Always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody says distract you from your goals. Michelle Obama

Meditation: Michelle Obama was the first African American female serving as the First Lady in the White House. My twin daughters were 4 years old when they began to see Michelle regularly on TV, as a role model and as a voice for women and girls around the world. When Michelle came home one day from vacation with her hair in natural curls and not straightened as she usually keeps it, more than 1000 people started a twitter war commenting about her appearance, positively and negatively…

My bi-racial daughters could relate as they have needed to learn to befriend their hair that can be worn in all kinds of ways and that often times doesn’t conform to majority standards. What in the world is a black woman to do if her hair creates such an uproar? Michelle would probably say: “Love yourself natural or styled, don’t give much thought to any of the comments, just focus on what really matters…” I miss Michelle. But when I see my girls wear their hair differently every day, I smile. Good for them. Thank God for Michelle!

Prayer: God of diversity, I am grateful for Michelle. Grateful for her presence over eight years in my daughter’s, and in our country’s life. She modeled self-respect, self-love, female beauty and strength – all in one. I am deeply grateful for how Michelle helped me raise my two girls. Thank you, God, for Your Spirit of self-love and strength that abides richly in Michelle’s Spirit and that dwells in my daughters’ Spirit. Amen

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14  I can do all things through God who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

 

When it comes to the military, I don’t want to discuss things. I want to let – I want to let the action take place before the talk takes place. Donald Trump

Meditation: “Reacting” has become the strategy of the US President. It is scary that consequences are not even being discussed or weighed before military action is taken. It is disconcerting that the president uses the name of God three times when justifying his military attacks. He prays for the first time on public television and “blesses America”  now that military power is being used. “Deterring the abuse of chemical weapons” and “ending terrorism” is his stated goal. However, doing this without communicating with allies? Without congress being involved? Unilateral expansion of the war in Syria? Actions were taken in complete isolation, without consultation, without agreement. Mortal power over life and death in the hand of a man who simplifies and often does not even seem to understand the complexity of international relations. The president predicts “peace and harmony” prevailing in the end? Really? Dragging America in a military attack… gambling with the danger of intensifying war… unpredictable consequences and counter reactions looming on the horizon…

Prayer: God, within three months our country is engaging militarily. One man decided this on his own. A man who makes decisions before thinking or talking. A man who reacts without being accountable to anybody while mis-using Your name to justify his display of power. God, have mercy on the Syrian people as the war around them might even intensify and what is happening might put them even more at risk…God, have mercy. Amen

What king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Luke 14:31

When I’m writing, I’m trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate myself from it and look back at it from a distance with clarity and tell it as a story. Because that’s how life is lived, you know? Charlie Kaufman

Meditation: How will history write about this time in the world’s development? Right now everything feels very chaotic and unpredictable. Forces that support nationalism, oppression of “the other” and dictatorships rather than democracies seem to have the upper hand. As if the world is regressing after a period of maturation. Will this be a “regression in the service of the ego” as psychologists say, in the sense of a necessary period of earlier developmental behaviors surfacing, so that the more mature ones can be integrated and solidified? Or is this regression we are in a destructive force of the few rich and powerful exploiting the masses and abusing democratic principles to their advantage? Will the ego of our nation become more mature and be strengthened through this experience, or will it decline into oppressive mental and political illness and chaos?

Prayer: God of ages, we bring to you this time in history. You have the perspective we are seeking. You have clarity about what is happening, when we are still captured in the fog of major changes. We are having an intense emotional experience as a world community and have not had the chance yet to step back and see things from a distance. God, lead us with your Spirit of solidarity that is based on your presence in all of humanity. We are deeply impacted by what happens in Syria, and all other war ridden countries around the world. Everything is intertwined. Even when human leaders want to isolate and protect their self-interests, your Spirit holds all of us responsible. Fill us with wisdom, with clarity and give us leaders who won’t abdicate their responsibility for the world at large. Amen

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand. Ezekiel 33:6

I spend a lot of time thinking about this business of letting go – letting go of the children God gives to us for such a brief time before they go off on their own; letting go of old homes, old friends, old places and old dreams. Susan Estrich

