Daily Feast - July

[bluidkiti]

July 1st - 7th

JULY
Tsa lu wa'nee
CORN IN TASSEL

My people have kept me in the harness....I have never deceived them....I have done the best I could.

CHIEF JOHN ROSS

July 1 - Daily Feast

In these times of instant everything our patience wears thin when we have to wait. Who has not pushed an elevator button a number of times to get there faster? Waiting may well be the hardest work we do. We are less than tolerant of those who keep us waiting. Is their time more important than ours? So we keep pushing, racing our engines and taking chances in order to save five seconds. We can wait wisely - seeing that, sometimes, delays save us from a problem we could have met. How long has it been since we have had such a good excuse to just sit quietly and watch others trying to beat the clock. Time was when our mothers sat all afternoon and embroidered, while their heads and feet rested. Could we not take thirty minutes?

~ We are hoodwinked, duped more and more every year; we are made to feel that we are free when we are not. ~

WASSAJA

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 1

"I'm an Indian, I'm one of God's children."

--Mathew King, LAKOTA

My Creator, today let me remember the reason I'm here on Mother Earth. Let me look into my own eyes and see the beauty You have created. Let me have good thoughts. Being Indian is not the color of my skin. Being Indian is to listen to my heart, to think only the things You have taught, to watch nature and live in harmony. Being Indian is to walk in prayer, to talk to You constantly during the day. Being Indian is to act and to walk in a sacred way.

Today, let me think in beauty, let me walk in beauty, let me pray in beauty.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Why is it that we require so much scientific proof for the most ordinary things these days, when the very fact that we lie down and close our eyes at night is the highest proof that God's world is in order. Though perhaps our personal world may not know such sequence. There comes a time when our human limitations insist that we lay down our questions and accept by faith the only way to survive ourselves.

There are those who say they must have tangible evidence that the world and all its wonders be displayed before their eyes to see in wisdom the way things really are. And yet who said the human eyes could see or ears could hear more than one tiny bit of the wonder. Who could be so bold as to believe their senses were strong enough to know, except through faith.

Who could see with the visible eye the hand that changes the seasons, or hear Job's stars that sang together at dawn. Who set the day at rest and brings the morning in all its newness.

Only so far....then explanations know no more....and though we try to disbelieve when all goes wrong, there comes a time when we want no more explanation than that God's world is in order - and we cannot change it.

Surely if someone took our hand and asked us to walk along the world and view the wonders so magnificently displayed....If by some miracle we could see the vastness of it all at once, and still bear up under the beauty of it.....

If we can see the rolling rise and fall of the land - the purple, pink, and golden hues of shadows hung along the mountain sides....If our ears could hear the music of the rippling streams, the rushing waters, the graceful falls.

If by some mere chance we could sense the ebb and flow, the push and relaxing of the tides, the rise and set of the sun, the glittering stars and soft-faced moon that ignores the fact that other worlds encircle ours.....

And as the seasons sprinkle rain and flowers, golden leaves and snowfall....On this continuous circle....always new....always beautiful....

If we can see all this, how then, can we doubt that the earth that God created and saw as good is good. This is our land, and only our own forgetfulness of its source can make it different.
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July 2 - Daily Feast

To someone who likes to walk, all of nature is a miracle. The sights and sounds and fragrances are ever different and soothing to the spirit. But evening has a special charm when the sunset changes from phase to phase, coloring and shading the fields with an artist's touch. The sky is tinted with the palest pink that has edges of gold - and then, into a subtle movement, purples and deep blues darken the hills along the horizon. The wind-tossed clouds catch the last rays of sunlight, rose-red and wavy like strands of silky hair. Above it all, the evening star emerges cool and blue to dominate little by little. Earth and sky and all between have special times when everything else gives way to beauty. If only we could be so generous with one another.

~ Today you saw a deer bounding through the forest, he was lovely in strength and beauty, fleeter than the winds. ~

METHOATASKE

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 2

"If I destroy you, I destroy myself. If I honor you, I honor myself."

--Hunbatz Men, MAYAN

It is said, when we need love the most is when we deserve it the least. Whenever I have secret thoughts about someone else, it will put bad feelings inside myself. I will hurt myself. If I secretly hold a grudge or resentment against my brother or sister, I will be a slave to that person until I let them go. Let me remember to look at my brother in a sacred manner. Today, let me think like a Warrior. Let my thoughts toward my brothers and sisters be good thoughts. Let me remember that You are in charge. If I get upset at another person today, let me remember that the most important thing I can do is to first talk to You because, when I am right with You, it is impossible to be out of harmony with my brothers and sisters.

