Tag: Joyce

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 26

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So you missed an opportunity! And they say that opportunity knocks only once – but, only of 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. Dunning writes, “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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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 25th

‘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 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 begin 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 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 out 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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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 15

“THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When winter presses a cold, gray hand against every living thing and temporarily puts to sleep all outward growth and activity of other seasons, there is within a quiet, invisible, but very active preparation for a lighter, warmer time.

There are times when the winters of life press hard upon us, seeming to keep from us any hope for good. But as the coldest winter does not prevent a tulip from developing a blaze of color within the bulb, there is nothing to prevent our own inner growth.

We quite naturally want the things that will make us happy and we want them now. But there is still a time of preparation, the development of our abilities to recognize the good and the beautiful when we see it. Otherwise, we are apt to look past them, still searching.

The tulip has a plan drawn by God’s hand, and more beautiful than anything we can make. We have a way of moving from one time to another, waiting for life to come to us instead of having a plan. But during those waiting periods we need to make a little effort to determine the course and to be ready when the right time comes.

 

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 10

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We all know that if it were not for the little kindnesses, the helping hands that we receive from those who touch our lives daily, we would fall more often and much harder. Yet, we must remember there comes a time when we cannot expect others to rush to our aid. It is then that we test the strength of our own self-reliance.

We should make every effort to be worthy of the concern and help of others. It is sharing all phases of life that makes living more than just an existence. But none of us can support others for long who have no will to use their self-reliance. It is said that God helps those who help themselves, but even God cannot help where help is refused.

Then, how much can we depend on ourselves? How could we react to the same situations we see other people experiencing daily? We, who depend on much on our external advantages to pull us through, cannot truthfully foretell our actions in a crisis. But we can have a reserve of faith and strength behind us so that when others reach out to lift us up, we will be worthy of their time spent in helping to build our self-reliance.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for October 6

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Why is it that the things we love so much can cause us so much pain, and perhaps without realizing it? Why is it that we find so much to worry about in all the “what ifs” that cross our minds with such persistence? What makes fatigue follow us through the hours and drain away precious strength that we need to help us in our daily routine?

All the things that plague us daily have one common cause-fear. To some, fear is a constant companion. We may call it by many other names such as necessity, time, busyness, demands, but all of these can be forms of fear.

Fear produces the most mental, physical, and spiritual fatigue that has ever overtaken humans. It rushes us so that we have accidents. It drains us of strength to resist illness. It tells us we cannot produce enough to meet the demands upon us. And it builds within our minds such dire images so that we cannot face the simplest.

Fear has one antidote. It is not to stop worrying and take it easy, but it is faith. Adverse conditions cannot break us in the face of faith. Faith allows us to look fear in the eyes with such confidence that it loses its power over us.

English divine, Fredrick William Robertson, wrote, “To believe is strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power.”

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

THINK ON THESE THINGS for October 4

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Faith doesn’t demand possible things — it demands the impossible. When we have a promise in hand we have to look fear in the face and say this thing is going to happen.

Say to the mountain that needs to be moved to be gone. Whether it is disease that someone said is incurable, or a bank account the has no shape but bad, speak to it. But never forget to rejoice and to thank the Power for hearing our words.

When we do these things we are walking into the land of the impossible. Such fun to see things and circumstances conforming to our words of faith. Such delight to know we are not lost and we are not tied down by impossibility. We CAN be healed, we can be prospered and we can be free — when we say it and believe it.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 30

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The longest face and the saddest cry Always seem to come with the question why. Why did you take what belonged to me?

It has always been mine, or can’t you see That you have no rights, no right to claim,
And you did just that, you’re to blame For all my unhappiness, all of my tears.

