Prayer Before Beginning a Project
These past few months I have been working on a new book based on this blog, “Sunflower Seeds.” When I began this project, I prayed to our Creator God for assistance. Here is an adaptation of that prayer for anyone beginning a new endeavor–whether it’s hosting a family get-together, planning a vacation, preparing a parish event, changing jobs, putting together a talk, beginning retirement, starting a new school year, moving to a new house, or even welcoming a new baby into the family. I’ve used the plural form because for many of our projects, we work with others. But you can modify the words to fit your project or endeavor.
Prayer Before Beginning a Project
Creator God, as we begin this new endeavor, we hear you asking us: “How can I help you?” Let us count the ways.
Please give us strength… give us direction… and give us patience from the beginning to the ending of this project.
Right now, we might look upon this endeavor as a mere duty… or a major chore. Help us to see this task before us as a privilege… a small way we can partner with you to bring more goodness into the world… When we get weighed down, help us to lighten up. Keep us in touch with the pleasure and genuine fun involved in this work.
Pour enthusiasm into our souls, a teensy portion of your own Divine Enthusiasm as you spoke those words of unimaginably far-reaching consequences: “Let there be light!”
Help us to balance control and letting go throughout this project. May our need to control be punctuated with regular periods of letting go and allowing the work to have a life and mind of its own.
May we respect the entire work process which includes starting… moving forward… trial and error… stalling out… back tracking… moving forward again… and bringing the project to completion.
Never let us forget the underlying purposes of our work: for your greater honor and glory… for the individuals who will benefit from this work… for our own personal growth and transformation. May we humbly delight in the small role we are playing in the coming of your Kingdom upon earth.
Any finally, our Beloved Creator God, help us to take regular breaks from our work… knowing you do not desire our total exhaustion, but rather you desire our joy-filled wholeness… And every time we begin to work on this endeavor, may we take a few moments once again to answer your question addressed to us: “How can I help you?” Amen.
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For reflection:
When you begin a new project, what gifts or graces do you ask for from God?
Is there anything in this prayer that really spoke to you?
Do you have any projects or endeavors you would like us to pray for? Let us know below.
My prayer today was addressed to our Creator God. This gentle and lovely song by Margaret Rizza celebrates our Creator God’s presence everywhere–in creation itself, in the current world situation, and in our personal lives.
I invite you to respond below to anything in today’s reflection:
Quotations on Rest, Leisure & Play
It’s summertime in the northern hemishpere. So, I decided to visit my quotation files and see what I have filed under rest, leisure, and play. I hope you find these quotes inspiring and fun!
1) Leisure time is a gift of God for being refreshed physically, mentally, and spiritually, a time to strengthen bonds, to enjoy God’s gifts. Anonymous
2) There is no music in a “rest,” that I know of: but there’s the making of music in it. And people are always missing that part of the life-melody. John Ruskin
3) Together with the culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. Pope Francis
4) Play is the brain’s favorite way of learning. Diane Ackerman
5) The true object of all life is play. G. K. Chesterton (He also said that Heaven was a playground!)
6) What is life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare. W. H. Davies
7) What do I want to take home from my summer vacation? Time. The wonderful luxury of being at rest. The days when we shut down the mental machinery that keeps life on track and let life simply wander. The days when you stop planning, analyzing, thinking and just are. Summer is my period of grace. Ellen Goodman
7) The highest form of research is essentially play. N. V. Scarfe
8) “Hurry sickness” is now a recognized phenomenon in medical circles. It includes high blood pressure, ulcers, tension headaches… It is rushing that takes the joy out of life.” Beatrice Bruteau
9) It is time for nappers to lie down and be counted! William Anthony, a professor of psychology at Boston University, who argues that more frequent napping could have “a positive effect on both mood and performance.”
10) Some of us have made an idol out of exhaustion. The only time we know we have done enough is when we are running on empty and when the ones we love the most are the ones we see the least… I began to wonder if my human wholeness might be more useful to God than my exhausting goodness. Barbara Brown Taylor
11) We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing. Charles Schaefer
12. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father. Rodger Von Oech
13) Without play, life just doesn’t taste good. Lucia Capocchione
14) Time spent playing with children is never time wasted. Don Lantaro
15) St. Saturus was a 3rd Century Christian martyr. Just before his death, he had a vision of heaven. He saw intense light, a garden of lush flowers, tall majestic trees, angels in white robes, and heard the chanting of heavenly voices. He kissed God’s face; God touched his face with his hand and then said, “Go and play!”
