Twelve Days of Christmas Tue, 25th December, 2012 thru Sat 5th January, 2013
Today began a 12-day spiritual journey suggested by our minister Rev. Thomas Perchlik in last night's beautiful Christmas Eve service. I will make a special exception to the Sunday Morning concept to share these small steps daily. All are welcome to join me and share their own thoughts and reflections in these pages.
*
On the first day of Christmas...
Never mind the partridge in a pear tree. Today, amid the hustle and bustle of last-minute preparation, I took a moment to light a candle for peace. It was a simple act that asked only that we take a moment to reflect on the wider world and think for a moment of those who are suffering this day. As my mother looked on, we shared this brief moment. As I watched the flame, my thoughts turned to the families of the recent victims of violence in Connecticut. I also reflected on our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters who spent today in serving the cause of social justice in St. Louis. Peace and joy to them to all they serve.
Tomorrow, we say two prayers for peace.
* *
On the second day of Christmas...
I have selected two of my favorite prayers for peace. Thomas already chose one of my favorites, which is a Gaelic blessing. My Welsh soul revels in Celtic earth-based spirituality. For this reason, I have chosen the least original yet satisfying path of repeating this prayer here for you:
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.
- Adapted from Gaelic Runes
The second prayer for peace is in honor of my beautiful Hindu friends, from the Atharva Veda:
Let there be peace in the sky and in the atmosphere, peace in the plant world and in the forests;
Let the cosmic powers be peaceful; let Brahma be peaceful;
Let there be undiluted and fulfilling peace everywhere.
Click on the images to the right to experience these texts with deeply peaceful music from the Divinity Project.
Tomorrow I perform three random acts of kindness...
* * *
On the third day of Christmas...
The hardest thing about today was deciding who would be the recipients of my random acts of kindness. In addition to feeding the birds (a bonus), I settled on these three:
- A package of Christmas cookies left on our curbside recycling bin for the truck driver.
- An anonymous holiday greeting card containing a Panera gift card left for my favorite wine guy at Straub's in Webster, thanking him for making the world a delicious place. (As an act of kindness for myself, I'm enjoying the fruits of his labor at this very moment...)
- Another anonymous card and gift card left in the front door of the most diverse family on our block, stating simply, "for a beautiful family."
It was important that the items be anonymous, to help me ensure that it was truly an act of generosity that I would not benefit from, even indirectly. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive.
Tomorrow I have to laugh four times...surely I can handle that!
* * * *
On the fourth day of Christmas...
Today's spiritual exercise was to lift our spirits with laughter. By being open to participating in conversations with my children, laughter was pretty easy to come by. For me, it was:
- Laughing at my son's birthday card (his 16th) from my daughter - one of those cards that claims it can only be opened by someone with the requisite virtues, and of course the card is glued shut.
- More jokes over my son's birthday dinner. The best was the Indian waiters singing happy birthday...(they're great friends, actually, and they sang beautifully).
- We talked about the worst possible pet names on the way home from dinner. The best was Owen's idea to get a pet mole and name it guacolasses - a combination of guacamole and molasses, but without the "mole" to be ironic.
- Best was the laugh we just had over the birthday movie I made for Owen's birthday, featuring footage of him dancing semi-nude at age 3 or so, set to the music of "dance baby dance like the world is ending."
It is good to laugh with people you love.
Tomorrow is the day we stretch five times...I'll have to think about how to interpret that so that I can go trail running. :-)
* * * * *
On the fifth day of Christmas...
On the fifth day of Christmas, it was time to turn attention to our physical being, with the prescription of stretching five times. In the true spirit of Unitarian-Universalism, I took the opportunity to put my own spin on the idea and found inspiration in a snowy trail run through a local park while listening to the music you're hearing now.
I stretched first, of course, and set out in the late afternoon when the angled sunlight on snow was the most beautiful. I find the waning of the day somehow the most compelling time to be in nature, perhaps exactly because it is such a fleeting moment that demands mindfulness. As Frost wrote, nothing gold can stay, so I have to pay attention.
