When a child is learning to walk, he falls and gets up to try again. If he were to stop getting up, he would never learn to walk. His effort not only teaches him to walk but to run and skip and do many other things as well. All of us are learning to walk in some area. We fall down and wonder if it's worth getting up again. But we never really fail until we give up. One of the lessons we learn is that only those who are trying ever make it. We can't let go, for someone is watching us and learning courage to do the impossible.
~ When the sun goes down, he opens his heart before his God. ~
CORNPLANT - SENECA CHIEF
"A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 15
"We were taught generosity to the poor and reverence for the Great Mystery. Religion was the basis of all Indian training."
--Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), SANTEE SIOUX
Every Indian knows and has a feeling inside that, bottom line, our real purpose on earth is to be of service to our fellow man and to be of maximum service to the Great Spirit. The Creator designed the earth to be self supporting -- everything is interconnected and all things were created to be of service to each other. The Indian way is to pray about all things. Religion is not separate from any part of our lives. Everything is spiritual and we are to view all matters in this way. Family is spiritual, work is spiritual, helping others is spiritual, our bodies are spiritual, our talk is spiritual, our thoughts are spiritual. We need to practice seeing all things as spiritual.
Great Spirit, today let me help the needy and allow me the wisdom to have respect and reverence for Your teachings.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
THINK on THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Two qualities so well liked in people are brightness and warmth, both parts of the sun. Sir David Brewster was a Scottish physicist of the eighteenth century. His study of the material world and its phenomena called the sun glorious, "the center and soul of our system, the lamp that lights it, the fire that heats it, the magnet that guides and controls it, the fountain of color which gives its azure to the sky, its verdure to the fields, its rainbow hues to the gay world of flowers, and the purple light of love to the marble cheek of youth and beauty.
What more beautiful qualities for any human being to possess than to have a soul at the center of its system, to light the appearance, to warm the feelings, to guide and control it through its colorful moods, and to let it rise as high as the azure skies and as wide as the gay world of flowers. But better yet, to be most beautiful with the purple light of love. What more to be given than the same qualities of the sun
- by one Creator.
To live we need more than light, we need warmth. We need more than strength, we need grace. And more than all these we need love. There can be no greater joy than to see our respect for each other - the warmth and grace and love that binds together people in mutual concern.
Only when we can lay aside our personal feelings, our self-concern and worry of our own gain, can we join in true communion and fellowship with others. And to feel a sense of belonging is necessary to humankind.
It is the nature, not only to be liked and wanted, but to like and want others. And in this relationship find not just warmth but light, not only grace but strength, and in all of these find love.
"Walk in the light and thou shalt see thy path, though thorny, bright; for God, by grace, shall dwell in thee, and God himself is light."
Aho , Amen , e-men .
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
The Sacred Instructions given by the Creator to Native people at the time
of Creation were as follows:
A. To Take Care of Mother Earth and the other 3 colors of Man.
B. To Respect this Mother Earth and Creation.
C. To Honour All life, and to support that Honour.
D. To be Grate-ful from the heart for All life. It is through life that there is Survival. Thank the Creator at All times for All life.
E. To Love and express that love.
F. To be Humble. Humility is the gift of wisdom and understanding.
G. Kindness. To be Kind with one-self and with others.
H. Sharing. The Sharing of feelings and personal concerns and commitments.
I. Honesty. To be Honest with one-self and with others. To be Responsible for those Sacred Instructions and to administrate those
Instructions to other Nations.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
Final Vision
Life is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of the buffalo in the winter.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
Great Spirit Prayer
"Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.
Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy
Myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
An Indian Prayer
My grandfather is the fire
My grandmother is the wind
The Earth is my mother
The Great Spirit is my father
The World stopped at my birth
and laid itself at my feet
And I shall swallow the Earth whole when I die
and the Earth and I will be one
Hail The Great Spirit, my father
without him no one could exist
because there would be no will to live
Hail The Earth, my mother
without which no food could be grown
and so cause the will to live to starve
Hail the wind, my grandmother
for she brings loving, lifegiving rain
nourishing us as she nourishes our crops
Hail the fire, my grandfather
for the light, the warmth, the comfort he brings
without which we be animals, not men
Hail my parent and grandparents
without which
not I
nor you
nor anyone else
could have existed
Life gives life
which gives unto itself
a promise of new life
Hail the Great Spirit, The Earth, the wind, the fire
praise my parents loudly
for they are your parents, too
Oh, Great Spirit, giver of my life
please accept this humble offering of prayer
this offering of praise
this honest reverence of my love for you.
Oh Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to the world,
Hear me!
I come to you as one of your many children.
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.
May I walk in beauty.
Make my eyes behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things that you have made,
And my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things
That you have taught your children--
The lessons that you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Make me strong, not to be superior to my brothers, but to be
able to fight my greatest enemy: myself.
Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes, so that
When life fades as the faded sunset
My spirit will come to you without shame.
Aho , Amen , e-men .
God's Minute
CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY ON HIM BECAUSE HE CARES FOR
YOU.
( 1 PETER 5:7 *NIV )
Dear Member's,
We are often filled with worry and anxiety in the fast paced
World of ours today. When you think about it, what is worry but
the opposite of faith!
Now Jesus Christ said, "I TELL YOU, DO NOT WORRY
ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT YOU WILL EAT OR DRINK; OR
ABOUT YOUR BODY, WHAT YOU WILL WEAR. IS NOT LIFE
MORE IMPORTANT THAN FOOD, AND THE BODY MORE
IMPORTANT THAN CLOTHES? LOOK AT THE BIRDS OF THE
AIR; THEY DO NOT SOW OR REAP OR STORE AWAY IN
BARNS, AND YET YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER FEEDS THEM.
AND WHY DO YOU WORRY ABOUT CLOTHES? SEE HOW
THE LILIES OF THE FIELD GROW. THEY DO NOT LABOR
OR SPIN. YET I TELL YOU THAT NOT EVEN SOLOMON IN
ALL HIS SPLENDOR WAS DRESSED LIKE ONE OF THESE."
( MATTHEW 6:25-26; & 28-29 )
Therefore Member's, know that God is always with you, and there
is no reason to worry about what might happen. After all it is
written: DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW, FOR
TOMORROW WILL WORRY ABOUT ITSELF. EACH DAY
HAS ENOUGH TROUBLE OF ITS OWN. ( MATTHEW 6:34 )
So instead DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING,
BUT IN EVERYTHING, BY PRAYER AND PETITION, WITH
THANKSGIVING, PRESENT YOUR REQUESTS TO GOD.
And; LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS,
SINCE AS MEMBERS OF ONE BODY YOU WERE CALLED
TO PEACE. AND BE THANKFUL. Aho , Amen , e-men .
( PHILIPPIANS 4:6 ) & ( COLOSSIANS 3:15 )
With My Love & Prayers,
your servant , Pastor cougarmoon