Meditation: Our children are growing up in front of our eyes. They stretch their bodies and their minds. We hold them, love them and gradually engage in a process of learning the art of lovingly letting go. Today I sat beside my thirteen year old daughter. She was getting ready to fly off for a four day trip to Orlando to dance there with her dance company and group of teachers and friends. The art of letting go means trusting that she will make good decisions and choices, and that she will grow by being away from home. The art of letting go means delighting in her increasing independence and trusting her, and trusting her group while entrusting her to God. Today I am practicing another step on the journey of learning the art of letting go…

Prayer: God of adventure, I pray that You will fly, walk and dance alongside my daughter. Thank You for being there with her as she ventures out. You and her will face everything together. I am grateful she knows that too. Amen

For I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:2-4

 

One of the points about distractions is that everything that they do is destabilizing. Bruce Sterling

Meditation: Our new government distracts the masses by tweeting, by spreading rumors, by manipulating the media on what they should report on. All these distractions cover up that the new people in office have a hidden agenda and goals that only serve themselves and their business and political interests. And the masses and the media have not learned the new rules of engagement yet. They are falling for everything and anything… Every sound bite that the President tweets gets ultimate attention. A feast for a narcissist and for those whose goal is to manipulate and confuse! How do we protect our mind and not allow those targeted distractions to steal our focus, our values and our sanity?

Prayer: Spirit of discernment, we call on You. Protect us from being lulled into a style of communication that steals our knowledge of the facts and of the truth. Protect us from the psyche of a President that is highly instable and that destabilizes everything it gets in touch with. Protect us from a group of people that swore to secrecy and to lying as a method of ruling the public. Help us to stay focus on God’s wisdom that always creates stability, always protects life and always seeks justice. Renew our mind every morning and help us test everything. May nothing unplug us from You, the ground in which we are planted. Save this country from those who came to distract, manipulate and steal our sanity. Amen

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

The secret to a happy marriage is if you can be at peace with someone within four walls, if you are content because the one you love is near to you, either upstairs or downstairs, or in the same room, and you feel that warmth that you don’t find very often, then that is what love is all about. Bruce Forsyth

Meditation: “Being near to each other” is not necessarily a physical kind of nearness. It can be. And yet more often it is the smile that enters your heart when you think about your partner during the day. Happiness in marriage does not necessarily mean that the other person always fulfills all our needs, or reads our mind or knows everything that is happening in our life. Peace means that there is a solid connection. There is a connection that exists even when not everything that happened during the day is being shared with each other. The times when we come back together are those warm moments. Being back in the same home. Returning every night after a full day and knowing that nothing is expected other than being together. That is what love is all about.

Prayer: God of love, You help us let go of expectations and instead add delight in the other’s ways of “becoming”. You take disappointments and add patience and forgiveness. You teach freedom in relationship and help us to accept our differences. You model acceptance of limitations in myself and in the other. And most of all, You teach us (and this takes decades) how to love and how to be truly present with each other. Keep teaching, we want to keep learning. And we are grateful. Amen

“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1. John 4:12

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. Barak Obama

Meditation: Two days ago a man ignited a fire underneath one of the main interstate bridges here in Atlanta, Georgia. The plastic materials that were stored underneath the bridge developed such heat, that the bridge started melting and finally collapsed. Luckily dozens of fire fighters had been present and warned the public. No injury or death was reported. The collapse of the bridge shut down the major highway that leads through downtown Atlanta in both directions. Restoration of the bridge will last for several months. Suddenly our common lot as Atlantans is to find alternate routes going to work. We all will struggle with major traffic delays for months to come. We all will need to adapt our expectations and habits. One single man caused a main artery of the city to collapse. However, as community we will succeed in rebuilding, and we will collaborate in adjusting our convenient ways. We will succeed, because we do things together.