Today's meditation was about balancing body, mind and spirit, and the twilight jaunt was just the thing to bring the three together. Enjoy the photos to the right for a sense of the experience. Trail running, or any kind of off-road running, adds a new spiritual dimension to physical exercise. Maybe you, too, will be visited by the tree spirits (but that's another blog).
Tomorrow is the sixth day of Christmas peacemaking, when we are asked to forgive and let go. That could be more demanding than running on snow...
* * * * * *
On the sixth day of Christmas
On the sixth day of Christmas...This was to be a day to create peace by forgiving and letting go. I searched my feelings for any person with whom I had unresolved conflict and I honestly couldn't think of any conflicts that were nearly as important as the daily struggles I have had with our dog, Josh.
Yes, strange as it may seem, this lovable looking dog with the shaggy russet coat and big brown eyes is a thorn in my side. He and I have totally different approaches to life, and first and foremost irreconcilable differences regarding our morning walks. As you can tell from this blog, my walking outdoors is an important spiritual and physical practice for me. Our other dog, Pepper, an aging yet sprightly companion, shares my enthusiasm for vigorous walking. She is Tigger. Josh, on the other hand, is Eeyore. When Pepper and I want to move ahead, Josh wants to stop and smell the roses. And the telephone pole. And the grass. It has caused many daily conflicts as he fell behind to sniff or just stand there, while I was itching to forge ahead. Why couldn't he just be more like Pepper?
It got bad enough that I was no longer enjoying the walks and would sometimes leave him at home, only to get the big brown sad eyes upon my return.
So today, I used the 6th day of Christmas as an opportunity to forgive Josh his ways and resolved to let go of my anger and frustration. So today we took a nice long leisurely walk in Forest Park in the light snow. (I confess I did this instead of going to church.) It was a beautiful experience to just let Josh be Josh and enjoy our time together. Pepper didn't seem to mind too much as there were lots of new sights and smells for her, too. Small as it may seem, this is an important turning point in my relationship with the dogs. I took the pictures to the right to help remember how enjoyable it was to let go.
Tomorrow, Day 7, reconciliation. I think I know just the person who needs some kind attention from me.
* * * * * * *
On the seventh day of Christmas
If yesterday's experience was about forgiving and letting go, today's was about forgiving and holding on. It was the day for reconciliation, which I marked with a rare date in an exotic locale with a beautiful and captivating woman - who happens to be my wife.
We stole away to Cafe Sasha in Demun on a snowy afternoon to sip wine - she had French and I had Spanish - and enjoy a crepe or two. It was good to slip away for a few hours and reconnect, away from children, away from work, away from the house and away from electronic devices. In fact, I managed to focus so well I didn't realize until afterwards I had completely forgotten to take pictures. Which is probably a good thing, as Betsy hates it when I pay more attention to my iPhone than to her, and for good reason.
We talked about the future, and the good thing was that it was clear we still had a shared vision of the future. Sometimes it's good to check in occasionally on the future thing, since priorities evolve over time, especially as we enter these transition years moving towards the proverbial empty nest and wondering what's next.
In lieu of pictures of today, I'll leave you with seven images that represent the quiet satisfaction of this snowy afternoon spent in the warmth of rekindled relationship. Happy new year.
* * * * * * * *
On the eighth day of Christmas
On the eighth day of Christmas, we invited the eight maids a-milking to joyful new year's eve celebration. Actually, it was a gathering of good church friends in Edwardsville, Illinois, which more than fulfilled the Day 8 prescription to laugh with eight friends. This group of friends and neighbors has widened to include some of us Missouri folk, for which we are grateful.
We toasted the new year at Alison and Steve's house, standing around the flickering fire pit, tossing our wishes written on tissue paper into the fire. May we celebrate our friendships regularly in 2013 and create many new ones.
Best wishes for a healthy and spirited-filled new year.