And finally, here’s a short video of a baby laughing while playing with a sheet of paper. This video has been online for 13 years and people still seem to get a kick out of it. Who says you need expensive toys to have fun?
For reflection:
Did any of these quotes really speak to you? If so, which one(s)? Do you know why?
What helps you to balance work and leisure in your life?
What are some of your favorite ways to play?
PS: Last week I wrote about my struggles with my gardening. A friend, Sister Barbara, gave me some Miracle Gro and I must confess, my tomato plant is greener and healthier looking–but still has only a couple of yellow blossoms. While Sr. Sandy, on the other side of the building, just picked her first big red tomato! But my zinnia sprouted two new green shoots from its stem. And my petunias and impatiens seem happier. So things are looking up a bit!
Ps. 46:11 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Some scripture scholars say that “be still” can be translated “have leisure and know that I am God.” We can afford to have leisure, rest, and play in our lives because we believe everything is in God’s hands. Our video is called “Rest” by Aaron Shust. I chose it because it reminds us that our faith in God is the foundation of our leisure and rest. Plus the winter images might cool you off in case you are experiencing hot temperatures right now where you live.
I invite you to comment below on the quotations, the pictures, the videos. Or add something of your own!
My Struggles with Gardening
I had great hopes for my garden this year. I had great hopes last year too. But last year, I ended up harvesting 2 green peppers and 9 cherry tomatoes. That’s it. I gave my garden a C-. I was generous. This year’s garden is on a trajectory to merit the same grade. Probably lower. As I write this, my pepper plant (with one marble-sized pepper on it) is in ICU. My lone zinnia is in hospice. (I should explain that my garden consists of several large potted plants out on my second floor porch.) I ask myself, what’s wrong with my attempts to create a Garden of Eden with veggies ripening, pretty flowers in full bloom, and with me sitting on my lawn chair surrounded by lush green foliage and splashes of color everywhere?
They say, the man who can’t dance, blames the floor. That’s me. I blame all kinds of things for why I’m virtually a failure at gardening. But there is one thing I CAN’T blame. I start with good plants. In early spring, my nephew, John, always calls me and asks, “Aunt Dolly, what kind of plants would you like this year?” I eagerly say, “What kind do you have?” And he lists all kinds of things he has started from seeds–with tender devotion: bell peppers, jalapenio peppers, rosemary, sweet basil, beefsteak tomatoes, orange jazz tomatoes, cabbage, geraniums, zinnias. I place my order and within a few days he delivers my plants–plus others for some of the Sisters living here.
So what do I blame for my mediocre gardens? I blame the sun. My porch faces northwest. I don’t get any sun until about 2:30 in the afternoon–and by then that old hot sun BAKES all my plants. (I just thought of something else I can blame: climate change!) Within minutes my plants begin to droop–so I have to lug them inside, pot by pot, just to keep them alive. My friends, Sisters Sandy and Eileen live on the other side of the building where they get the morning sun. Both have lush gardens. One of Sandy’s tomato plants (from my nephew) already has one tomato bigger than a tennis ball. Which only proves my point.
Next, I blame the wind. My porch gets the full brunt of any winds from the west or north. When those winds kicked up recently, I glanced out on my porch and sure, enough, there’s my tallest tomato plant lying on its side and whimpering, “Help me up! Somebody please help me up!” I’ve now learned to bring him inside at the first sign of strong winds. At this writing, my tomato plant has four yellow flowers on it. So “Hope springs eternal…”
I blame the soil. I buy decent potting soil–but not the most expensive kind. I tend to be frugal. (My friends say I’m cheap.) There’s something about buying dirt that really irks me. It’s like buying water and air. Shouldn’t all human beings have free access to a certain amount of dirt, water, and air? But I must confess, when I’ve run out of good, new soil–because I’m frugal–I use dirt from the previous year. Probably not a good idea.
I also blame my mediocre gardens on my lack of time. After all, I’m a very busy lady giving talks and retreats, writing articles and books, going out for ice-cream with friends, playing solitaire on my ipad, and praying every day. I thought I’d stick that last one in. After all, if I didn’t pray every day, I’d have much more time to spend on my garden. And yes, my struggles with my garden have reminded me to pray for farmers every day! But the fact remains, I’m sure I would grow a beautiful garden, if I had more time. But I don’t, so I can’t.