Well, perhaps not all, part were my fears. And I suppose if I think I can also say That if I’ve lost anything, it’s really the way That I treated the things that used to be mine. I saw clouds on the days where there was really sunshine, I turned often to darkness instead of the light. I saw all of the wrong, but never the right, And in all honesty I suppose I must say If I’ve lost anything, I gave it away.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 25

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So often it is difficult to know where the line lies between kindness and domineering. It doesn’t sound as if the two could possibly ever mix, but sometimes in our watchfulness over those we care about we’re inclined to thin it is a kind of goodness when it actually becomes domineering.

It is often the best and kindest thing to let others think for themselves. Even though the helpfulness is a love, it can be smothering to the ones who want to breathe freely, even of their own problems.

Concern can turn to possessiveness in the space of a moment and do it do subtly it is almost impossible to comprehend. All individuals have the right to make their own mistakes and also the undeniable right to correct those mistakes. It makes help appreciated when it comes and then help is recognized as help and not as ownership.

If we were all told what to do, it would relieve us of the burden of the responsibility of thinking, planning, or making decisions. Out lives would be literally free of care. And there are those among us who love to direct the traffic of other people’s lives. But have you noticed how detestable it is to them to have the smallest suggestion made concerning their own? What a display of vanity!

There are always sycophants, or “apple polishers,” if you will, who fawn and flatter the vanity. But to have one’s vanity built to great heights is not always an act of love, but more often subtle scorn.

Love is the only force against vanity. Love does not wish to command, but only to serve. If love cannot tell the truth it does not speak. Vanity separates, love joins. Love does not ask that another take the responsibility, but it asks only the strength to bear it.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 24

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So often it is difficult to know where the line lies between kindness and domineering. It doesn’t sound as if the two could possibly ever mix, but sometimes in our watchfulness over those we care about we’re inclined to thin it is a kind of goodness when it actually becomes domineering.

It is often the best and kindest thing to let others think for themselves. Even though the helpfulness is a love, it can be smothering to the ones who want to breathe freely, even of their own problems.

Concern can turn to possessiveness in the space of a moment and do it do subtly it is almost impossible to comprehend. All individuals have the right to make their own mistakes and also the undeniable right to correct those mistakes. It makes help appreciated when it comes and then help is recognized as help and not as ownership.

If we were all told what to do, it would relieve us of the burden of the responsibility of thinking, planning, or making decisions. Out lives would be literally free of care. And there are those among us who love to direct the traffic of other people’s lives. But have you noticed how detestable it is to them to have the smallest suggestion made concerning their own? What a display of vanity!

There are always sycophants, or “apple polishers,” if you will, who fawn and flatter the vanity. But to have one’s vanity built to great heights is not always an act of love, but more often subtle scorn.

Love is the only force against vanity. Love does not wish to command, but only to serve. If love cannot tell the truth it does not speak. Vanity separates, love joins. Love does not ask that another take the responsibility, but it asks only the strength to bear it.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

THINK ON THESE THINGS for September 21

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The first day of fall brings with it the promise of quiet and peace. A stillness permeates the woods and about the only sounds are woodpeckers drumming on a hollow tree and blue jays squawking at squirrels they cannot tolerate. A sweet peace that connects with us and helps us relax.

The hills are rose-beige and rounded on top with horses grazing quietly along the sides. Deep ravines where water has eroded the dirt are dark marks such as a child would make with a crayon, and most likely have housed a bobcat or two.

This is the season when we do not hunker down and endure but we enjoy to the utmost. The color, the fresh air, the fall fruit and vegetables and smell of earth turned up by the plow. If something is not right, fix it, and don’t let this pleasant time go to waste!

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 12

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Human dignity is that silent something in us that keeps us from falling below the level where others look down on us to make light of our very existence. None of us exists who cannot sense to some degree the feeling that others hold for us. It may create in us a “show them” attitude that takes us through life more successfully, but it will more likely destroy our desire to be anything more than what is expected of us.

