She Let Go -- The Invitation -- What Do You Make? -- Symptoms of A New Epidemic -- and more.....

People send me the most wonderful things. Here are just a few I've received in the last couple of days.

1. She Let Go

2. A fiercely beautiful poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.

3. A tribute to our school teachers. I often think that I admire school teachers and moms more than anyone in the world, and have thought they should make at least as much as CEO's.

4. Look out, this new epidemic is comin' to getcha.

5. Sometimes you're looking for angels, blinding lights, and booming voices, and it's a simple thought in your head instead....

6. A Sassy New Year's Wish

Here goes:

---

She Let Go

"She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go. She let go of fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the 'right' reasons. Wholly and completely without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn't ask anyone for advice. She didn't read a book on how to let go. She didn't search the scriptures. She just let go. She let go of all the memories that held her back. She let go of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. She let go of the planning and all the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn't promise to let go. She didn't journal about it. She didn't write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn't check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go.

---

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its Presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

From Oriah's book THE INVITATION, published by Harper San Francisco. (c) 1999. All rights reserved. Presented with permission of the author. (I contacted her and she is lovely.)

  About Oriah Mountain Dreamer

---

What Do You Make? (slightly edited)

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "How are our kids going to get a top quality educaton and a powerful perspective on life from teachers who only make a small salary? What kind of role model is that?"

To stress his point he said to another guest, "You're a teacher, Bonnie. What do you
make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She
paused for a second, thoughtfully, then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5
without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at every person at the table.)

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write.  Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made
calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while
preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, and follow
their hearts, they can succeed in life.

(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can
hold my head up high and pay no attention.... 

You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make?"

---

Symptoms of A Rapidly Spreading Epidemic (slightly edited)
by Saskia Davis

WARNING: Be on the lookout for these symptoms. If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that your condition may be so far advanced as to not be reversible. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of these symptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk.

The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to this, and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms:
A tendency to think, feel, and act spontaneously, rather than on fears based on past experiences.
An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
A loss of interest in judging other people.
A loss of interest in judging yourself.
A loss of interest in making up stories about the actions of others.
A loss of interest in conflict.
A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom that indicates advanced infection.)
Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
Frequent attacks of irrational smiling.
An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
 
If you have experiences some or all of these, you have caught inner peace.

---

Does God Speak to ME?

A young man had been attending a religious service, and heard a story about God speaking to someone. He  wondered, 'Does God still speak to people like me?'  Afterward, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message.  Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways.

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he began to talk to God, 'God... speak to me. I will listen and I will do my best to follow up.'

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk.
He shook his head and said out loud, 'God is that you?' He didn't get a reply, and started on toward home.

But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk.

The young man thought about Samuel in the Bible, and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli thinking it was Eli who had spoken. 'Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.' It didn't seem like too hard a thing to do. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, 'Turn Down that street.'

'This is crazy,' he thought, and drove on past the intersection.

Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street.  Half jokingly, he said out loud, 'Okay, God, I will.' At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh.

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi- commercial area of town. It wasn't the best ,but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either.
The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, 'Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.' The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the car door and then sat back in the car seat. 'Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.'

Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.

Finally, he opened the door, 'Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to take the guidance. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here.'

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, 'Who is it? What do you want?' Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he  just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. 'What is it?'

The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, 'Here, I brought this to you.' The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face.

The man said, 'We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk.'

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, 'I asked him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?'

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.

He knew that yes, God does talk to him.

---

My Wish for You in 2008
Submitted by Janice Cameron, Canada

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and
May laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoke from a warm fire, and
May happiness slap you across the face
May your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address!

In simple words ............
May 2008 be the best year of your life!!!