* * * * * * * * *
On the ninth day of Christmas
Day 9...Why is this starting to sound like a hostage crisis? The preacher man said, on the ninth day, make peace with the web of being. This one has actually been on my mind for several days now, actually several weeks or months, so what I'm about to reveal wasn't something done spur of the moment to give me something to write for day 9 :-).
As my contribution to the welfare of our planet, I've decided to give up meat - at least for the month of January. My primary motivation is ecological, as we do the Earth much harm in the pursuit of meat consumption, devastating rain forests to create grazing land for cattle, fouling streams with concentrated animal feeding operations, etc. I could envision myself occasionally having wild-caught fish or game, but for now I'm going cold tofurkey.
Will it be easy? I know it won't be. But nothing worth having comes without effort. Some comforting thoughts that will sustain me:
- My wife has been vegetarian for 20 years and is a healthy, well-adjusted person
- Rev. Thomas is a vegetarian and views it as a spiritual practice (hey, that's the topic of this website!)
- Indian food.
To celebrate this new culinary adventure, and perhaps to provide some inspiration to others (and to myself), I'm sharing some of my favorite meat-free food images.
Tomorrow...10 acts of generosity.
* * * * * * * * * *
On the tenth day of Christmas
On the tenth day of Christmas...we are now in the home stretch. My challenge today was to commit 10 acts of generosity. Given that it was a work today, it made it even more challenging to keep the generosity flowing and not get distracted by the demands of Xerox Corporation.
But I managed to do it, with a little creativity, and I'm happy to report I was able to come up with something more inventive than 10 cans of soup (not that Trinity Food Pantry would have minded the donations). I was a little concerned that the pictures of soup cans would be inescapably Worholesque. Either that, or buying the Schnuck's brand of soup would have rendered them artless.
So here's the generosity countdown (and I won't even count refilling the bird feeder, though the birds were certainly appreciative):
10. To get the ball rolling, I stuffed an extra 5 bucks into the Guest at Your Table donation box, to benefit the UUSC. Low hanging fruit, as I work at the dining room table next to the box.
9. I set up a happy hour with a business acquaintance to introduce him to a friend of mine who's in need of an internship.
8. I finally tracked down a second girl's bicycle for the second twin girl in the family we adopted for Christmas from the 100 Neediest Cases. And, believe it or not, I was actually able to find one that is exactly the same kind as the first bike, so the twins will have twin bikes as well as the twin set of beds from Mike Nolan's mom.
7. I donated $10 to the musician in Finland whose free music I have been downloading, enjoying and featuring on my website. Rev. Thomas would surely like the title of one of his albums, Dharma Armada. (See the link to the right if you're interested.)
Realizing I was not going to make it to 10 before nightfall by doing things one at a time, I knew I had to come up with some leverage. So I landed on an ingeniously generous idea of helping my Mom publish some of her poems online. Yeah, I could post a poem she had written for her sister. And (here's the best part), she has five sisters plus one unofficially adopted one for a total of six generosity generators.
6. I started with the poem for her older sister, my aunt Donnareita or DR, titled "Mystery Lady at Don's Drive Thru" (Don is my brother). It just so happened that I had a picture of a drive thru, taken (I'm ashamed to say) when we landed in Puerto Rico for vacation late at night and drove through a McDonalds as our first meal on the island - but hey, it had palm trees!
5. The next poem was for my aunt Gwendolyn, a.k.a. Gatie, who is third in the birth order (Mom is second). The poem, "Reaching," was much more soul-searching and full of struggle, so I matched it with an image of reaching, leaning trees from a nearby park (one from my Naked November photo essay).
4. Then it was on to aunt Margie, who has later in life become a quilter and so Mom celebrated her sister's love of quilting with a heart-warming tribute titled "Love Quilting Love." The image is one of Betsy's grandma's hand-made quilts. Unfortunately I didn't have a patchwork quilt...but the monkey wrench pattern offered a simple honesty.
