February 7 - Daily Feast
We blame far too much on age and too little on attitudes. Life is meant to be lived without dreading birthdays or looking for signs that one's natural force is abated. Life is meant to be lived for a good reason - to tell the negative forces we will not be defeated. We will not be a royal pain nor roam through life without a purpose. Each of us has a purpose and we will not give it up until the course is finished. When someone asks, "How are you?" answer, "Well to do, wa du - thank you!"
~ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night....it is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. ~
CROWFOOT - BLACKFOOT, 1877
"A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 7
"I can tell you that understanding begins with love and respect. It begins with respect for the Great Spirit. All things- and I mean ALL things-have their own will and their own way and their own purpose; this is what is to be respected."
--Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE
Everything on earth has a purpose and is designed special. No two things are created identical. Sometimes in our minds we have a picture of how things should be, and often what we see is different from what they really are. When this happens we often want to control how things are, making them act or behave according to our picture. We need to leave things alone. God is running all things. How do we do this? In out minds we tell ourselves to love all things and respect all things just as they are. Accept what we cannot change.
Great Spirit, teach me the value of respect and help me to accept people, places and things just as they are.
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THINK on THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
First things and first times.....the newness of the present moment holds such a breath of youth, such a challenge. There are moments in everyone's life they wish they could relive. Just to recall those times when the newness, the memory of first things were beautiful and exciting.
But life never stands still. It moves forward or it decays. It cannot hold on to the past in any way. If the newness of first things has not grown into finer and more beautiful moments, then it cannot go on.
Everyone can recall something so dear that it becomes new again just by thinking about it. Courage, love, joy, contentment, all these things can call to mind the special moments that were beginnings of new eras, new times in living. The scales of life tip this way and that to make those times full of meaning and sometimes vividly painful. And then sometimes it takes a season to mend the heart and spirit. When they are ready, the experiences of new times and new beginnings and first things will again bloom once more and the youthful challenge again enchants.
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The Offering of the Pipe, from Black Elk Speaks:
Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey!
Grandfather, Great Spirit, you have been always, and before you no one has been.
There is no other one to pray to but you.
You yourself, everything that you see, everything has been made by you.
The star nations all over the universe you have finished.
The four quarters of the earth you have finished.
The day, and in that day, everything you have finished.
Grandfather, Great Spirit, lean close to the earth that you may hear the voice I send.
You towards where the sun goes down, behold me;
Thunder Beings, behold me!
You where the White Giant lives in power, behold me!
You where the sun shines continually, whence come the day-break star and the day, behold me!
You where the summer lives, behold me!
You in the depths of the heavens, an eagle of power, behold me!
And you, Mother Earth, the only Mother, you who have shown mercy to your children!
Hear me, four quarters of the world - a relative I am!
Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is!
Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you.
With your power only can I face the winds.
Great Spirit, Great Spirit, my Grandfather, all over the earth the faces of living things are all alike.
With tenderness have these come up out of the ground.
Look upon these faces of children without number and with children in their arms,
that they may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of quiet.
This is my prayer; hear me!
The voice I have sent is weak, yet with earnestness I have sent it.
Hear me!
It is finished. Hetchetu aloh!
Now, my friend, let us smoke together so that there may be only good between us.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
Earth Teach Me to Remember
Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth Teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep in the rain.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
Words That Speak
The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged....
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
God's Minute
YOU ARE ALL SONS OF THE LIGHT AND SONS OF THE
DAY. WE DO NOT BELONG TO THE NIGHT OR THE
DARKNESS.
( 1 THESSALONIANS 5:5 *NIV )
Dear Member's,
The word light in the Bible refers to being a child of God.
Darkness or night refers to being evil, for a child of darkness
belongs to satan. Thus we are children of the light, for it is
written, THIS IS THE MESSAGE THAT WE HAVE HEARD
FROM HIM AND DECLARE TO YOU; GOD IS LIGHT.
(1 JOHN 1:5) and THE LORD IS GOD, AND HE HAS MADE
HIS LIGHT SHINE UPON US. ( PSALM 118:27 )
Now when we walk in that glorious light we become
cleansed from all of our sins. For it is written, IF WE WALK
IN THE LIGHT, AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT, WE HAVE
FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND THE BLOOD
OF JESUS, HIS SON, PURIFIES US FROM ALL SIN.
( 1 JOHN 1:7 )
So Member's, let God light your pathway through this life, for
as a Child of God, YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Therefore LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN, THAT
THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD DEEDS AND PRAISE YOUR
FATHER IN HEAVEN. Aho , Amen , e-men . ( MATTHEW 5:14 & 16 )
With My Love & Prayers,
your servant , Pastor cougarmoon