It is an appalling thing to see others impose their superiority upon the human dignity of those whose literacy may not be equal to their own. Only profound ignorance could convince anyone they have the right to see and idly judge another’s intelligence, or to insult the dignity of any human being. The little silent people who have not yet discovered within themselves the abilities they need to lift themselves, still have the right and dignity of being human. A small amount of respect and direction might start them on the road to better things, though it might be all uphill. At least if they know it is all uphill they may work harder and reach a place where they can look back at those with lofty ideas about themselves, standing forever stagnant, and feel more compassion than they could ever have felt.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 11

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The truly humble are those who have no thought of using other people to their own avail. They are aware from their own intelligence and abilities, but because somewhere along the way they have acknowledged how inadequate they are alone.

The day of the self-sufficient person has never truly been. Without other people, without a sense of humility, success is lost to the overambitious.

English critic John Ruskin once said that the first test of a truly great person is humility.

There is greatness and sincerity when we can say to ourselves that we are only human and except for the grace of God we would even lack those qualities. We realize that the world owes us nothing, and no person owes us anything but love. It is not simply our job to serve ourselves, but it is our duty to serve others.

Humility is one of the finest qualities found in human nature. Without it we are nothing but a brash machine, with it we are warm and kind and always respected.

If we want to be friends to others, we must meet them on their level. This isn’t to say we have to be the type they are, but understand them and realize that it is a good thing that we are not all alike. This is the beauty of humanity, the variations that keep the human race from being monotonous.

And there is nothing sweeter to the human ear than to hear someone talk its language. Great persons have realized this and have made themselves adaptable to the little and to the big, to the learned and to the unschooled, in order to be more widely understood.

Who knew better than the Wise Master the importance of meeting others on their own level? The Master looked into the lives of every type of person and saw many changes that needed to be made, but also saw much to love and to waken. And in this gentleness and compassion the Wise Master could meet us all and speak out languages, then to be understood and followed.

We live in such narrow existence’s when we cannot communicate with anyone except those on our own level of thought and action. And if we only have one level on which to operate, there’s danger of it becoming a shelf for immovable objects.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 9

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Don’t allow life to mean too much. Keep it light and shallow; spend as much time as possible scoffing at those things meaningful to others; forget the decency and patience in their attitudes.

And look with overbearing revenge to make them pay for what they believe….laugh at their efforts…..call attention to their imperfections…..and don’t forget to learn how to live alone…..if not in body, then in spirit. And then don’t take the blame for a desert-island soul. It is of one’s own making. But remember, oh so well, that life does not stand still while we search for someone to blame for our isolation.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK ON THESE THINGS” for September 8

‘”THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The destructive hand is one that never finds a friendly hand to shake. Its finger is always pointed at someone in an accusation. It is shaking in someone’s face in a threat. The destructive hand is forever lifted against anyone who differs, ready to strike in disagreement, always lifted for attention to let them tell the wrong someone has done.

The destructive hand tries desperately to hold another’s good luck back…..ready to sign a complaint…..forever in a gesture of disdain.

But pity the destructive hand. It will never know the tenderness of love nor find the clasp of friendship. It will never feel the sun warm on its palm while it lifts someone….or guide another to happier things…..or wave or cheer or praise and give thanks.

The destructive hand is the negative approach to all of life. It can never do anything but discourage and frighten. The positive approach to life is found in every gesture of the productive hand; it builds unbreakable structures, unbroken peace, and joy to soothe the most savage heart.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

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THINK ON THESE THINGS for August 30

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The woodbine that climbs the trunk of the old oaks has begun to change color. Bright red leaves drop to the ground and join the yellow ones that already have fallen. The cypress has pushed new knees through the surface near the pond, and sand plums are falling from skinny little trees near the barn.

Only a few signs that summer is coming to an end, but very definite signs. Owls call in late evening and hawks spread their tremendous wings and fly late into the evening, circling and circling hoping their sharp eyes will spot food on the ground.