3. Next was aunt Franny. Mom saluted her sis with the light-hearted "Fran's Personal Taxi," in which she thanked her for being there to provide love and transportation to their mother, my Grandma Francis, who just turned 91. Franny loved hot rod cars back in the 70s, so I found the perfect shot from a car show last summer.
2. Mom's youngest sister, Melody June (a.k.a. June Bug or Buggy back in the day), was given the honor of the longest poem, but the short Seuss-like lines make for a quick read. The longing for reconnection after long separation seemed to pair well with this shot I happened to take early this week of two hand-sewn dolls from Paris hanging on my daughter's bedroom wall. The dolls called out (in French, naturellement) as I passed and begged me to photograph them. With a ruffle of dust, they are the essence of neglected sisterly love.
1. And, finally, our beloved adopted sister and aunt, Lourdes, who is my aunt Franny's significant other. She is a beautiful person, with a zest for life that is owed, perhaps, to her Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage - including a love of nature, spirituality and a fierce devotion to family, including her adopted one. I discovered the perfect picture in my photo library of some trees in San Juan that I observed while on a morning walk on our vacation last August. The trees had been severely pruned by the city, and a clever artist decided to make the negative into a positive by painting inspiring slogans on the trees' exposed cuts. May we never forget the truth spoken by that tree: "Ama la vida" (love life).
If you're still reading this, you're either desperate for entertainment or a true and loyal friend. Thank you for taking this journey with me. And if you really want to see the poems and images, click the Ama La Vida image on the right!
Tomorrow, day 11...I can't wait to see what comes after 10.
* * * * * * * * * * *
On the eleventh day of Christmas
This one goes to 11...
A very uplifting prescription for the 11th day of Christmas—saying 11 prayers for peace. As I have discovered many times, the UU Singing The Living Tradition hymnal is a treasure trove of collected wisdom. Drawing on this source, I have selected and added nine new prayers for peace to the original two I had selected on day 2 of this journey.
I found myself gravitating to the prayers from the Eastern traditions and from the Native American tradition. I began with a beautiful centering prayer that encourages a sense of serene stillness as you listen to the Earth. That grounding is essential for creating peace in the world. As the old Christmas carol proclaims, Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.
The Earth-based imagery evoked by the prayer called to mind the photos taken in our 2009 trip to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota. I found myself drawn back to these stark and serene landscapes. I soon realized that, despite the cultural mismatch, the American western landscape actually seemed to fit quite well with the spare and elegant Eastern and of course Native American prayers.
So I invite you to follow the link on the right and allow yourself some time to take a leisurely scroll down the page of 11 peaceful prayers. You can enjoy the tranquility of the native American flute music from Randy Granger, which adds a world music flavor to this East-meets-West treasury of prayers.
Tomorrow, is Day 12. I will need your help to complete the assignment. For the 12th day of Christmas, I need to light 12 candles for peace in my religious community. As this falls on a Saturday, I won't see most of you in person to light candles together. So I'm asking the first 11 of you who can to please light a candle on Saturday, take a digital picture of it, and send it to me at g.grimmhowell@att.net. I will post all 12 as soon as I get them and we can enjoy our virtual candle lighting ceremony on this website.
May deep and abiding peace be with you this new year and always.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
On the twelfth day of Christmas
Let the twelve drummers drum...it's the last day. This one will be short and sweet, because YOU have already written the entry for today. Dear friends and family have sent in their own images of candles for peace, from Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and New Hampshire. And who knows, they may continue to come. More than 12 candles will be absolutely perfect. As many as are sent will be the perfect number.
So click on the candle to the right and enjoy the beautiful community of peace we have made. I love you all.
Today began a 12-day spiritual journey suggested by our minister Rev. Thomas Perchlik in last night's beautiful Christmas Eve service. I will make a special exception to the Sunday Morning concept to share these small steps daily. All are welcome to join me and share their own thoughts and reflections in these pages.
*
On the first day of Christmas...