My Creator, take my hand and guide me through today.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There is an old Arabian proverb that if you pitch a lucky man in the Nile he will come up with a fish in his mouth. Just to come up would be enough for most of us, but still we do so many things - perhaps half in jest - that we have hopes will throw off the evil spirits and bring good luck to the rescue.

The tokens we carry we've carried from childhood, when we were careful never to step on a crack in the walk, or pick up a pin - the silly poems that fascinate children, and sometimes follow them into adulthood when the laughter is gone.

Who are the wise? Those who can rise with the sun letting yesterday go....and feel within their hearts the gratitude of being alive....to have the opportunity to glean from their mistakes something that will take them far over that place if ever the pass it again. They know that luck must have a "P" before it to keep them from waiting, to help them turn up something rather than waiting for something to turn up.

And yes, they are lucky who have love to give and the ability to receive it. They have faith in good. And no small amount of peace when they think not how lucky they are, but how blessed!
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July 3 - Daily Feast

We are always rich when we have courage. It is not the circumstance in which we find ourselves but how we handle it that makes the difference. If nothing ever challenged us we might not know our strength - we might never feel the power to overcome something that gives us courage to tackle another, O at li, mountain. Giving up does not come on us suddenly, but we cultivate it on a daily basis. Everything, success or failure - or even mediocrity - settles on us as we get ready for it. When we think and talk failure, it happens. When we think we can do something, we can do it. It takes as much effort to lose as it does to win - sometimes more. But to think courage, to think strength, is the breath of life.

~ Why don't you talk and go straight and all will be well? ~

BLACK KETTLE

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 3

"When you are in the woods, you cannot ever be lost. You are surrounded by friends and surrounded by God."

--Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE

Every plant, every animal, every insect, every bird, every tree is made up of God. God is life and everything is alive. When you are hunting, remember all nature is your friend. All nature has purpose. All nature participates in the life cycle. Nature communicates; Nature talks; Nature listens; Nature forgives; Nature respects; Nature loves. Nature lives in harmony. Nature follows the law. Nature is kind. Nature is balance. The woods are alive and beautiful. She is our friend.

Great Spirit, let me honor and respect the forest and all the life it contains.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

In the frantic search for something that has meaning to life, we have a tendency to do a thing simply because everyone else is doing it. It becomes a "thing," a fad that must be done to keep on the inside circle. There's little originality, little thought, but a lot of following along in beaten paths.

It is a mistaken idea to believe that all I see with my eyes and the limits of my thinking are the limits of the world. There is a tremendous interesting world out there never before investigated, and I am an individual like no one else.

It is quite marvelous to break through the shell of the middling and to discover the ability to see and feel, and to hear more keenly. Suddenly, I can feel more kindly, not because of who I am on this earth, but because I'm a child of God.

I can see more color, more light, more vision because I'm not being shown, I'm discovering. My world is no longer based on passing fancies, but on lasting built slowly within me, with love.
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July 4 - Daily Feast

Let our objective be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom and peace and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever." Daniel Webster spoke those words, and he knew that America would have fine troops, great leaders, and excellent equipment, a combination that stands for freedom. Even though freedoms have been stretched to the limits in some areas, we operate on the basic premise that this is America and it still stands as an example to countries everywhere of what it means to be free. President Eisenhower said that whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the hearts of the American people. It has, and it will as long as we ask God to bless America.

~ Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. ~

SEATTLE

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 4

"That is not our way, to set yourself apart and talk about who you are and what you've done. You let your life speak for you. With the Mohawk people, wisdom is how you live and how you interpret what your mother and father, what your grandmothers and grandfathers have told you about this world - and then how you interpret that into the fact of living every day."

--Tom Porter, MOHAWK

It is said, how you live your life makes so much noise that people can't hear what you are saying anyway. It is so easy to see people who do not walk the talk.

Creator, I ask you today to help me be humble. Let me spend the day listening. Help me to not brag or gossip. Help me today not to do those things that seek attention or approval from others. I am only accountable to You, Oh Great Spirit. You will tell me the things I need to know. Let me learn the lessons from my Elders. Let me teach the children by example. Today, let me walk the talk.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

To so many, getting up in the morning is the worst way to begin a day. To them every morning is the morning after, a time to feel nervous anxiety and regret in the deepest sense, while to others morning is a new world. Yesterday ceased to be with sleep last night.

