A Rumi Thanksgiving Poem

Thanksgiving is sweeter than bounty itself.
One who cherishes gratitude does not cling to the gift!
Thanksgiving is the true meat of God’s bounty;
the bounty is its shell,
For thanksgiving carries you to the hearth of the Beloved.
Abundance alone brings heedlessness,
thanksgiving gives birth to alertness…
The bounty of thanksgiving will satisfy and elevate you,
and you will bestow a hundred bounties in return.
Eat your fill of God’s delicacies,
and you will be freed from hunger and begging.

- Rumi

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

O Lord, in these hard times, we thank Thee for the bounty of our table, when so many in the world go hungry.
And we thank Thee for our family and friends, when so many in the world walk alone.

Amen.

Word

I, who live by words, am wordless when
I try my words in prayer. All language turns
To silence. Prayer will take my words and then
Reveal their emptiness. The stilled voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.
The self is shattered, all words torn apart
In this strange patterned time of contemplation
That, in time, breaks time, breaks words, breaks me,
And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
I leave, returned to language, for I see
Through words, even when all words are ended.

I, who live by words, am wordless when
I turn me to the Word to pray. Amen.

- by Madeleine L’Engle

(with thanks to Brother Darrell Grizzle’s Wild Faith blog for leading the way)

Ya Haqq!

Who has God wants nothing.

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing;
God only is changeless.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.

- Saint Teresa de Avila wrote these lines on a piece of paper and used it as a bookmark. May God grant that her words of wisdom find its way into the heart of all who read them. Amen. With gratitude to Sister Annie, poet extraordinaire, for pointing the way.

Ya Haqq!

Happy 80th Birthday, Dr. King!

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Happy 80th Birthday, Dr. King! May God bless your soul. Amen.

Ya Haqq!

The Mystic’s Prayer

GIVE ME OH GOD
DEEP THOUGHTS
HIGH DREAMS
FEW WORDS
MUCH SILENCE
THE NARROW PATH
THE WIDE OUTLOOK
THE END IN PEACE.

AMEN.

- Hazrat Inayat Khan, from his book The Inner Life. (with thanks to Brother Michael for calling it to my attention).

Thanksgiving Prayer

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

O Lord, we humbly thank Thee for the bounty of our table, when so many in the world go hungry. And we thank Thee for our family and friends, when so many in the world walk alone.

O God, grant that we who are filled with good things from Your open hand, may never close our hearts to the hungry, the homeless, and the poor.

Ameen! Amen!

Ya Haqq!