Never mind the partridge in a pear tree. Today, amid the hustle and bustle of last-minute preparation, I took a moment to light a candle for peace. It was a simple act that asked only that we take a moment to reflect on the wider world and think for a moment of those who are suffering this day. As my mother looked on, we shared this brief moment. As I watched the flame, my thoughts turned to the families of the recent victims of violence in Connecticut. I also reflected on our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters who spent today in serving the cause of social justice in St. Louis. Peace and joy to them to all they serve.
Tomorrow, we say two prayers for peace.
* *
On the second day of Christmas...
I have selected two of my favorite prayers for peace. Thomas already chose one of my favorites, which is a Gaelic blessing. My Welsh soul revels in Celtic earth-based spirituality. For this reason, I have chosen the least original yet satisfying path of repeating this prayer here for you:
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.
- Adapted from Gaelic Runes
The second prayer for peace is in honor of my beautiful Hindu friends, from the Atharva Veda:
Let there be peace in the sky and in the atmosphere, peace in the plant world and in the forests;
Let the cosmic powers be peaceful; let Brahma be peaceful;
Let there be undiluted and fulfilling peace everywhere.
Click on the images to the right to experience these texts with deeply peaceful music from the Divinity Project.
Tomorrow I perform three random acts of kindness...
* * *
On the third day of Christmas...
The hardest thing about today was deciding who would be the recipients of my random acts of kindness. In addition to feeding the birds (a bonus), I settled on these three:
- A package of Christmas cookies left on our curbside recycling bin for the truck driver.
- An anonymous holiday greeting card containing a Panera gift card left for my favorite wine guy at Straub's in Webster, thanking him for making the world a delicious place. (As an act of kindness for myself, I'm enjoying the fruits of his labor at this very moment...)
- Another anonymous card and gift card left in the front door of the most diverse family on our block, stating simply, "for a beautiful family."
It was important that the items be anonymous, to help me ensure that it was truly an act of generosity that I would not benefit from, even indirectly. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive.
Tomorrow I have to laugh four times...surely I can handle that!
* * * *
On the fourth day of Christmas...
Today's spiritual exercise was to lift our spirits with laughter. By being open to participating in conversations with my children, laughter was pretty easy to come by. For me, it was:
- Laughing at my son's birthday card (his 16th) from my daughter - one of those cards that claims it can only be opened by someone with the requisite virtues, and of course the card is glued shut.
- More jokes over my son's birthday dinner. The best was the Indian waiters singing happy birthday...(they're great friends, actually, and they sang beautifully).
- We talked about the worst possible pet names on the way home from dinner. The best was Owen's idea to get a pet mole and name it guacolasses - a combination of guacamole and molasses, but without the "mole" to be ironic.
- Best was the laugh we just had over the birthday movie I made for Owen's birthday, featuring footage of him dancing semi-nude at age 3 or so, set to the music of "dance baby dance like the world is ending."
It is good to laugh with people you love.
Tomorrow is the day we stretch five times...I'll have to think about how to interpret that so that I can go trail running. :-)
* * * * *
On the fifth day of Christmas...
On the fifth day of Christmas, it was time to turn attention to our physical being, with the prescription of stretching five times. In the true spirit of Unitarian-Universalism, I took the opportunity to put my own spin on the idea and found inspiration in a snowy trail run through a local park while listening to the music you're hearing now.
I stretched first, of course, and set out in the late afternoon when the angled sunlight on snow was the most beautiful. I find the waning of the day somehow the most compelling time to be in nature, perhaps exactly because it is such a fleeting moment that demands mindfulness. As Frost wrote, nothing gold can stay, so I have to pay attention.
Today's meditation was about balancing body, mind and spirit, and the twilight jaunt was just the thing to bring the three together. Enjoy the photos to the right for a sense of the experience. Trail running, or any kind of off-road running, adds a new spiritual dimension to physical exercise. Maybe you, too, will be visited by the tree spirits (but that's another blog).