And finally, I blame my lack of patience. It’s funny. I have patience for lots of other things–like writing, for example. But for some reason, I am not patient with gardening. My Dad and Mom were both gardeners par excellence–so were my siblings. My brother Paul just dished out $200 for a couple of those big cages for his few tomato plants to prevent the neighborhood deer from eating his crop! (His wife says at this rate they’ll be paying $10 for each tomato they harvest!) I wonder: did I NOT receive the “gardening gene”? If so, then I have one more thing I can blame: genetcs!
But despite my struggles with gardening, I know that when John calls me next spring and asks, “Aunt Dolly, what kind of plants would you like this year?” I’ll say, “What kind do you have?” And I’ll place my order. Eagerly. And with lots of hope.
For reflection:
What has been your experience with gardening?
If you like to garden, what do you like about it?
Are there any other qualities you think good gardeners must have?
Our video is a children’s song called “The Garden Song,” was written by David Mallett. Here it is sung by David Grover and the Big Bear Band. Feel free to sing along–especially with the chorus!
I encourage you to repond to this reflection below. We’d all enjoy hearing from you!
The Truth about Sojourner Truth
(I’m writing this reflection to commemorate June 19th [sometimes called Juneteenth, Jubilee Day, or Emancipation Day], the federal holiday that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States)
Recently I read an article in the Smithsonian magazine (March 2024) by Cynthia Greenlee entitled “The Gospel of Truth.” It attempts to tell the true story of Sojourner Truth based on the latest historical research. First, a few facts. Isabella Bauntree was born into slavery not on a southern plantation, but in the Hudson Valley of New York–which was called New Amsterdam back then. She was born in the late 1700’s to Elizabeth and James Bauntree. Her first language was not English, but Dutch. She never learned to read and write, yet she possessed an amazing gift for public speaking.
In her dictated autobiography, she tells of how she gained her freedom: one day she just walked away carrying her infant daughter, Sophia, and a few worldly goods. Befriended by Quaker abolitionists, she filed a lawsuit to reclaim her son Peter who had been illegally sold into slavery in Alabama. Amazingly, she won the lawsuit and was reunited with her boy. She describes his shocking condition: “From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, the callosities and indurations of his entire body were frightful to behold.” A religious woman, Isabella frequently talked to God while walking in the woods. One day in 1843 while praying, she felt God calling her to travel (sojourn) around the country to preach the truth of God’s word. Thus, she took the name Sojourner Truth.
Contemporary accounts describe Truth as a “tall (6 ft.) masculine-looking figure” with “a deep gutteral, powerful voice.” An avid abolitionist, she proposed land grants for recently freed southern slaves and was a “foremother” of the movement for slavery reparations. But she was also a prominent leader in the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements. In addition, she met President Abraham Lincoln and “hobnobbed” with Harriet Beecher Stowe.
A century before Rosa Parks sat down on an Alabama bus, Truth was “chasing streetcars in Washington, D.C. where Blacks were denied the right to ride.” One day when a streetcar passed her by, Truth gave three tremendous yelps: “I want to ride! I want to ride! I want to ride!” She jumped onto the streetcar, much to the shock of the conductor. When he went to eject her, she told him she was “from the Empire State and knew the laws as well as he.” She was also keenly interested in “old age justice,” and fought for the rights of the elderly, including her own parents.
Truth displayed considerable media savvy. She sold photographs of herself at talks and conventions to help support herself and her children. On the pictures she wrote: “I sell the Shadow to support the Substance.” She controlled her own story by publishing her autobiography, Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave. On May 29, 1851, Truth addressed the attendees of the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. This past May, a beautiful new memorial was dedicated in her honor in Akron on the site where she gave her mememorable speech. Visit it on line or (better yet) in person!
Cory McLiechey of Grand Rapids, MI, is the fifth generation grandson of Sojourner Truth, a direct discendant through Truth’s daughter, Sophia. He is “now fundraising for a hologram version of his ancestor.” One day he hopes to interview this hologram of Truth in front of elementary school students. It seems “a fitting way” to honor Truth, “a mover and shaker who understood the power of images, and the importance of telling her own story.”
For reflection:
Is there anything that stands out for you in Sojourner Truth’s story?
