Don't let the turkeys get you down.

Lesley's Blog

It's New Year's Eve and I will be cooking a turkey today. Eric and I were out of town for Christmas so I will enjoy preparing that delicious food and snuggling on the sofa with Eric and the dogs, watching Thunder basketball this evening.

This year maybe we can all follow the title of this blog and "Don't let the turkeys get you down." Even though there are many people and experiences that come into our lives that can be classified as those "turkeys" we do have a choice how to respond. We can be overwhelmed, irritated, angry etc. or recognize that most things are not life threatening and, in the big picture of life, not that consequential. It is also helpful to remember that most of us can be "turkeys" at times and if we do not want to be judged, it is advisable not to judge.

(I don't have a photograph of an actual turkey but this is one of the "turkey ducks" that roam around our neighborhood, driving our dogs to frantic barking.)

 

But back to the actual bird. For native peoples the turkey is sometimes thought of as the "Earth Eagle" and so is associated with the spiritual concept of the Earth as our Mother, bringing to us the blessings of abundance and fertility in all ways. These beautiful birds invite us to give thanks for our blessings and to share those blessings with others.





(Another pseudo turkey picture, this time of turkey vultures roosting for the night. A symbol of sharing space and blessings.)

 

The planet Earth blesses us everyday with great and wondrous abundance and yet many of us take those blessings for granted. We as a nation, myself included, do harmful things to the environment everyday and waste resources in small and large ways. Native peoples honored the turkey, as they did the buffalo and all other blessings of the Earth. When they killed, which was just for food, they gave thanks to the animals and plants and made sure nothing was wasted. They made whistles from the bones of the turkey, beautiful decorations from the feathers and used all the meat in their food preparations. 

In this country, it can seem a losing battle, trying to have any impact on improving the environment and yet, as with everything, every little counts. To keep our own bodies strong and healthy we have to honor and care for them, seeing ourselves as spiritual beings with an obligation to care for ourselves and others. In the same way we might see the Body of our Mother the Earth as sacred and our duty being to take care of her.

So, maybe this year, one of our resolutions can be to do a little more to care for and love out spectacular planet.     

A New Year

Eric's Blog

A New Year

 

Unblemished by

Petty grievances

Unencumbered by

Minor frustrations

A New Year begins.

 

Let it begin

With a renewal of spirit

An attraction to joy

And an expression of love.

(Bridging to the new)

 

Happy New Year. Let us find ways to begin this year with positive attitudes, a vibrant spirit and compassion for ourselves and others.

 



 (Vibrancy and Joy)

 

Peace and Joy at this time of New Birth

Lesley's Blog

It's Christmas soon and we have finished the Christmas cards and letters, sent the presents (mostly cash) and are now waiting but in a different way than the waiting I spoke of in my last blog. The final result at the end of that  waiting, after a second MRI and several biopsies was that the mass was benign. The relief was huge and Thanksgiving in St. Martin was filled with much gratitude.

So what about this waiting for the New Birth of Christmas to come? T.S.Elliot opens his poem "Journey of the Magi" with the lines "A hard time we had of it, the worst time of the year for a journey and such a long journey" and any woman who has given birth without the assistance of modern pain medication knows that giving birth is also a very hard time. But once it is all over and the birth has arrived, the pain and agony fade. The wise men had a hard journey as they responded to a call to travel to see a special birth and  
Mary gave birth in a drafty stable without any pain relief and in that era, the infant mortality rate was probably quite high. And yet the waiting and the agony was all worth it. And so it is with us if we can hang in there and see it through. The stories reassure us that New Birth will come but it is not simple and often entirely different than we imagined. Meanwhile, we wait and live each day with as much joy as we can, knowing the call that we are following will be answered in an, as yet, unknown way. 

But the New Birth is not the definitive moment, for in our lives we die and are reborn over and over. There are times when it seems relatively calm and we can enjoy the fruits of the Birth without too much of the Death interfering. Then there are those other times when the Birth seems very elusive and the Death is all around us. It is at these times particulary when we can remember about Christmas and open ourselves to a modicum of hope, peace and joy.

Merry Christmas.