought, and thought only, that divides right from wrong; it is thought, and thought only that elevates or degrades human deeds and desires."


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August 18 - Daily Feast

It takes enthusiasm to do anything. We go through so many of the same things day after day that we tend to lose our eagerness for some of it. But if we stir ourselves up, enthusiasm, like a primed pump, will flow more easily. When people lose their taste for life, it is not that there is no longer anything interesting - but they are no longer interested. They need to stir themselves up and get out of the doubting rut they have dug themselves into. The Cherokee associates the lack of enthusiasm with being sad, which he calls, u hi so di. Enthusiasm has wonderful effects on the mind and body - giving them a chance to heal, to recover from unhappy experiences. When we lack enthusiasm, let us say we have it - enough to do anything we have to do.

~ The Great Spirit smiled upon us and made us glad....but we had to agree.... ~

KEOKUK

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 18

"You have to have confidence in your own ability to be able to go it alone, to go against what the rest of the culture is doing."

--Eunice Baumann-Nelson, Ph.D., PENOBSCOT

God, this is hard. Today, allow me to be a Warrior. Let me be strong. Let Your voice be clear to me. Let me hear Your guidance. My goal today is to serve You, to develop myself to be the kind of Indian person that You would have me be. To Walk the Red Road must sometimes be walked alone.

Great Spirit, let me walk the Red Road today with the confidence that You are with me. If I fall, I will quickly ask You to help me know what I should do next.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The greatest tragedy of life is not that we quarrel with our fellows, but that we do not take time to know them.

In his great understanding of man and nature, Thoreau wrote, "Let a man take time enough for he most trivial deed." Take time.

How often what seems to be an unfriendly atmosphere is only a lack of time. Some of our dearest friends are hidden behind the mask of hurry. And we need so desperately to know each other.

Understanding comes when people are allowed to talk to one another. They discover the ways and needs, the love and hopes, and the despairs and fears when they take enough time to speak of them. All these things that make for understanding and compassion come from personal contact and the knowledge and practice of good will.

People become more civilized, more peaceful, more as God intended them to be when they take time to make friends out of acquaintances.

To be a good listener endears many a friendship. Everyone needs someone with whom to talk at length on all subjects without later regret. It has been written, "What a great blessing is a friend with breast so trusty that you may bury all your secrets in it."

And how often we need to be that friend and be the listener, and to make sure we are worthy of that trust.

Listening comes in many ways. We listen with all our senses, knowing many times without having to be told what someone's needs are. Charles Dickens said that no one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else. And it just may be by listening that we lighten another's load.

Sometimes we listen with our hearts and understand in silence. Sometimes we simply have to put ourselves into a situation to understand all sides of it. And we best do so be listening.

All our lives we carry secrets with us that we long to reveal to someone who understands.

These are relationships in our lives better and closer than the ordinary. Closer yet than brothers or sisters are those with whom we can share all our secrets, we think.

What a sad state of affairs when life imparts that others cannot always be trusted. What a shock to realize we have given all our hearts and bared our souls to people whose curiosity was the only motive that compelled them to listen.

Phillip Massinger, sixteenth century poet, wrote, "I have played the fool, the gross fool to believe the bosom of a friend would hold a secret mine own could not contain."

Not one of us can testify that we have nothing within our lives and thoughts that we cannot reveal. And many of us have not expressed our innermost thoughts because we have found no one in whom we can confide.

As Shakespeare said, "Many a man's tongue shakes out its master's undoing." Sometimes the loquacious tell their secrets not out of a need to tell them, but our of a love of talking.

One of the greatest feelings in the world is to discover we haven't told something we cherish very much to someone we once thought we could trust.


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August 19 - Daily Feast

To live peacefully with other people, we need insight and careful judgment. We judge by appearances far too often and that leads to misunderstanding. So much is hidden from ordinary view that it takes time to know something well enough to say anything at all. We have to know that because we have light does not mean there is no darkness. And because we have food does not mean there is no hunger. Can our eyes see all the reasons and purposes in the actions of other people? Unless we have known someone's pain and carried his burden, we cannot know how we might react in the same circumstances. Our senses cannot tell us everything. Only compassion and understanding show us the truth.

