Daily Signet

I am holy ground. 
And in this ground, my grave and my garden.
Where I must die to all I have acquired.
That I might open up into all that I am.
Here and beyond time,
I am, Hear me, Here I am, 
That I might open up into all that I am.  
That in my emptiness I might embrace the All 
in its wholeness, the holiness of this place, 
the immensity of a family, 
the potential of a work, 
to the crescendo of community 
as it gives voice to the beloving, 
to the God beyond the God.  
I have heard the voice of fire 
that spoke from the burning bush 
and called me out of my comfort 
and prompts me to remove my shoes.
Here and beyond time,
I am, Hear me, Here I am,
that I might open up and embrace all that is around me
with all that I AM. Here I am.

Benjamin Martin

On This Day…

Shinto Ohari: grand purification feast when people are cleansed to provide relief from their sins

Czeslaw Milosz born 1911 in Lithuania, died 2004: poet, writer, translator, diplomat and Nobel Prize recipient
Works: The World and many poetry and prose collections
Quotes: “The voice of passion is better than the voice of reason. The passionless cannot change history.” “It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced the undefinable menace of total rationalism.” “What is poetry which does not save nations or people?” 

Daily Signet

“I Am that I Am” implies not so much a state of Self-knowledge, but rather a state of Self-being—points beyond “knowing thyself” to the experience of “being thyself”.   

Teri Martin 

On This Day…

Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Oil on canvas by El Greco. circa 16th-century. Hermitage Museum, Russia

Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles

Elizabeth Barrett Browning died in Florence, Italy, 1861

Daily Signet

Have you ever: lost your sense of “little-s self”— personality and ego – and simply been?  Experienced a moment, a minute, an hour of Me; True Me?  Without thinking?  Without wondering?  Been in a way you’d describe as Self-ing (with a capital S)?  As if you were absolutely stable and unmovable, rooted in heaven coming down through you and earth rising up through you and meeting somewhere in you?

Think about John Muir. We can read and reach for how he describes what he feels when he’s in the wild—that Knowing that God is through it All, that animals live and die for themselves (not us), that we live and die and it’s absolutely all right….We read how Muir abandons professional life, distributes his possessions to friends and family, and enters the American wilderness in an “unconditional surrender” to its call. He says: “In September 1867, I abandoned conventional society to go wholehearted and unafraid, into the American wilderness. I bade adieu to mechanical inventions determined to devote the rest of my life to the study of the inventions of God.”  Muir felt resigned to a fate he could no longer resist. “I wish I knew where I was going, Doomed to be ‘carried of the spirit into the wilderness,’ I suppose. I wish I could be more moderate in my desires, but cannot, and so there is no rest.” 

Perhaps this is how it feels to give our lives over to our Origo, our “I Am-ing” (not over to our ego-ing or personality-ing), whether that takes us, as it did Muir, out into the wilderness or to the ocean or to Congress to make national parks or to political conventions before the next election.…To come to be in the world as I Am-ing is a boon, what I say about I Am-ing is a boon, what I do guided by I Am-ing is a boon.                                                     

Ben Leichtling

Daily Signet

From perennial wisdom, the truth: “as above, so below” and whenever the divine is brought into the now, a blessing, an element of grace—something extraordinary—occurs.  When the “I am that I am” entered a bush in the desert, something extraordinary occurred.  Seeing it in flames, Moses said, “I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”  

When we bless a candle, we are bringing the above into the candle below and it is imbued with an element of grace from above—something marvelous occurs.  Like a burning bush, the candle holds the presence of God within it and is made holy.  Likewise, when we speak the names of those we pray for, we call down the blessing of healing and hope from above—something marvelous occurs.

God’s last words to Moses from the burning bush were: “And you shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”  The staff was what was at hand—it represented a lineage of shepherding.  Notice it wasn’t a glorious gold-tipped sword or a mystical shield forged by a god, or even a golden chalice of magical power—it was Moses’ daily working tool.  From what you do every day—the means to blessings from above—occurrences marvelous, magnificent, awe-full.                                                                                        

Benjamin Martin

Daily Signet

On This Day…

Pearl Buck born 1892 in West Virginia, died 1973: novelist famous for her stories of China, recipient of both Pulitzer and Nobel awards

Works: Dragon Seed, The Good Earth, Pavilion of Women and many, many more

Quotes: “Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.” “You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.” “The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible – and achieve it, generation after generation.”

Today… I stood in my father’s garden,
July sun poured upon my hair,
Mid---summer heat rising.

For the first time,
I witnessed Greenness.
Living green of a thousand shades.

I saw birdsong
And the sound of blackberries’ bursting ripeness,
The silent skein of golden gnats, slowly spinning.

My father made this garden,
Preparing the ground, 
Sowing seeds, watering and feeding.

Today… I stood inside my father’s soul,
And was made to know that
I am my Father’s garden.                                                                             

Donna Leichtling