“I sometimes think that Man’s capacity for laughter is nobler than his divine gift of suffering. Laughing cleanses a man: it restores his sanity, and balances his sense of values.

Now in a time of caution and fear, in an atmosphere turgid with non-direction and non-expressivity, let us laugh and let laugh, lighten the air we breath, and feel clean.”

Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990), composer and conductor, born on this day

“O Thou Creating and Protecting Power, who art our Father, yea, our Mother not the less, we flee unto thee, and would lift up the psalm of our thanksgiving unto thee, and by our prayer seek to hold communion with thy spirit, and be strengthened for the cares and the duties and the delights of our mortal life… We desire to be deeply conscious of thy presence, which fills all time, which occupies all space. We would know thee as thou art, and in our souls feel continually thy residence with us and the abiding of thy spirit in our heart…

We thank thee for this wondrous and lovely world in which thou hast placed us. For the magnificent beauty of summer we thank thee, for the storied promise of the spring which has gone by, and the earnest of the harvest, whose weeks in their fulfilment bring daily new tokens of thy goodness and thine infinite love. We thank thee that thou waterest the earth with rain from thine own sweet heavens, rejoicing the cattle on a thousand hills, which thou also carest for, as for thy chosen ones, and ministerest life to every little moss amid the stones of a city, and feedest the mighty forests which clothe with verdure our hills. We thank thee that thou givest us grass for the cattle, and corn to strengthen the frame of man… We bless thee for the beautiful amid the homely, the sublime among things low, for the good amid evil things, and the eternal amid what is transient and daily passing from our eye.”

Theodore Parker (1810 – 1860), Unitarian minister, transcendentalist, abolitionist and social reformer, born on this day

“The more we lose our sense of separateness in the knowledge of the oneness of all living creatures, millions of small leaves on the single tree of lie, the more we shall lose our sense of self-importance..

If we can find a little of our oneness with all other creatures, and love them, then I believe we are halfway towards finding God.”

Elizabeth Goudge (1900 – 1984), children’s author, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”

Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012), Unitarian Universalist science fiction writer, born on this day

“What exactly is an angel? Here is how I suggest we can tell if we bump into one. Angels deny that they are angels. They don’t all have wings or halos – those are only the ones who like to dress up. Angels don’t expect anything in return for services rendered. They don’t always tell us what we want to hear… Angels aren’t all called Michael or Gabriel. We might even be angels and not realise it… Yes, angels are here among us, giving us gifts beyond measure. Gifts of humour when we think the sun will never shine again, passion when we believe we are unlovable, inspiration when our life force wanes, confidentiality when we can’t tell anyone else our secrets, forgiveness when we so sorely need it, advice when we don’t know which direction to turn, frankness when we try to tell less than the truth about who we really are, and the gift of just being there when we are so very alone.”

Don Beaudreault, Unitarian-Universalist minister, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“The powers we have released could not possibly be absorbed by the narrow system of individual or national units which the architects of the human Earth have hitherto used. The age of nations has passed. Now, unless we wish to perish we must shake off our old prejudices and build the Earth.”

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 – 1955), Jesuit priest, paleontologist and theologian, quoted in Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox

Image: World Map, 1689

“”Abstinence sows sand all over
The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,
But desire gratified
Plants fruits of life and beauty there.”
William Blake, Abstinence

Abstaining or fasting from the things that we enjoy is not in itself a bad thing; indeed, it can restimulate our appreciation and give us a better balance in the way we use life’s resources. When desires become bullies that have to be pacified, when our freedom is in thrall to those desires, we may well need to employ abstinence to bring ourselves back to normal.

Yet desires submerged or imprisoned can bring us to equally unbalanced regions. If we never allow the fulfilment of our desires, we doom ourselves to perpetual dissatisfaction, to lives that are neither enhanced not enchanted with delight. It may be that we learned such abstinence in times of hardship, difficulty, or illness and are still living under the sway of impossibility. It may be that we were injured by rejection of lack of love – an experience that often consigns all forms of fulfilment to a foreign territory. Let us also recognise, however, that the subtle forms of abstinence that we all practice may spring from laziness or from fear of loss of control as much as from any other cause.

Enjoyment, pleasure, and the satisfaction of our desires are legitimate human duties, as long as they harm no other being. The pursuit of our desires can lead us deeper into life and toward the fulfilment of our life’s purpose.

Today, really enjoy doing something you love but have not done for a long time.”

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

“Life doesn’t always get better.
But you do.
You get stronger.
You get wiser.
You get softer.
With tattered wings you rise.
And the world watches in wonder
at the breathless beauty of
a human who survived life.”

L.R. Knost

Image by Carlos Tamayo

“In our own sense of the Highest and Holiest, let us now in silence face our own shortcomings and failures, and those we find in others; looking first into our own depths and then at the life around us, facing honestly the inevitable imperfection of being human…

Let us now, in some awareness of weakness or sin or failure, in ourselves and in others, recognise our need to forgive and to be forgiven; in silence of heart and mind forgive ourselves and others who need our forgiveness; and be open to receive forgiveness human and divine…

O Holy One, we need your presence in and around us, to know ourselves in both weakness and strength, to find forgiveness for ourselves, to renew our faith and love, to live better lives in ourselves and among others.”

Bruce Findlow, Unitarian minister and Principal of Manchester College Oxford 1974-1985, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“Does the caterpillar know what’s about to happen when it spins a cocoon?
Does it realize that it’s doing more than simply seeking safety?
Does it understand that it’s involved in something greater than simply acting on instinct?
Does it imagine, within its long-sought rest, the beauty to which it will open itself? Does it glimpse the possibility that it may continue its life in a dramatically different fashion than anything it has experience up to this time?
Does it have any idea that it’s about to transform?
Do you?”

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