And out like a lamb....

It's April!   I'm so grounded in truth there is a little truth in the claim that I'm humor-impaired, so April Fools day has little value to me.   But it's sunny and the start of a very springy month, and I'm very glad of that.

The saying is that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, so now it's lamb season.  In fact it probably is.  I know I've seen a lot of new calves as I drive around the region. 

It's also the season of renewal, from the flooding of the Nile to Passover, to Easter, to spring blossoms.  I love Spring!

As Christians prepare to celebrate Easter-- the death and resurrection of the Prince of Peace -- I want to note that Christians have no monopoly on peace and justice. 

Here are some thoughts from a variety of cultures:

Mahatma Gandhi: "Be the peace you wish for the world." Martin Luther King:  "We must learn to live together as brothers, or we are going to perish together as fools." Holy Qur'an, 5:33 "the taking of one innocent life is like taking all of Mankind... and the saving of one life is like saving all of Mankind" Dalai Lama "If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.” Mother Theresa of Calcutta: "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” No single faith or culture has the monopoly on seeing the value of and connection between peace and justice.   I hope as you, dear reader, celebrate the holidays and the northern hemisphere's seasonal renewal, you also 1) try to provide peace to another 2) talk to your enemies 3) learn to live together 4) work to save a life 5) be the peace you wish for the world. Whatever your faith and culture.   Peace and justice, y'all Molly

Good words about love

For Valentine's Day festivities where I work, I googled up some fine quotations about love (and life.) I share some of them here.

We are all born for love... it is the principle existence and it's only end. --Disraeli

The life and love we create is the life and love we live. --Leo Buscaglia

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. --Bertrand Russell, Earl Russell

By ourselves we can enjoy life, but to really appreciate life we must find companionship.
--author unknown

You who have received so much love, show your love by protecting the sacredness of life. The sacredness of life is the greatest gifts that God has given us. --Mother Theresa

There are only four questions of value in life . . . What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love." --From the film Don Juan DeMarco

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love. --Henry Drummond

Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind. --Henri Frederick Amiel

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life; That word is love. --Sophocles

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. --Lao Tzu

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
--1 Peter 4:8-9
Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig

Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde

Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate! ~Sandra J. Dykes

Enjoy these and love joyfully

Peace and Love, y'all

Molly

praying for serenity and balance

Ooo Ooo so much peacemaking to do! I am excited at the prospect. Excited and hopeful.

On the brink of this weekend I pray for the peaceful virtures of serenity and balance. With these I can do great things, or do small things in a great way, as Mother Theresa told us. Thank you Mother Theresa.

The small things I will do are tend my home and family, and entertain a bit. Hope I can do them in a great way. I want to find some time around the edges for extra peacemaking stuff. I will relate them tomorrow.

This is a little like telling someone your weight. You get motivated to do something to make the news better!

Peace, y'all

Mother Theresa's word

Mother Teresa once said “Few of us will ever be called on to great things but all of us can do small things in a great way.”

This speaks to me, because I am not famous or powerful. I am just me. But I can do small things in a great way and today I renew my intentions to do just that. I will practice a few of the 12 steps of peacemaking (see a really old post for these).

Peace to you.