~ O Great Spirit, help me never judge another until I have walked two weeks in his moccasins. ~

EDWIN LAUGHING FOX

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 19

"If we keep everything in balance, we are in harmony with ourselves and are at peace."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

As within, as without, our present thought determines our future. If we want peace outside ourselves, we must first have peace inside ourselves. It's not what is going on but how we are looking at what is going on. We need to keep ourselves in balance. We must be careful to not get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired. We must know the times - time to work, time to rest, time to play, time to sleep, time to pray, time to lighten up, time to laugh, time to eat, time to exercise. There is a saying "The honor of one is the honor of all." This means when we work with all, we need to also work on one. We need to take care of ourselves. You cannot give away what you don't have.

Great Spirit, let me walk in balance today. Remove from me resentment, self pity and self seeking motives. Let me love myself so I can love my neighbors.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

A graphologist is a handwriting analysis expert who can take apart the loops and dashes of our penmanship and tell us about our nature. We have a natural curiosity about ourselves. We want to know whether our self-image is the true one. We often think we are capable of seeing another's true nature, but we seem to lack the ability to really know ourselves. In fact, so much about us reveals our disposition and temperament that it can be distressing.

Our handwriting may tell us about our emotional nature, and we may learn that we are introverts by the slant of our letters, but much of our disposition can be self-analyzed by the way other people respond to us.

It doesn't take a graphologist to tell us that if we are inconsistent in our friendliness, if the tongue alternates acid and honey, if we continually complain, continually gossip, criticize and pout, we are revealing a nature we too often think is hidden.


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August 20 - Daily Feast

We have taken many paths we would not have chosen, and we have done many jobs we did not want to do. We have carried burdens we did not want to carry and dealt with impossible people we did not like. It is strange that the road we did not want to take is the one that brought us more quickly to the place we wanted to be. At times, the way was hostile, but when we needed a hand there was one. When we needed courage, it was there. What we call problems and unjust circumstances have a way of teaching us integrity and how to be peaceful. It makes us wonder how many other rewards we have missed because we resisted something that looked like too much responsibility.

~ I was going around the world with the clouds when God spoke to my thoughts and told me to.....be at peace with all. ~

COCHISE

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 20

"...remember and think about the closeness of Wanka-Tanka. If they live in this wisdom, it will give them endless strength and hope."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

The value of staying close to the Creator is the immediate help we have available to us whenever we need it. I can listen to the whisper of my heart for this is the place He communicates with me. Staying close helps me remember that we are here to serve Him and to help other people. The Grandfathers are my direct access to wisdom. He who has wisdom has everything. If we have wisdom, then we will see our lives become more effective in the areas of jobs, relationships, family, friends and finances.

My Creator, today grant me the wisdom to seek Your wisdom. Help me to Walk of the Red Road.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Others don't seem to be interested in our excuses - they merely want performances. Alibis for lack of service, for lack of ability to give a full measure of trust make a bad servant. And we are all servants, serving each other in one way or another.

It is an unhappy one who is not depended upon for something. There is great satisfaction in being needed, even to the point of doing more than one is capable of doing.

English divine Sidney Smith once wrote, "Try to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment."

We cannot move a step upon this earth without finding someone to serve. And as we serve each day, we never stop to consider how many we've made happy; but it should be very vivid in our minds how many we've made unhappy.


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August 21 - Daily Feast

Sometimes wisdom is knowing what to overlook. Often it is forgiveness without putting it in words. But why would any quick-thinking, industrious person of knowledge and intellect want to overlook anything? Because we never know when we are going to be in another person's shoes. If it should happen, we want to be forgiven - for a variety of reasons. Overlooking shortcomings is not just wisdom - it's kindness as well. Who has not hoped the world was looking the other way when he or she fell short of being admirable? To overlook in Cherokee is, a hi ya s to di - meaning almost the same thing as to ignore. What a blessing to not be ignored, but to have our faults overlooked.