How much better off we'd be if only for a few hours we could put out of our minds every painful thought and every unpleasant person until the mind and body could find enough new life to begin again.

"The early morning hath gold in its mouth," wrote Franklin. But it has things more precious than gold. It has a life as fresh and sweet as the shimmering, clinging dewdrops in the first rays of golden sunlight. It has the grace of mimosa leaves rippling in the gentlest breeze. It has the songs of the birds and the love of a new awakening.

And in this breathless creation is something more. A new opportunity, another chance, a challenge to walk on, more strong, more forgiving, more loving.

Sleep deep and rest sweet, but rise glad. Don't let one joyful second be lost in dead oblivion. This is a vision of newness awaiting even the least to arise and accept the best - a new beginning.

Morning need not be a jury trial for oneself. Dawn and sleep can be a miraculous cleansing to set us out on our feet ready to being again and in a friendlier atmosphere. We must feel friendly toward ourselves before we can possibly find morning good to anyone else.

An unknown writer once wrote: "Every morning lean thine arms awhile upon awhile upon the window sill of heaven, and gaze upon thy Lord, then, with the vision in thy heart, turn strong to meet thy day."

We need to be strong to meet the day with self control, to find our reason and purpose, but, more important, to leave behind us the heavy and darkened thoughts that kept us from seeing the breathtaking beauty of the most important time - this morning.
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July 5 - Daily Feast

Remembering can be painful and sometimes without any real benefit. It keeps us feeling guilty and regretting so much that the good memories are washed out. It is easy enough to forget the good that happened, without covering the good with bad memories. No doubt, everything has not been ideal - but haven't we given enough thought to the unhappy times? It doesn't do any good to ruin the present time recalling what went wrong in the past. But we can begin to change. Maybe only a little at first - but honest effort has always changed things for the better and given us self-respect as well. Time grows more and more precious and what we do with it at this moment makes or breaks today and all our tomorrow's.

~ We are not afraid to work and we are not afraid to do right. ~

TOOKLANNI

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 5

"It does not require many words to speak the truth."

--Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE

The truth shall set you free. This is the truth. When we speak the Truth, we do not need to be defensive. Truth needs no defense. When we speak the Truth, we do not need to attack because Truth cannot be attacked. It is so easy to want to manipulate or to be deceitful or dishonest. My head tells me I can get away with doing these things, after all everybody does it.

My Creator, today let me know Truth.
Let me live Truth.
Let me risk the Truth.
Let me make the Truth sweet.
Help me to make my word good.
Let Your spirit and intent be added to by words.
Let My thoughts be Truth.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There are very few days when we have control of our time. No matter what our schedules may be, there is always a change taking place that keeps something from happening when it is supposed to happen. And when the day is ended and our schedules have not been met, then it begins to drag on our spirits.

Soon we become so wound up in the problems of the moment that the delights of our souls drift away and become a part of the mist of "someday." Someday I will get to do what I want to do. Someday when this necessary work is finished - and it is possible that the things we believe to be so necessary are really robbers of our lives? Do we spend too much time with the menial tasks and allow our creativity - the ability to bring newness into our lives - to dry up and become nonexistent?

William Blake called this within us "God." One of the greatest poets ever to live, he believed that if we keep alive our ability to see and feel the beauty of life, our menial tasks will become easy and the way successful.

Yesterday is only a dream, tomorrow only a vision, but today - we live. If we live as we should, our yesterdays will be dreams of happiness, and our tomorrow's will be visions of hope.

Nothing is so sad as the man who spends all his time today judging tomorrow by his experiences of yesterday. He has a vision, but his faith does not support him to pursue it. If some great stroke of good fortune should overtake him, he will be all ready to go, but he doesn't really expect it to happen. So today he sits waiting for the world to change for him, never guessing that he is the one who must change.

No one is so misled as the woman who has such a busy schedule that she hasn't time to listen to her children. She expects to take the time to play with them - someday. But it is today that the bridges must be built from the soul to the body to the spirit. It isn't something built from a quick kiss or a smart smack in the right place, but from daily communion and understanding.

Today is the very life of life when the best things are nearest - breath in our nostrils, light in our eyes, flowers at our feet, duties at our hand, and the path of God before us.
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July 6 - Daily Feast

Influence is like the wild phlox that blooms in the woods. Its fragrance drifts toward us, but from where? The distinctive scent tells us it is phlox - or is it wild grapes or plum? In the final analysis we know we smell flowers, but the kind and the location remains a mystery. So it is with advertising or rumor or neighborhood gossip. We know something is going on, because we are being conditioned to take suggestions, to be open to so much we don't need and do not want to hear. The same influence operates in other area - age and illness, loneliness and fear. We not only get it over the airwaves that something miraculous has happened, to be contradicted only days later, but we hear people boldly claiming disease in a joking manner. Influence is subtle like the scent of phlox - or is it petunias?