Prayer: God of life and justice, we bring to you the current politics that also feel like one man is collapsing bridges and years of hard work, burning them with one signature at a time. However, You help us, the community rise up. The efforts of collapsing will in the end not defeat the common ground and the purpose we have found in You. The journey of restoring human rights laws, justice for immigrants and the protection of the environment will be long and cumbersome. However, we will succeed because we do things together, and because we remain grounded in You. You are the source of our strength and the reason for our never ceasing demand for truth and for justice. Amen

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. John 15:4

 

 

 

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. (Attributed to) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Meditation: When we create an atmosphere that is non-judgmental and non-critical, children thrive. All art flourishes in an environment that does not look for “mistakes”, but uses language that invites “experimentation” rather than “evaluation”. An experiment is meant to fail sometimes, as the failure teaches us as much about life as an experiment does that we call “successful”. Success really only means that our expectations matched the outcome.

What if our creative “out of the box” ideas are the ones that overcome and transcend the categories of “right and wrong” or “failure and success”? What if the process of dreaming, of creating, of beginning is much more important than the outcome? What if the creator God rejoices in us when we dare to put ourselves out into the universe and we become part of God’s bold energy of “calling into being”?

Prayer: Creator God, you create bountifully. You are the power of imagination. You meet us in our dreams – those we have at nights and those we have when daydreaming. Creative source of life, embolden us. Free us from our fears to make mistakes. Help us shed language and assumptions that box us in. You listen to our dreams, hopes and passions. And you whisper…”just begin”. Your words embolden us. We are grateful! Amen

When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.  Psalm 138:3 

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”  Vivian Greene

Meditation: The past months have felt like a storm. Many of us have felt more anxious than usual. My workplace went through a lot of changes. Challenges from the outside and from the inside. At the same time the politics of the US took a 180. I felt for people I care about. Clients and students we serve are carrying much existential angst and face many challenges. I noticed that I stopped exercising and that I have not walked the dog for days, both of which are usually my joy and a way of taking care of myself. Anxiety drains energy. The storms of life can make one feel paralyzed. “Learning to dance in the rain” is literally a challenge, as our bodies either want to sleep or to comfort themselves with food. When we allow and admit our weakness, and when we bring our anxiety and paralyzed bodies into our prayer life, we experience moments of relief. We receive compassion for ourselves. We can be gentle with ourselves, admit our limitations and not judge ourselves for not functioning at our best.

Prayer: God of peace, You calm us when we are struggling. You reassure us of your presence when the going gets tough. You become our strength when we feel overwhelmed and get anxious. Thank You for leading us these past months through several storms. Thank you for being our refuge. Thank You for letting us come up for air and even enjoy moments of dancing in the midst of the storms. Thank You for calming the waves.  We are grateful for Your strength that holds us up when our bodies and souls feel weak. Amen

But he said to me, `My kindness and strength is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is strong.’ So then, I am very glad to talk about how weak I am so that the power of Christ may live in me. 2. Corinthians 12:9

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Abraham Lincoln

Meditation:  Just as in German history eighty years ago, the US experiences the perversion of general values as for example “decency”, “order” or “assumed values of right and wrong”. As we are watching the manipulation of facts and the perversion of ethical values we ask ourselves: What is my responsibility as a Christian at this time in history? What ethical values are immune from perversion?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about responsibility in his book “Ethics”. At a time where most assumed values were perverted by Hitler’s regime, he writes: “Reason,” “fanaticism,” “conscience,” “duty,” “freedom,” and “private virtuousness” all fail as tools for locating a true ethic…Christian ethics are not formed by a set of abstract principles but by the concrete test of each situation—“Are my actions helping others to be truly human before God?” “Is Christ being formed in them in the world?” How can Bonhoeffer guide us as history repeats itself?

Prayer: God of history, as we experience the perversion of all ethical values we feel lost and threatened. Basic human values and the facts are being changed, manipulated and abused. Many public values that were true three months ago, no longer seem to hold. We want and need to ground ourselves deeper in You than ever before. Fill us with your Spirit. Help us learn from history. Help us Christians to be the prophetic voices that shout in the wilderness! Come Spirit of truth! Amen

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:13