Tomorrow is the sixth day of Christmas peacemaking, when we are asked to forgive and let go. That could be more demanding than running on snow...
* * * * * *
On the sixth day of Christmas
On the sixth day of Christmas...This was to be a day to create peace by forgiving and letting go. I searched my feelings for any person with whom I had unresolved conflict and I honestly couldn't think of any conflicts that were nearly as important as the daily struggles I have had with our dog, Josh.
Yes, strange as it may seem, this lovable looking dog with the shaggy russet coat and big brown eyes is a thorn in my side. He and I have totally different approaches to life, and first and foremost irreconcilable differences regarding our morning walks. As you can tell from this blog, my walking outdoors is an important spiritual and physical practice for me. Our other dog, Pepper, an aging yet sprightly companion, shares my enthusiasm for vigorous walking. She is Tigger. Josh, on the other hand, is Eeyore. When Pepper and I want to move ahead, Josh wants to stop and smell the roses. And the telephone pole. And the grass. It has caused many daily conflicts as he fell behind to sniff or just stand there, while I was itching to forge ahead. Why couldn't he just be more like Pepper?
It got bad enough that I was no longer enjoying the walks and would sometimes leave him at home, only to get the big brown sad eyes upon my return.
So today, I used the 6th day of Christmas as an opportunity to forgive Josh his ways and resolved to let go of my anger and frustration. So today we took a nice long leisurely walk in Forest Park in the light snow. (I confess I did this instead of going to church.) It was a beautiful experience to just let Josh be Josh and enjoy our time together. Pepper didn't seem to mind too much as there were lots of new sights and smells for her, too. Small as it may seem, this is an important turning point in my relationship with the dogs. I took the pictures to the right to help remember how enjoyable it was to let go.
Tomorrow, Day 7, reconciliation. I think I know just the person who needs some kind attention from me.
* * * * * * *
On the seventh day of Christmas
If yesterday's experience was about forgiving and letting go, today's was about forgiving and holding on. It was the day for reconciliation, which I marked with a rare date in an exotic locale with a beautiful and captivating woman - who happens to be my wife.
We stole away to Cafe Sasha in Demun on a snowy afternoon to sip wine - she had French and I had Spanish - and enjoy a crepe or two. It was good to slip away for a few hours and reconnect, away from children, away from work, away from the house and away from electronic devices. In fact, I managed to focus so well I didn't realize until afterwards I had completely forgotten to take pictures. Which is probably a good thing, as Betsy hates it when I pay more attention to my iPhone than to her, and for good reason.
We talked about the future, and the good thing was that it was clear we still had a shared vision of the future. Sometimes it's good to check in occasionally on the future thing, since priorities evolve over time, especially as we enter these transition years moving towards the proverbial empty nest and wondering what's next.
In lieu of pictures of today, I'll leave you with seven images that represent the quiet satisfaction of this snowy afternoon spent in the warmth of rekindled relationship. Happy new year.
* * * * * * * *
On the eighth day of Christmas
On the eighth day of Christmas, we invited the eight maids a-milking to joyful new year's eve celebration. Actually, it was a gathering of good church friends in Edwardsville, Illinois, which more than fulfilled the Day 8 prescription to laugh with eight friends. This group of friends and neighbors has widened to include some of us Missouri folk, for which we are grateful.
We toasted the new year at Alison and Steve's house, standing around the flickering fire pit, tossing our wishes written on tissue paper into the fire. May we celebrate our friendships regularly in 2013 and create many new ones.
Best wishes for a healthy and spirited-filled new year.
* * * * * * * * *
On the ninth day of Christmas
Day 9...Why is this starting to sound like a hostage crisis? The preacher man said, on the ninth day, make peace with the web of being. This one has actually been on my mind for several days now, actually several weeks or months, so what I'm about to reveal wasn't something done spur of the moment to give me something to write for day 9 :-).
