I have a bowl I use for my holiday cards. It was a gift from a student at Armstrong Elementary back in the day. It's glass with molded Christmas Trees on the sides: a solid design that comes out for the month of December for my ritual "containment of the cards".
What to do with these lovelies? I know some of you talented, organized friends keep an excel document of who sent and to whom you will send next year. I gape.
For a few years I kept them in ziplocks: 2007, 2008, stored away for...well I am not sure what. Mine were headed in that direction this morning. And it occurred to me that these cards have a new purpose: a source for mindfulness.
With the virtual feed of social media, the holiday cards have to compete for our attention.
I decided this morning to have a practice of sitting with these cards each morning this week. I took a small stack off the top and looked into the joyful faces of my friends and their children, full of promise and vitality. I started praying for them: that their lives will be supported with the things they need. I prayed that they will do all the good works God has prepared for them and that they will know they are instruments of his peace. I expressed gratitude for these humans creating amazing good in the world and sent prayers of hope and possibility to their outcomes.
I did this as a silent meditation in my morning hour, and the bowl of cards has taken on a new meaning for me: compassion practice. I changed the context from the racket of what to do with these items to a reminder of the joy, intention (and hard work!) they are to bring to our lives.
At the end of the week I will recycle them like the sand mandala, sending these positive and healing energies back into the world. I am grateful for the time they brought into my morning: the moment to give gratitude for my circle of everlasting love and support.
2018 is the Year of Love and one of the first practices is to find love and sit with it. This morning I found love in the Christmas Bowl from an adored student at Armstrong Elementary. I wonder where I will find it next.
What to do with these lovelies? I know some of you talented, organized friends keep an excel document of who sent and to whom you will send next year. I gape.
For a few years I kept them in ziplocks: 2007, 2008, stored away for...well I am not sure what. Mine were headed in that direction this morning. And it occurred to me that these cards have a new purpose: a source for mindfulness.
With the virtual feed of social media, the holiday cards have to compete for our attention.
I decided this morning to have a practice of sitting with these cards each morning this week. I took a small stack off the top and looked into the joyful faces of my friends and their children, full of promise and vitality. I started praying for them: that their lives will be supported with the things they need. I prayed that they will do all the good works God has prepared for them and that they will know they are instruments of his peace. I expressed gratitude for these humans creating amazing good in the world and sent prayers of hope and possibility to their outcomes.
I did this as a silent meditation in my morning hour, and the bowl of cards has taken on a new meaning for me: compassion practice. I changed the context from the racket of what to do with these items to a reminder of the joy, intention (and hard work!) they are to bring to our lives.
At the end of the week I will recycle them like the sand mandala, sending these positive and healing energies back into the world. I am grateful for the time they brought into my morning: the moment to give gratitude for my circle of everlasting love and support.
2018 is the Year of Love and one of the first practices is to find love and sit with it. This morning I found love in the Christmas Bowl from an adored student at Armstrong Elementary. I wonder where I will find it next.
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
❤️
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