SoulFull Week Forty-Two

 

Happy Friday, Friends!  How has your week been?  My weekend started off lovely because I attended a creativity workshop last Saturday, and then I took my boy Westie to the vet because of a suspected ear infection.  Not only did he have an ear infection, but he developed an eye ulcer from scratching his ear on the carpet.  Finlay is on four meds plus two eye drop prescriptions and one eye lubricant three times daily.   PLUS he now has to wear the Cone of Shame 24/7 until at least Tuesday.  I haven't been able to see my mother all week.  Hopefully Trip or Shelley will be able to spell me this afternoon so I can go and lay eyes on her.

This week's lesson was bittersweet.  We have read a few excerpts about Farrell's friend Tallu and her battle with cancer throughout this book.  She sounds like a lovely person who did care about things that truly matter.  I loved the message from page 205:  

We have to practice what we hope for.  As if what we hope for might be possible.

One aspect of their friendship was the sharing and reading of poetry as spiritual practice.  Farrell even shares a list of her favorites at the end.  I was familiar with a few of the poems, and I hope to have a chance to look-up the rest soon.  At the creativity workshop on Saturday, my art teacher Dori shared a wonderful poem by Native American poet Mary Standing Otter that I think is fitting for our lesson this week.

Someone

Right now there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.

Someone you haven’t met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.

Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.

Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God’s children.

A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, “nourish them.”

Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you.

Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favorite food is, and treat you to a movie.

Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.

Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.

The next great song is being rehearsed.

Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.

Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.

Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they’ll be thriving like never before. From where they are, they just can’t see it .

Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to arrive, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in it’s reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all “So worth the wait.”

Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.

Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.

Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe.

Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.

Someone is regaining their sanity.

Someone is coming back from the dead.

Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.

Someone is curing the incurable.

You. Me. Some. One. Now.

~ Mary Standing Otter

Here is this week's scripture:

Prayer Requests

Please let me know if I have missed any updates or new requests.

• Pray for Rita as she mourns the loss of her sister.
• Please keep Rita's neighbor Chris in prayer as she battles her cancer.  She is recovering from a 2nd surgery to remove what is believed to be another cancer on her lung.
• Kitty's son Mike and his friend are working on a game for a company and need to have it done in three months and have a verbal agreement for another game. Prayers that they can get this done.  Also, pray that they will get good news on a proposal (a separate project).
• Keep Rita's daughter Megan in your prayers as she delves into her 3rd and final year of Nurse Practitioner program. Her anxiety is pretty high with the new schedule of work, school and home life balance.
• Pray for my best friend Barbara who is battling cancer.  She is struggling, y'all.  UPDATE:  She was able to get chemo this week!  Praise!
• Carla's prayer request is for all the young people entering the military, the love they feel for the USA to become warriors to fight to keep us free. She is so thankful, as we all are!
• Carla and her husband has decided to stay in their home and not sell it and move.  Pray that God will give them peace in their decision.  
• Pray for my mother.  She is really declining.
• Rita asks that we pray for her oldest daughter's Jewish friend. She dropped out of her 2nd masters' program at Michigan due to the anti-semitic tension she experienced last year, and is planning to move to Israel in October (she has dual citizenship) to see if a budding romance will work over the next 1-2 years. Please keep her in your prayers for her safety, relationship fulfillment, and eventual safe return to the US (with, perhaps, a soulmate for life).
• Rita's daughter Megan had rotator cuff surgery a couple of weeks ago.  Pray for her speedy recovery.
• Pray for Jenna Meon.
• Pray that the peace will hold in the Middle East.
• Please pray for our Westie Finlay.  He is my best little buddy, and never left my side during my cancer treatment.

Our local Fall Festival is Saturday.  I doubt I will be able to go, but hopefully one of the other adults in the household can go and purchase a few pumpkins for the Trick-Or-Treaters next week.

Have a safe and happy weekend, Friends!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill