Week 26

God, what guidance do you have for me today?

Be attentive

to the people that show up

in your life today.

Listen with patience,

hold them with compassion and love,

and respond with gentleness, grace and kindness.

Be easygoing… calm in demeanor.

Breathe easily when

talking.

Let any stresses and challenges

that arise be met and

immersed in your faith in

the divine process that

works all things for good.

Today, no matter how busy you are

make sure you treat each person you

encounter with dignity and respect.

Each person.

Let you heart guide your words.

May they be laced with joy and

peace. May your actions reveal

the love of God that is in you.

Do this today,

and you will make the world

a better place. And you will grow,

becoming a more powerful soul

holding more light and love;

and being a powerful channel

for love, grace and divine presence.

Week 26

Evening Reflection

To pay attention necessitates slowing down and really taking in another person. It means giving them your time and staying focused on them. It requires patience. And it means giving up your own agenda to give import to someone else’s.

As this guidance came, I was visiting my 82-year-old mother. I was staying with her for a week in the home I grew up in. After I settled in, we sat on the couch in the den. I listened to her as she spoke of her present pain and the frustration she experiences as a still vibrant woman in a body that is not obeying her so well. While we were talking, the doorbell rang. As my mother opened the door, I heard his voice. It was an old high school friend of mine who came by asking mom for food and money. He has become virtually homeless and is seen walking the neighborhood streets talking to himself. He is disheveled and doesn’t smell good. I went to talk with him and was helped by this guidance. Rather than simply give him some money and food and send him on his way, I really talked with him… and listened. Even in his present state of being hard to understand and talk to, he was able to voice both an acknowledgment of his poor state and thankfulness for our kindness.

Later, a relative came by who was also struggling. We had dinner and talked of life and its vicissitudes.  He needed a compassionate ear, and was appreciative of the attention my mother and I both gave. Soon after, when I went outside to appreciate the setting sun, I heard a cat’s meow. I looked in the yard and saw a feral cat coming my way, meowing. I knew it to be a cat my mother feeds at times, and knew it was asking for food. I paid attention to its constant meows and spoke back in the same high tones, and with a gentle volume. Mom gave me some food for this black and white beauty, and it ate eagerly while looking up at me periodically.

Paying such close attention today to the people, and the four-legged cousin… that showed up in my life was an opportunity to be of service. Opening my heart created intimacy and allowed us, both human and cat, to share in a wonderful way the common ground we all stand on – LIFE.