Are You Willing to Do This for One Day?

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front of you so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open - are you willing to do these things for even a day? 

—Caroline Kennedy, Author/Attorney

Contemplation

Where I have looked for God:

1.      In the architecture of a flower.

2.      In the gauzy haze across a day of light rain.

3.      In the mystery of the stars.

4.      In the sacred quiet of the cemetery.

5.      In the irresistible seduction of the ocean.

6.      In the warmth of another’s touch.

7.      In the tears of those crushed by sorrow.

8.      In the pain of the sick.

9.      In the dejection of the lonely.

10. In the hurt of the shamed.

11.  In the panic of the fearful.

12.  In the gentleness of the humble.

13.  In the care of the generous.

14.  In the faces of children.

15.  In the eyes of the old.

© 2011 Timothy Moody