~ You must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight but do right always. ~

WOVOKA

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 21

"The greater the faith, the greater the result."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

The Creator designed us to act on faith. We are able to do this by holding firm to our beliefs. If we believe something and if we don't want the belief to change, we need to add the power of the Great Spirit to this belief. We must always have the spiritual added to our beliefs. If we don't add the Spirit, then we may very well change our minds during the first time we are tested. Each time we are tested and we don't change our minds, we get stronger. The wind may blow on the red willow trees bending them and causing the roots to grow deeper. The more the wind bends the tree, the bigger, stronger and deeper the roots grow. We should be happy that we are tested. It's the Creator's way of making us have greater faith for greater results.

Great Mystery, Grandfather, I know if I am tested today that I can count on You to give me the courage to get to the other side. On the other side of every test is the reward of strength. Make me strong.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

As long as there has been a human race there has been someone crying out, "No one understands!" Somewhere along the way communications have broken down and the result is misunderstanding.

To be misunderstood is painful. We keep wanting to explain and explain until we get our message across. Sometimes it is the lack of the wise use of words. Then, it may be an unwilling ear. But whatever the race, the politics, sophisticated or home grown, everyone has the desire to be understood. They want every motive, every mood, completely and unquestionably understood.

But to be completely understood can also have its rebound. A goddess can turn into a woman, and a hero can slip into a man when only one of their moods is completely understood.

Understanding breeds familiarity. Familiarity may not breed contempt, but it can certainly take the edge off the mystery. And, it is mystery that keeps life interesting.

In all wisdom, we should worry much less about being completely understood, and make a more diligent effort to understand others.

Something dies within us when no one cares. It is a circumstance of our own making when we have failed to give to another the thought and concern that would have helped when it was most needed.

Sorrows can be borne because others care. Greatness can be achieved because someone cared. To care is our purpose.

Who knows but that these small acts of sympathy and understanding may place another life into the one slot on the jigsaw puzzle of life.

If we were all the things we expect of others, the result would be perfection. We would be perfect in forgiveness, faithful in love, and devoted to the welfare of others. Such excellence has never been accomplished, except that we work continually for it. To work for it, we have to care. And for someone to care is the thing that matters.

"Instead of allowing yourself to be so unhappy, just let your love grow as God wants it to grow; seek goodness in others, love more persons more; love them more impersonally, more unselfishly, without thought of return. The return, never fear, will take care of itself." - Henry Drummond.


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August 22 - Daily Feast

Every time we think we make a mental picture. The more we look at the picture on the motion picture screen of our minds, the more real it becomes. We forget that it is imaginary, but our emotions pick up on what the mind has seen and the image causes delight, or tears, or even anger. Our emotions manipulate us and cause us to do things we would never do under different circumstances. When we give in, these mental suggestions cause us pain, jealousy, and even anger. If our mental vision tells us we have been wronged, anger causes us to react foolishly. In such cases, we tend to go on the warpath, not for any commonsense reason, but because we fed ourselves the wrong mental pictures.

~ We do not take up the warpath without a just cause and honest purpose. ~

PUSHMATAHA

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 22

"When life is too good, we think too highly of ourselves and our blessings. Then we decide we are the wisest and the favored ones, and we don't think we need Wakan-Tanka and the Helpers anymore."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

It is sometimes easy to get off track when times are good. We start to take the credit and start to think we are in control. We start to think we are smart. Then we quit praying or pray only with lip service. We say the words but don't mean them. Sometimes our head is our greatest enemy. We start acting like a foolish child. We must develop the discipline to be humble during the good times. We need to remember how honorable it is each day to come into the presence of the Creator. How happy we should be to talk to the Grandfathers, to have the choice to start each day on the Sacred Spot - our place of communion with the Great Spirit.

Oh Great Spirit, first let me thank You for the honor of talking to You today. To have the insight of Your love, that only You can love me when I don't deserve to be loved. Let me be reminded to talk to You all day long.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

If you've ever been alone in a strange place, you're bound to know how wonderful it is to have someone make you feel welcome.

Many people have the knack for being at home in whatever place they find themselves. And in this gift they find no loneliness to tug at them, but more often than not most of us feel like strangers. And in doing so we set ourselves apart, or make it sometimes questionable as to the wisdom of asking us into a friendly circle.

