International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies

“Lord, the air smells good today,
straight from the mysteries
within the inner courts of God.
A grace like new clothes thrown
across the garden, free medicine for everybody.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,
the first blue violets kneeling.
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being, drunkenly
forgetting the way back.”

Rumi

“The next time you refuse to sing
because you’ll never fill a stadium
or decline the joy of dance
for fear of looking ridiculous
or you resist risking the new adventure
because you’re not entirely ready
or you dim your shine
because you’re not completely healed and whole
the next time you hold yourself suspect
because you’re not entirely qualified
just remember
a bird doesn’t sing because it’s talented
a bird sings because it has a song
the moon doesn’t only shine when it’s whole
it can show up
with a single sliver of itself
and still light an entire night sky
show up. sing. shine.
the world needs you
as you are.”

Angi Sullins

“Perhaps one of the most profound expressions of nature is the simple equation E=mc2. Einstein’s calculation establishes that every mass contains a remarkable quantity of energy.
Look around the common objects in your room. Every object – even a bookmark, a paperweight, or a pair of shoes – contains enough power within itself to light a sun. And you are no different. What will it take to release the energy inside you? You might shed light across distances you’ve never dreamed of.”

From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations for All Seasons by Brian Nelson

International Day of Charity

“Can I see another’s woe,
and not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another’s grief,
and not seek for kind relief?”

William Blake (1757 – 1827), quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“”Human beings, vegetables, cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” Albert Einstein, interview

Those who, like Einstein, come daily into contact with the physical laws that order the universe cannot help but catch the strains of that great dance in which we are all whirling. Whether it be in the intricacy of cellular formation, or in the flow of currents, or in the vast patterning of the stellar orbits that illuminate the heavens, scientists are privileged too see into the structure of that dance.

The inapprehensible motion of life escapes our daily awareness, as does the tune of the cosmic dust that orders us all in one great dance of life. We do not hear it playing until we come to a point where our ordinary and subtle senses are aligned together. Then we come into harmony and awareness of both worlds at once, the apparent and the unseen worlds in conscious communion within us. These privileged moments cannot be sought; they come unbidden, surprising us into mystical vision. It may be that when we interrupt a walk on a high place at evening to admire the view, we apprehend the revolution of the earth as a physical motion beneath our feet; it may be that we become aware of a rhythm that weaves about the steady beating of our own heart, as if it were a partner in the dance.

The resonances to which we respond and the relationship between ourselves and the music of life give us the only clues available about the nature of the invisible partner – clues reassuring enough that we can trust the source of our music.

Attune to the cosmic tune and rhythm of life; stand and dance.”

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews

“How significant that the rich, black mud of our dead stream produces the water lily– out of that fertile slime springs this spotless purity! It is remarkable that these flowers which are most emblematical of purity should grow in the mud.”

From Henry David Thoreau’s Journal, 1853

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so many-where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Howard Zinn (1922 – 2010), historian, author, professor, playwright, and activist

“O God, to whom we pray for truth, be with us in our trembling lest we find it. We fear its light; our lives are full of shadows: what shall we do for shelter when we stand before the brightness of truth? We do not want the truth that troubles us and seeks to save us; we look for truth that brings us safety, comfort, and repose… We do not want the truth that tells us of a world of human wretchedness, with wrongs to be set right and justice calling us to serve it. For if we see this truth, we must admit our own betrayals: our callousness and cowardice, our evasions and our love of ease. We do not seek the truth of conscience. We want an indulgent God of tenderness and loving kindness who will not trouble our conscience or challenge our complacency. Forgive us our complacency, O God.”

A. Powell Davies (1902 – 1957), Unitarian minister, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

International Day for People of African Descent

“i was cold / i was burning up / a child
& endlessly weaving garments for the moon
with my tears
I found god in myself
& i loved her / i loved her fiercely”

Ntozake Shange (1948 – 2018)

“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.”

From Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1797 – 1851), born on this day