~ The Great Spirit has given the white man great foresightedness; he sees everything at a distance and makes the most extraordinary things. ~

CROW BELLY

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 6

"Silence is the cornerstone of character."

--Charles Alexander Eastman, OHIYESA SANTEE SIOUX

Be still and know. Anyone can verbally attack another. Anyone can be a smart Aleck. Anyone can be angry and tell other people things that will hurt them. Anyone can be sarcastic, devaluating and belittling. It takes a Warrior to be silent. Silence is so powerful. Silence can be so loving.

My Creator, if I get into a situation today that needs me to respond with silence, help me to use my silence in a good and sacred way. In my silence, let me be talking to You and You talking to me. Silence is the way of the warrior.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So you missed an opportunity! And they say that opportunity knocks only once - but, only if you believe it! Opportunity has been known to pound on the door and go unnoticed, and it has been known to whisper and be heard. It is all according to how hard we require opportunity to knock before we recognize it.

Our awareness of opportunity will reveal to us how many times it presents itself; so subtle, it may not be recognized by the casual eye. And usually it seems to be completely unprofitable to us personally. More often than not it is service to others without thought of return. It is humility, a willingness to accept the most humble beginnings. It is joy in finding communication with others and finding a kinship with them.

Have you heard of an opportunity fund? Some call it saving for a rainy day. Rainy days can be lovely, too. A rainy day can be an opportunity to get things done. But an opportunity can be any day, rain or shine.

Do you often have the opportunity to speak to your neighbor? It seems to happen too infrequently these days.

The most fun we can have comes when we've the opportunity to squelch an ugly rumor. You know, "curst be the tongue whence slanderous rumor, withering friendship's faith..." Sometimes a little friendship does wither, but if it really amounts to anything it will survive.

What a splendid opportunity to sit quietly and mentally forgive with such depth and joy as to start life anew. There is no greater blessing, no greater opportunity fund.

American editor A.E. Duning write, "Great opportunities come to all, but many do not know they have met them. The only preparation to take advantage of them, is simple fidelity to what each day brings."

A missed opportunity may well be another opportunity to prepare for a bigger and better one!
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July 7 - Daily Feast

A difficult challenge does little harm in comparison to the uncertainty of what to do about it. To take action, or let it ride; to stay or to go, to ask for help or wait for new developments. Indecision can wreck our whole thinking process and stall us out at a time that we most need a clear head. Our emotions rise and fall - from do nothing to do something. One minute we have a clear-cut answer and the next we don't know what to do. The Cherokee calls this, a is in, backward thinking, going forward and backing up. It doesn't get us anywhere. There is nothing wrong with questioning, but wavering gets everything out of focus. No clear picture comes out of a shaky camera. Taking an action with a calm mind helps to clarify and give stability to the next steps.

~ You might as well expect rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty. ~

CHIEF JOSEPH

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day July 7

"I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more."

--Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE

We are as sick as our secrets. Our ego takes over control of our lives and when that happens our minds get very sick. Then we hurt people and our minds will always justify our actions. Our minds will give us rationalization and excuses that we are justified in doing what we are doing.


My Creator, Let me live today with an open heart. Let me realize to be vulnerable is a strength, not a weakness. Let me realize the power of an open heart. Let me be available to truth. If I get into trouble, let me hear the whisper of your guidance. Let me make heart decisions and let my head catch up to that decision.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Haven't you heard someone say, after experiencing something either good or bad, "I knew it was going to be that way." And perhaps the conviction was very strong that certain conditions would take a definite turn. But much of the time we say it not out of conviction, but resignedly agreeing beforehand that something will be a certain way, and usually with dire overtones.

It used to be believed that we had no power to control anything coming to us. We were mere victims of circumstances, almost like stones waiting to be kicked aside. But we were taught, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is."

We must not be so presumptuous as to believe we know everything there is to know about the workings of the mind. But we attract a great many of our problems simply by dwelling on them in our thoughts.

Premonition, or "knowing" things are going to be a certain way, is merely giving us a little time to head off the trouble. Such things should be a challenge, not an accepted rule. "Know" better until you believe it into conviction and into being.