24 April 2024 A Candle in the Window Peter Millar
Words to encourage us in these times.
Too long have I worried about so many ‘things’:
And yet, Lord, so few are needed!
May I today, live more simply
- like the bread:
May I today, see more clearly
- like the water:
May I today, be more selfless
- like the Christ. A prayer from Russia
The Happiness of Being Alive:
Once life has almost been taken from you.
When for some strange reason you emerge from death
and blink with new eyes upon the old almost forgotten universe,
then you can understand once more the value of sea and stars,
of happiness uncontainable, the sheer relief and delight of being alive
that turns your eyes repeatedly upwards with thanksgiving
then straight outward declaring peace over and over again
to those who with heads bent low see mud not stars.
Kathy Keay
*Few species have survived unchanged. There’s one called Lingula, which is a little shellfish, that has survived by being unobtrusive and doing nothing and you can’t accuse human beings of that. Sir David Attenborough
May the rains fall on our land and the cows grow fat.
May the children take the wisdom of the ancestors
and build upon all that is good.
May time standstill as we gaze upon the beauty
that is around us.
May the love in our hearts envelop
all those whom we touch. A Zulu prayer
Stumbling we may be but our shaky hands reach for that candle in the heart and once more feel its energies of life. Peter
Laughter:
At present, with the help of my assistant Caroline and other local friends, I am distributing my new booklet A Surprising Pilgrimage: And the light that shines even in dark days, which is about the things that keep us going during long-term cancer or chronic illness. I would like to share this reflection on ‘laughter’ from the booklet:
Laughter heals all wounds, and that's one thing that everybody shares.
No matter what you're going through it makes you forget about your problem.
I think the world should keep laughing. Kevin Hart, American comedian and actor.
I am writing this page on a day which I believe will be remembered for years to come in the history of humanity. This morning, 1st of March 2024, the hugely courageous Alexei Navalny was buried in a Moscow cemetery following a church service. Thousands of brave Russians gathered on the streets to say farewell knowing that their own futures were uncertain given the cruelty of Putin's government. And around the world millions who admired Navalny were watching the events on their screens. Yet it was not only Navalny's courage and compassion we celebrate but also his sense of fun and his great gift of encouraging laughter in the hearts of his followers. Even on the day before his death in a Siberian prison Navalny was seen to be joking with his prison guards. I believe that his life and laughter have reminded me so powerfully that without regular laughter our ability to deal with long-term illness is somehow diminished. Of course there are days to be sad, but there are also many times when some joking and laughter bring sunshine to our day. This kind of sunshine is often very evident in my cancer wards – a fact which may surprise people who imagine that oncology departments are doom and gloom. I know from my own experience that even when you are in a hospital bed and feeling rather miserable someone cracks a joke (even a terrible one) and the situation is transformed. Let's remember Lord Byron's words: “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine”.
Every day -- to touch the earth with your feet
to warm yourself at the fire
to plunge into the water, and to let the earth caress you:
to know that a day without those four
Sister water, Brother fire,
Mother earth, Father sky
is a lost day.
We may not be able to experience water, fire, earth and sky every day, but these words from Dorothee Sölle, based on traditional Native American wisdom, remind us of an important truth which can lift our spirit. Peter