If you could summarize her in just a few words, what words would you choose?
What progress have we made in the justice issues Truth fought for? What justice issues are we still struggling with?
Our video is “We Shall Overcome,” one of the anthems for the Civil Rights Movement around the world. Here it is sung by a group called “SOS from the Kids.”
I invite you to add your thoughts to this reflection below. Thank you!
What Does Sin Do to Us?
What does the devil look like? One traditional image of Satan is this: He is a man in a red suit, with horns and a tail, wielding a pitchfork. He is smiling–or perhaps sneering is the more accurate word–because he takes delight in tempting human beings to sin–and eventually to go to hell. Satan is the ruler of Hell, commanding hordes of devils beneath him. He’s extremely active and immensely powerful.
This image is a sharp contrast to Dante’s depiction of Satan in his Inferno. (I’m drawing from an article by Tod Worner entitled “Midnight Oil,” in the journal of the “The Word on Fire Institute,” Evangelization & Culture, Spring 2022). Dante visits Hell with his guide and idol, Virgil the great Roman poet. As they descend deeper and deeper into the bowels of hell, they come upon Satan himself at the very bottom. But Satan is not surrounded by legends of devils amid flaming fires. No, he is alone and encased waist deep in ice! His enormous wings, though flapping, only stir up the cold. His chin is resting in his hands–as if he’s pouting. (Satan, the Pouter-in-Chief!) He definitely is not smiling or even sneering. As Tod Worner says, “The King of the Inferno is sullen and supremely self-absorbed.” He’s even oblivious to the presence of Dante and Virgil.
Worner tells Bishop Robert Barron how surprised he was that Dante’s Satan is “not loud and audacious, darkly majestic and menacing, but is instead pathetic and cold, sad and self-absorbed.” Bishop Barron explains, “Dante’s Satan is the full expression of what sin does to us…It causes us to cave in upon oneself.” In fact, one of St. Augustine’s definitions of sin is just that: incurvatus in se, to be curved in on oneself.
Like Dante, C. S. Lewis also visits hell in his book The Great Divorce. The book is not about a marital divorce, but about the distance between Heaven and Hell. Lewis dubs Hell (or some say it’s Purgatory too) as “grey town,” a place where it is always raining–even indoors. But there’s a bus in the town that offers to take residents to a better place. Lewis boards the bus with others and soon they are soaring higher and higher through the clouds and into the air until they reach the foothills of Heaven itself. But, in order to enter Heaven, the passengers have to turn away from their “cherished evils” such as their need to dominate others, their cynicism, their craving for wealth, their pride, their lust. In other words, they must “repent” of their sin. Some passengers finally do repent and enter Heaven to be joined with loved ones already there. But others, unable to repent, board the bus again and return to “grey town”–for now.
Even though I read The Great Divorce 40 years ago, one image stands out for me. In grey town, people live separately in their houses. Soon they end up quarreling with their neighbors and move farther away from the center of town and from any neighbors. Some individuals are so far away, so isolated, they are light years away from their nearest neighbor. Take Napoleon. Two residents manage to visit Napoleon on the outer edges of the town and they describe what they saw.
Napoleon lives alone in a huge mansion in the Empire style with many large windows. When the two visitors peek through one of the windows, what do they see? Napoleon is “walking up and down–up and down all the time–left-right, left-right–never stopping.” And the whole time he is blaming others for his misery–beginning with his top generals. He mutters to himself, “It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault. It was the fault of the Russians. It was the fault of the English.” He is a man exhausted and taking no responsibility whatsoever for his life, his mistakes, his sin. He is a man seemingly incapable of repentance.
For both Dante and Lewis, Hell is a place of isolation from others, supreme sadness, and constant gloom. What a contrast to Jesus’ image of Heaven as a happy, loving, fun-filled wedding feast!
For reflection:
What did you think (or feel) about these two depictions of Satan, hell, or sin?
Did anything in particular stand out for you?
Our song today is a communion hymn by Dan Schutte, “Table of Plenty.” It is sung by the Sunday 7 pm Choir (from SFDS Parish in Ajax, Ontario, Canada.) Every celebration of Mass is a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet God has prepared for us when our earthly journey has been completed. This video has two versions of the hymn. The second version adds the descant. Otherwise both versions are the same song, same lyrics, and the same visuals.
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