LOGARTA
Every Christmas I find it very important to recall Sarah Ban Breathnach and her book Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. The author shares many life lessons; but most importantly it explains the importance of gratitude. In fact the title is about gratitude; with grateful hearts, we will all feel a sense of abundance. Here she clarifies E. E. Cummings: “The eyes of my eyes are opened.” This text is accompanied by a Gratitude Journal where a person can record the experiences, encounters she is thankful for over the moths.
This was given by Dolor Tidor, Dongie and Lilu’s Accountant, a quiet and thoughtful human being. Thank you very much, Lor.
Here are some of the quotes that moved me a lot. The author quotes Rainer Maria Rilke: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now.”
In a section entitled “Simple Gifts: Embracing Simplicity” she states: “True simplicity is both buoyant and bountiful, able to liberate depressed spirits from the bondage and burden of extravagance and excess.” “Trust that through the balm of simplicity your frazzled and weary soul can discover the place where you ought to be. Every day offers us simple gifs when we are willing to search our hearts for the place that’s right for each of us.” When I reflect on the Anunciation, I realize that it must have been Mary’s simplicity that made her respond readily and very graciously to the Divine Call.
In Embracing Joyful Simplicities she quotes from Woman’Home Companion: Year by year the complexities of the spinning word grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities.” This was in 1935!
For December 25 her refection starts with this quote: “If, as Herod, we fill our lives with things and again with things; if we consider ourselves so unimportant that we must fill every moment of our lives with action, when will we have the time to make the long, slow journey across the desert as did the Magi? Or sit and watch the stars as did the shepherds? Or brood over the coming of the child as did Mary? For each one of us there is a desert to travel. A star to discover. And a being within ourselves to bring to life.”
The quote is heavy with reminders. First, it asks us how we relate to things. Has the lack of certain things made us unhappy? Do our material targets subdue our spiritual targets? Are we so obsessed with certain objects that they practically enslave us? Are we nurturing our young regarding putting these in proper perspective?
Then there is the need for a pause, quiet — for meditation, contemplation. This is especially important for women on whose shoulders fall much of the holiday celebrations. They need the pause for a much-needed rest. We need the physical rest; but our souls too are thirsting for such a pause. We all need to be refreshed to recover the sense of awe for the stars, the moon, the trees, and the rest of the wonders of creation.
But most of all we need the silence for self-emptying which we need to listen with our whole being. As we celebrate this very special birth. Let us hear His Voice. Is there still no room for Him in this Inn? So what are doing with our lives?
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