Recent experiences provide some examples of how those mosaic tiles occur in our lives…

• sharing a smile and opening a door
• making people laugh
• providing a meal
• sending positive support via a card, email, text, phone call,…
• proactively doing a little something personally touching
• “masking up” before visiting an immuno-compromised person
• and many, many more

May this day bring opportunities for supporting neighbors as key tiles in life’s mosaic, stirred by the Spirit!

When a dear member in your life questions their faith, how do you respond? For many of us that’s a substantial challenge.

POTENTIAL ACTIVITY: consider an experience you’ve had where someone questions their faith. Is what LaWanda describes in the post above consistent with what you did? How might her commentary change your approach next time?

May this day bring opportunities for active listening with love, stirred by the Spirit!

When remembering Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK), a trademark is non-violence. The webpage HERE shares “MLK’S “10 COMMANDMENTS” OF NONVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.” The fact that Martin made these points so clear to protesters is a tribute to his focus on study, thoughtfulness, prayerfulness, kindness and preparation.

We celebrate the life of a man willing to follow Spirit’s stirrings even when knowing he was placing his life on the line over the years. What a legacy!

POTENTIAL ACTIVITY: find a way to celebrate, whether walking in a parade, watching audio/video of MLK’s life like the one HERE or in whatever fashion seems fitting

May this day bring opportunities for reflection on nonviolent civil disobedience, stirred by the Spirit!

There are so many good “Advent/Christmas songs” that it’s hard to get them all in during that blessed season! The wonderful thing is that many of these songs lend themselves to other times of the year too.

Maybe that’s the case for Angels are Making Their Rounds? Though originally written as a part of a Christmas cantata by Pepper Choplin (more HERE,) the song talks about angels visits. Plus, the closing line reminds us all: “the Lord is with you”

As we consider the Liberating Path from our previous post (HERE,) may these “angels making their rounds” help us change ourselves (and the world…)

POTENTIAL ACTIVITY: enjoy listening to Angels Are Making Their Rounds (HERE)

May this day bring opportunities for “aha” moments with our angels, stirred by the Spirit!

“In the prophetic worldview, God supports falling forward, mistake-ridden risk-taking, and boundary crossing for the sake of growth in consciousness and relationship.” ~ Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev (referenced HERE )

How many of us are willing to be mistake-ridden, risk-taking and boundary crossing?

While most of us don’t fancy ourselves as prophets, we might be wise to embody some of the characteristics listed above, including allowing ourselves to make a suitable number of mistakes. Speaking of “mistakes,” a nice perspective from a musical incident with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock comes to mind (described effectively in less than 2 minutes by Herbie HERE.) 

On the heels of Epiphany, the CAC post HERE discusses a Liberating Path.

“If you see what does not yet exist, and you act according to what you see, you will likely be seen as a little crazy, out of center, a misfit or rebel. But if you stay true to what you see because the power of God is the light of your vision, then you will change the world because you yourself will be changed.” ~ Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio (referenced HERE )

How inspiring to think we might see with “the power of God is the light of your vision.”

POTENTIAL ACTIONS: is today a good day for activity providing impetus to “aha”s?

• walking
• listening to Miles Davis playing Seven Steps to Heaven
• meditating (some options HERE)

Who knows, some of those resulting “aha”s might even be risky, crazy, rebellious, off-center, …

May this day bring opportunities for “aha” moments, stirred by the Spirit!

The explanation of Epiphany HERE provides context for our Christmastide and beyond, including these compelling sentences: “But the joy of Christmas isn’t over yet because we can choose to recognize the mercy of God in the everyday stuff. With open hearts and expectant outlooks, believers can have epiphany moments any day.”

On this 2023 Epiphany and the days ahead,

may we open our hearts, 

stirring “aha” moments to energize our ways!

POTENTIAL ACTIONS: for some of us, music provides impetus to “aha” moments… . Perhaps on this day stirring happens for you

• during a final listening to the music on the CP YouTube Playlist for this wonderful Advent/Christmastide season?
• while reviewing Howard Thurman’s poetry as a musical rendition HERE
• while listening to the CP YouTube Playlist for the whole year HERE

May this day bring exciting “aha” moments, stirred by the Spirit!

This Howard Thurman poem (internet link HERE) is a nice reminder that after Christmas itself “The work of Christmas begins.”

Elizabeth Alexander has written some beautiful music to Howard Thurman’s poetry. You can hear a rendition of that HERE. It’s well worth the listen and is now part of the CP YouTube Playlist for this wonderful Advent/Christmastide season and for the whole year! 

POTENTIAL ACTION:  Thurman’s poem includes suggestions for action – feeding, strengthening, relationship-building, training and more. Does one resonate that can be added to your 2023 plans in the community?

May this day bring exciting planning, filled with the Spirit!

• wonderful historical perspective on the heart – “to the Desert Monastics … From the heart came the wellspring of spirit and action, insight and will, sensitivity and meaning—that brought the individual to fullness of life. To lack any of these dimensions of life was to lack what it takes to live consciously, spiritually, and lovingly.”
• “It seems to me that trying to live without friends is like milking a bear to get cream for your morning coffee. It is a whole lot of trouble, and then not worth much after you get it,”  🙂  ~ Zora Neale Hurston
• Commentary on Epiphany, including a link to a contemporary version of We Three Kings