Never Giving Up…
“There is something transcendent about it—maybe it is mythological, maybe nonrational, but somehow it is a symbol of God never giving up. If you can watch the event as God trying again, every morning putting the sun over this world, it can be a beautiful prayer experience.” — Fr. Richard Rohr, writing about watching the sun rise in his book, What The Mystics Know
In his book, What The Mystics Know, Fr. Richard Rohr writes about contemplation and prayer in the chapter “Contemplation Means Practicing Heaven Now.” He shares a powerful story from an indigenous woman in New Mexico remembering her first experience of prayer wasn’t called prayer at all.
She said she and her brothers and sisters were directed by their mother to sit on the steps outside their home each morning to watch the sun rise: “As the sun comes,” my mother would say to us, “welcome it. Welcome it to the world. And tell it, as it goes over the earth, it should drop its blessings on all people.”
In the heat of this summer, as we wonder about the future of our lives, the children inheriting the earth, and the planet herself, perhaps simple, heartfelt prayers like this are just what we need to help us to breathe, have faith in unseen support, and hope for the future.
If you’re unable to take in the sunrise where you live, I invite you to use this image or another of your choosing to gaze upon to remind you to never give up, as you call for the sun to “drop its blessings on all people”.
May you feel blessings dropping upon you this day. From the light of a smile from a stranger to the glow of a flower, may you be blessed by the light of the sun.
Communing with Stones
The Flowers Awake
A Special Day
Today
is a very special day.
Today we celebrate
sun and rain,
light and dark,
the cycles of life,
the great turning
of the wheel.
Today we celebrate
every leaf
on every tree,
every feather
on every bird,
every drop of water
in every stream.
We celebrate
green growing ones
and winged ones,
two-leggeds
and four-leggeds,
all who walk, crawl,
swim, or fly.
We celebrate
each breath of air,
each morsel of food,
each beat of our hearts,
each healthy cell.
We celebrate
the profound miracle
of being alive
in this body
in this moment
on this planet.
Today,
like every other day,
is a very special day. —Kai Siedenburg, author of Poems of Earth and Spirit: 70 Poems and 40 Practices to Deepen Your Connection with Nature