As my contribution to the welfare of our planet, I've decided to give up meat - at least for the month of January. My primary motivation is ecological, as we do the Earth much harm in the pursuit of meat consumption, devastating rain forests to create grazing land for cattle, fouling streams with concentrated animal feeding operations, etc. I could envision myself occasionally having wild-caught fish or game, but for now I'm going cold tofurkey.
Will it be easy? I know it won't be. But nothing worth having comes without effort. Some comforting thoughts that will sustain me:
- My wife has been vegetarian for 20 years and is a healthy, well-adjusted person
- Rev. Thomas is a vegetarian and views it as a spiritual practice (hey, that's the topic of this website!)
- Indian food.
To celebrate this new culinary adventure, and perhaps to provide some inspiration to others (and to myself), I'm sharing some of my favorite meat-free food images.
Tomorrow...10 acts of generosity.
* * * * * * * * * *
On the tenth day of Christmas
On the tenth day of Christmas...we are now in the home stretch. My challenge today was to commit 10 acts of generosity. Given that it was a work today, it made it even more challenging to keep the generosity flowing and not get distracted by the demands of Xerox Corporation.
But I managed to do it, with a little creativity, and I'm happy to report I was able to come up with something more inventive than 10 cans of soup (not that Trinity Food Pantry would have minded the donations). I was a little concerned that the pictures of soup cans would be inescapably Worholesque. Either that, or buying the Schnuck's brand of soup would have rendered them artless.
So here's the generosity countdown (and I won't even count refilling the bird feeder, though the birds were certainly appreciative):
10. To get the ball rolling, I stuffed an extra 5 bucks into the Guest at Your Table donation box, to benefit the UUSC. Low hanging fruit, as I work at the dining room table next to the box.
9. I set up a happy hour with a business acquaintance to introduce him to a friend of mine who's in need of an internship.
8. I finally tracked down a second girl's bicycle for the second twin girl in the family we adopted for Christmas from the 100 Neediest Cases. And, believe it or not, I was actually able to find one that is exactly the same kind as the first bike, so the twins will have twin bikes as well as the twin set of beds from Mike Nolan's mom.
7. I donated $10 to the musician in Finland whose free music I have been downloading, enjoying and featuring on my website. Rev. Thomas would surely like the title of one of his albums, Dharma Armada. (See the link to the right if you're interested.)
Realizing I was not going to make it to 10 before nightfall by doing things one at a time, I knew I had to come up with some leverage. So I landed on an ingeniously generous idea of helping my Mom publish some of her poems online. Yeah, I could post a poem she had written for her sister. And (here's the best part), she has five sisters plus one unofficially adopted one for a total of six generosity generators.
6. I started with the poem for her older sister, my aunt Donnareita or DR, titled "Mystery Lady at Don's Drive Thru" (Don is my brother). It just so happened that I had a picture of a drive thru, taken (I'm ashamed to say) when we landed in Puerto Rico for vacation late at night and drove through a McDonalds as our first meal on the island - but hey, it had palm trees!
5. The next poem was for my aunt Gwendolyn, a.k.a. Gatie, who is third in the birth order (Mom is second). The poem, "Reaching," was much more soul-searching and full of struggle, so I matched it with an image of reaching, leaning trees from a nearby park (one from my Naked November photo essay).
4. Then it was on to aunt Margie, who has later in life become a quilter and so Mom celebrated her sister's love of quilting with a heart-warming tribute titled "Love Quilting Love." The image is one of Betsy's grandma's hand-made quilts. Unfortunately I didn't have a patchwork quilt...but the monkey wrench pattern offered a simple honesty.
3. Next was aunt Franny. Mom saluted her sis with the light-hearted "Fran's Personal Taxi," in which she thanked her for being there to provide love and transportation to their mother, my Grandma Francis, who just turned 91. Franny loved hot rod cars back in the 70s, so I found the perfect shot from a car show last summer.