A friendly face and a friendly voice can make the most timid souls feel welcome. It can make them feel at home. For in the midst of many there is loneliness. Perhaps it is because our feigned look of self-sufficiency made someone question our need for help.

Many a door has opened, and many a sound friendship won when someone said, "We're glad to have you...." The very atmosphere can be charged with concern when we see others who cannot find their way. The warmth of divine love is for daily use in making someone feel welcome.

We should not forget nor fail to see the wisdom of Hebrews 13 "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unaware."

There must be no stronger feeling in the hearts of most people than the desire to belong. To belong to something, to someone, and in a place where the feeling is warm and friendly. The most blessed children in town are the ones born and raised in the same neighborhood, who have the tightly knit sense of belonging to everyone. Suddenly these children are not just the children of their parents, but the children of everyone in the church, in school, and anywhere where there is warmth and love and peace.

War rages within so many, disallowing them any connection or any strand of love that would tie them to anything that gives them a sense of security. And when people become insecure they become demanding. And in demanding they lose the most essential part - the ability to attract love to themselves simply by loving first.

In the words of William Blake: "Love seeketh not itself to please....Nor for itself hath any care....But for another gives its ease....And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

Some of my most productive moments are not when I consider how evil the world is, but how powerful is my God.

Some of the best times are not all when I'm enjoying life, but when those I love are knowing happiness.

The highest peak of wealth comes when the joy within surpasses anything I can create out here.

The bloom of good health is felt more richly when I let it flow through me rather than dwelling on the possibility of sickness.

Friendships are strongest and most true when I don't worry about giving more than I receive.

In order that others forgive me, I must also learn to forgive.

I must never forget that negative thoughts feed on fear and starve on faith.

One of the greatest mistakes I can make is to believe myself to be without friend or faith or opportunity.

These personal proverbs belong to all thinking persons who want their lives to have more meaning, know more happiness and feel more richly the love that is the medicine for the sickness of the world.


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August 23 - Daily Feast

Painting a picture is much the same as living a life. Some of us only get the outline sketched while others find the time and desire to mix beautiful colors and brush them on canvas. Color is used sparingly on some canvases, others are somber and dark with little or no highlights. But those whose cheerful colors, cardinal reds, sunflower yellows, and all shades of purple and lilac, show us that life does not have to be ordinary. The Master Artist, U ne la nv hi, gave us all pallets and pots of bright colors to use boldly, or to mix in subtle but lively shades. We have been given the general sketch but it is left to us to fill in the colors, harmonizing and blending until we get the right tones. Each of us is a painter and each has the charge to make life a work of art.

~ They searched for a long period of time for the source of life, and at last came to see the thought that it issues from an invisible creative power to which they applied the name Wa-ko-da. ~

PLAYFUL CALF

"A Cherokee Feast of Days" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 23

"They also learned, and perhaps this was the most important thing, how to look at things through the eyes of the Higher Powers."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

Our eyes can only see our beliefs. Our beliefs cause us to make assumptions, draw conclusions and cause confusion. Our five senses are very limiting. The Creator has a way of allowing us to see or know in the spiritual world. This is called the Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense is like a radar system; our personal radar system. It will help us "see" opportunities and help us avoid disaster. This Sixth Sense is controlled by God. We must learn to listen to it. We must learn to trust it. We must learn to act on it even if our head says differently. We must learn to look at things through the eyes of God.

My Creator, guide me today. If my eyes cause confusion, let me close them and see through Your eyes. If my ears
Hear confusion, let me listen to my heart. Let me let You guide me.

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THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Chief Standing Bear talked of his Lakota people. He said they loved to worship and the contact was immediate and personal and that blessings flowed over them like rain showered from the sky.

Can worship really produce such blessings? Indeed, yes. Indian people were born to believe and they have long proved that the "vanishing American"is so much high talk that came to nothing.

To the Indian, Spirit is not aloof, not a figment of the imagination but real life and real power. How sad that lukewarm attitudes silence those who do not want to be known as religious. It is not religion at all, but faith, Spirit, and something to rely on when life goes dry.