Hammock – Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

“> magic found by Dijanne on Vimeo.

Who knows, but when my watch told me it was time to fill the dryer, I checked and sure enough, he was still there snugged into a tiny crevice beneath the soap and sound asleep. Poor thing. I hated to waken him, but my feet had to go somewhere and I suspected he’d come for the day. I nudged his sleepy, groggy self onto one finger, planning to deposit him gently on a nearby day lily, but after briefly inspecting my arm he deemed it unfit for a bed and breakfast and floated off in search of a darker, cozier sanctuary.

Sometimes life simply charms me.

I’m A little over half-way thru a Spirituality and Practice course featuring the writings and quotes of Eknath Easwaran, a remarkable writer and spiritual teacher born in Kerala India.

I first encountered Easwaran in a “take-it-honey-book,” as my friend describes donated or discarded library books. It was called The Compassionate Universe.

It’s theme was a sort of spiritual ecology and the sword-sharp-double-edged chapter titles caught my attention: Knowledge without Character, Commerce without Morality, Science without Humanity, Politics without Principles, etc. What kept me reading were Easwaran’s stories about his wise grandmother, St. Francis of Assisi, and Mahatma Gandhi, along with his belief that meditation could be a key to a better world.  His foundation in California has a wonderful website that offers free meditation lessons and suggestions for memorizing sacred writings from many faiths.

Several years later I bought God Makes the Rivers to Flow an extraordinary compilation of sacred literature of the world selected by Easwaran. This collection has some of the most beautiful and inspiring pieces of faith writings I’ve ever read and I continue to read it on a regular basis. It also contains Easwaran’s 8-point program, for changing one’s own world by filling the mind with the highest ideals.

Wikipedia’s article about Easwaran has a complete listing of his books and also lists some other sources of his writings.  He was considered a master translator of both Buddhist and Hindu spiritual texts and wrote commentaries on Christian saints, The Beatitudes and The Imitation of Christ.  I wish I could have met and known this man who writes with such humanity and simplicity about the most important aspects of life and faith.  Since that’s impossible, I hope to read many more of his books.  If you’d like to know what others think, the link for Spirituality and Practice in the first paragraph will help.  A search at S&P will bring up many of their excellent reviews.

For this first post I’m choosing “Mutts,” a comic strip you may have seen in your daily paper. It receives my own personal chunk of gratitude because it charms and delights me with gentleness and humor, just as Charles Schulz did for so many years. Speaking of Peanuts, I have three very old French paperbacks that I attempt to read now and then but, “Good Grief, Charlie Brown,” they’re yellow with age!

I’ve been cutting out my favorite Mutts comics recently. Perhaps I’ll glue a batch onto a journal page or stash them in an envelope to find by accident one dreary day when my heart needs a lift, or maybe I’ll send some with cards to the special people in my life. Whatever I do, today’s my day to say, “Thank you to Patrick McDonnell for his gentle activism and to remember with fondness, Charles Schulz and the whole Peanuts gang.

The different forms of prayer: blessing (Eph 1:3), adoration (Ps 95:6), petition (Col 4:12), asking forgiveness (Lk 18:13), intercession (1 Tm 2:1), thanksgiving (1 Thes 5:18) and praise (Eph 3:20),
should all help us love God more. What about the second commandment? Intercession covers that, right? We pray for loved ones and friends, strangers and world situations that arouse our compassion like the recent earthquake in China, and the other disasters we’ve been plagued with recently.

So, here’s my question for you and for myself: who do you exclude from your prayers? In all honesty, just between you and God; who do you not want to pray for? Could this be the reason for the miserable state of our world? In the great commandment Jesus says love your neighbor, at other times he said love your enemies. He’s trying to stretch the boundaries of our love. Are we listening, are we trying?

Here’s my challenge: put your problems and loved ones in God’s hands and spend a few days or a week praying for people you usually don’t pray for. Start small with someone you’re ambivalent about, a neighbor you neither like nor dislike, a co-worker you barely know, the person you’re not going to vote for in November. Then take it up a notch and pray for someone who annoys you or sets your teeth on edge, the braggart or gossip, or the lousy driver who cut you off at a stop sign, the relative who let you down. If you get that far, pray for the people you judge and despise, the corrupt cop or politician, the illegal alien, the rapist, the child abusers, the terrorists, the gang members, the murderers.

Can you do it? Can I? Jesus did.

Last week Pastor Ken asked us to put faith first. So, do I write God at the top of a to-do list? That doesn’t seem to work, you know, scheduling God, as if He’s a chore, or something to get out of the way so I can go on to the next “thing” on my list. In the past, I’ve listed Bible study or a devotion and then rushed through it at the end of the day, when I was sleepy and my energy depleted. Not good.

I can’t “tack” God onto a list, or squeeze Him into my day as though He’s an appointment I’d rather avoid. This God, who as a Christian I claim to love, should be my all and all, not part of, but the source and essence of every thought, and every deed—waking or sleeping. He isn’t. Yet. But I’m working on it and so when I write my to-do list, I also pray it.

Lord, send me your Spirit of truth as I write the Pop Corner, instill gratitude and generosity in my heart when I check my pantry and order groceries. Smile with me as I talk to friends and acquaintances and restrain my tongue from complaining and gossip. Raise my eyes from this screen to praise you for a sunny day, keep me from cynicism as I listen to the news and help me to offer sincere prayers for all who serve in politics. Grant me wisdom and a sense of playfulness when I mind the children tonight. Lord open me to change. Keep me from rigid thinking and outdated opinions. Help me to live attentively in the moment and bless me with a sense of your Will and presence. Remind me to listen. This list, this tiny scrap of my life is yours Lord. May it be pleasing to you. Amen.