2. Mom's youngest sister, Melody June (a.k.a. June Bug or Buggy back in the day), was given the honor of the longest poem, but the short Seuss-like lines make for a quick read. The longing for reconnection after long separation seemed to pair well with this shot I happened to take early this week of two hand-sewn dolls from Paris hanging on my daughter's bedroom wall. The dolls called out (in French, naturellement) as I passed and begged me to photograph them. With a ruffle of dust, they are the essence of neglected sisterly love.
1. And, finally, our beloved adopted sister and aunt, Lourdes, who is my aunt Franny's significant other. She is a beautiful person, with a zest for life that is owed, perhaps, to her Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage - including a love of nature, spirituality and a fierce devotion to family, including her adopted one. I discovered the perfect picture in my photo library of some trees in San Juan that I observed while on a morning walk on our vacation last August. The trees had been severely pruned by the city, and a clever artist decided to make the negative into a positive by painting inspiring slogans on the trees' exposed cuts. May we never forget the truth spoken by that tree: "Ama la vida" (love life).
If you're still reading this, you're either desperate for entertainment or a true and loyal friend. Thank you for taking this journey with me. And if you really want to see the poems and images, click the Ama La Vida image on the right!
Tomorrow, day 11...I can't wait to see what comes after 10.
* * * * * * * * * * *
On the eleventh day of Christmas
This one goes to 11...
A very uplifting prescription for the 11th day of Christmas—saying 11 prayers for peace. As I have discovered many times, the UU Singing The Living Tradition hymnal is a treasure trove of collected wisdom. Drawing on this source, I have selected and added nine new prayers for peace to the original two I had selected on day 2 of this journey.
I found myself gravitating to the prayers from the Eastern traditions and from the Native American tradition. I began with a beautiful centering prayer that encourages a sense of serene stillness as you listen to the Earth. That grounding is essential for creating peace in the world. As the old Christmas carol proclaims, Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.
The Earth-based imagery evoked by the prayer called to mind the photos taken in our 2009 trip to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota. I found myself drawn back to these stark and serene landscapes. I soon realized that, despite the cultural mismatch, the American western landscape actually seemed to fit quite well with the spare and elegant Eastern and of course Native American prayers.
So I invite you to follow the link on the right and allow yourself some time to take a leisurely scroll down the page of 11 peaceful prayers. You can enjoy the tranquility of the native American flute music from Randy Granger, which adds a world music flavor to this East-meets-West treasury of prayers.
Tomorrow, is Day 12. I will need your help to complete the assignment. For the 12th day of Christmas, I need to light 12 candles for peace in my religious community. As this falls on a Saturday, I won't see most of you in person to light candles together. So I'm asking the first 11 of you who can to please light a candle on Saturday, take a digital picture of it, and send it to me at g.grimmhowell@att.net. I will post all 12 as soon as I get them and we can enjoy our virtual candle lighting ceremony on this website.
May deep and abiding peace be with you this new year and always.
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On the twelfth day of Christmas
Let the twelve drummers drum...it's the last day. This one will be short and sweet, because YOU have already written the entry for today. Dear friends and family have sent in their own images of candles for peace, from Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and New Hampshire. And who knows, they may continue to come. More than 12 candles will be absolutely perfect. As many as are sent will be the perfect number.
So click on the candle to the right and enjoy the beautiful community of peace we have made. I love you all.
Link to Dharma Armada, by Project Divinity
The 12th Day of Christmas: 12 Candles of Peace for 2013
The 11th Day of Christmas: 11 Prayers for Peace
The 10th Day of Christmas: 10 Acts of Generosity
The 9th Day of Christmas: Make Peace
with the Web of Being
with the Web of Being
The 8th Day of Christmas: Laugh With Eight Friends
The 7th Day of Christmas: Reconciliation & Reconnection
The 6th Day of Christmas: Forgive and Let Go
The 5th Day of Christmas: Stretch Five Times
The 4th Day of Christmas: Laugh Four Times
The 3rd Day of Christmas: Three Acts of Kindness
The 1st Day of Christmas: A Candle for Peace