Daily Signet

From the universe that holds us,
down to the galaxies that dazzle us,
down to the sun that warms us,
down to the earth that sustains us,
down to the human buried inside us
grace and love abound.
From the instant of our conception,
up to the time of our birth,
up to the day of our first words,
up to those times when we break through
to something new, grace and love abound.
By the fact that we are here, they are here,
ever present, omnipresent,
Grace and love abound.                                              

Benjamin Martin

Daily Signet

Earlier this week, walking in our neighborhood, in the middle of suburban Denver, homes with lawns all around, a hawk alighted about 30 feet ahead across the street. And said, “Behold!” And we stopped and beheld—soles of our feet gripping God’s earth firmly, time stopping, all else fading into background; as if Moses’ burning bush, the hawk, clear and foreground. Behold!

Credit Jack Seeds on Unsplash

The hawk plumped and fluffed its tail in a puddle made by the sprinklers. Then it shook itself and hopped to one side, a little into the sprinkler spray and fluffed again. Then it looked at and through us, and around us. After an eternal moment, an iPod, ear-phoned man with a dog walked across the street. The dog saw the hawk. The hawk flew away. The man beheld nothing. The hawk—a burning bush. I carried that hawk and the feeling of attentive eternity through the rest of the work day, as God sparkled in every person I met and some even brought pearls...while the “stuff” was background.                                                         

Ben Leichtling

On This Day…

Toshigoi: Shinto day of prayers to the Kami for an abundant rice crop

Daily Signet

O Beloved Spirit,
In the gap between how we find ourselves
and how we want to be found;
in the gap of how we find others to be
and how we would want them to be;
in the gap of the way things are
and how we would choose them to be;
be love in us, be love through us,
belove us, belove us, belove us. 

In the disappointment of how things turned out
instead of how we had envisioned them;
in the disappointment of what we had wanted to accomplish
instead of what we have accomplished so far;
in the disappointment of being disappointed,
instead of the hopefulness we had so hoped in;
be love in us, be love through us,
belove us, belove us, belove us. 

Photo credit @aoddeh

It is not a clean and perfected dance in which we find ourselves.
Our steps falter. We fall out of step. We lose the rhythm.
It is not a clean and perfected dance in which we find ourselves.
We don’t always hear the strains or recognize the beat.
It is not a clean and perfected dance in which we find ourselves.
We are self-conscious, self-critical, self-awkward;
be love in us, be love through us,
belove us, belove us, belove us. 

O Beloved Spirit, we seek grace
in this dance in which we find ourselves:
that we may delight in the surprise of breaking past the impossible,
that we may joy in the movement that takes us out of the expected,
that we may find ecstasy in becoming the music,
if only for a moment,
be grace in us, be grace through us,
be-grace us, be-grace us, be-grace us. 
Amen 

From Prayers on the Road Home, Benjamin Martin

On This Day…

Vasant Panchami – Hindu celebration of Saraswati, Goddess of Learning

Shrove Tuesday/Carnival/Mardi Gras: last day of fun before Lent

Daily Signet

Do fish know there’s water before they’re deprived of it?  Do people think about air before they miss it? Do Humans pay attention to the Grace of Love until they feel the absence of it?

Peace, intensity, ecstasy – aaahhh. This sacred moment, alone and saturated with Love, with the Grace of Love. Write a haiku, draw an Enso (a circle of this moment’s love). Pause in the Zen Garden of life and love. Aaahhh. How could I believe I was not loved? How could I not notice I am loved?

Ben Leichtling

Enso (c. 2000) by Kanjuro Shibata XX. Some artists draw enso with an opening in the circle, while others close the circle.

On This Day…

Nirvana Day: remembrance of the death of the Buddha

Daily Signet

I am reminded of Rumi’s love and his bereavement for the loss of the dervish Shamsi Tabrizi. Without evidence of his death, Rumi went out searching for his companion and journeyed to Damascus when he realized: Why should I seek? I am the same as He. His essence speaks through me. So, I have been looking for myself!

Through his longing, Rumi came to realize that he was united for all time with his friend equally in life and death. The correlation I find is that in suffering we unite, release our egos and find joy in our community all in the same moment. We are human. We are divine. We are one with the holy and universal spirit. Rumi’s realization is the greatest of mysteries, for it represents the idea that “death” and “birth” are palpable at the same moment.                                  

Nathan Drabek

On This Day…

St. Valentine’s Day: 1C Roman convert who helped Christians to escape persecution by emperors Claudius and Valarian who is said to have been crucified as a martyr and has become the patron saint of lovers