Soon cool breezes will bear down on us and we will be glad for a sweater on late evening walks. Time passes so quickly and all the things we love about fall will be here. The biggest job of all is finding enough time to really enjoy everything before it all changes again.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

THINK ON THESE THINGS for August 28

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Symbolism is a part of all our lives. We see certain things and they call to mind a state of life that enriches or drains us of all hope. How like the old Indian chief in the book WHEN THE NIGHTBIRD SINGS. He heard the bird’s clear song at the midnight hour and he rose up from his death bed totally well.

The bird sang of good life and the old Chief heard it. Listen for such a song in your own heart because it may be a miracle for you and you can rise like the phoenix out of ashes to become a new person.

Life has its mysteries, but often those mysteries are more true than the things people shout about. Spirit does not shout to us, but what a wonderful thing when we hear Him whisper. The very breath of life, the holiness of a moment of truth. Listen and hear it.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for August 27

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We know without being told when we have acted unkindly or behaved unjustly toward another. Intolerance, whether it is personal superiority or religious bigotry, serves only to isolate us from the greatest joy in life – the sharing of ideals and happiness and friendship.

We must be patient and fair toward anyone whose opinions differ from our own. There is a much better chance of convincing those whom we hope to influence by being an example rather than a voice.

It is much easier to be led than to be pushed and not so hard to be tolerant when we recognize within ourselves the reasons we are not always tolerant.

It sometimes becomes habitual to be dissatisfied with everything we see others do. We don’t take time to understand and know the basis for their actions. We often fall short of listening to them long enough to understand, and their next words or actions may explain it.

We cannot afford to be intolerant, because no matter how good our ideas are, there is always a better one.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

THINK ON THESE THINGS for August 24

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Some of the grasses in the meadow have turned pink, some beige, some with new green. August has few days left and next month fall will arrive. Lots of warm days in between now and then, but at least the temperature will modify during that time.

Summer is a little like having a pesky child visiting. At first it is a barrel of fun and we love every minute, but when our tongues hang out from too much of a good thing we are ready for a change. We love it no less, but rest is welcome and we are already counting the days.

Soon, brush piles will send smoke spiraling through the trees and leaves of all colors will begin to drop. At one time, seeing the season change was a sad experience. But beautiful leaves become more beautiful and they are only lying down for a winter’s sleep. Much to look forward to if we open our eyes and enjoy it.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

THINK ON THESE THINGS for August 23

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Chief Standing Bear talked of his Lakota people. He said they loved to worship and the contact was immediate and personal and that blessings flowed over them like rain showered from the sky.

Can worship really produce such blessings? Indeed, yes. Indian people were born to believe and they have long proved that the “vanishing American”is so much high talk that came to nothing.

To the Indian, Spirit is not aloof, not a figment of the imagination but real life and real power. How sad that lukewarm attitudes silence those who do not want to be known as religious. It is not religion at all, but faith, Spirit, and something to rely on when life goes dry.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for August 22

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

If you’ve ever been alone in a strange place, you’re bound to know how wonderful it is to have someone make you feel welcome.

Many people have the knack for being at home in whatever place they find themselves. And in this gift they find no loneliness to tug at them, but more often than not most of us feel like strangers. And in doing so we set ourselves apart, or make it sometimes questionable as to the wisdom of asking us into a friendly circle.

A friendly face and a friendly voice can make the most timid souls feel welcome. It can make them feel at home. For in the midst of many there is loneliness. Perhaps it is because our feigned look of self-sufficiency made someone question our need for help.

Many a door has opened, and many a sound friendship won when someone said, “We’re glad to have you….” The very atmosphere can be charged with concern when we see others who cannot find their way. The warmth of divine love is for daily use in making someone feel welcome.

We should not forget nor fail to see the wisdom of Hebrews 13:2: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.”

There must be no stronger feeling in the hearts of most people than the desire to belong. To belong to something, to someone, and in a place where the feeling is warm and friendly. The most blessed children in town are the ones born and raised in the same neighborhood, who have the tightly knit sense of belonging to everyone. Suddenly these children are not just the children of their parents, but the children of everyone in the church, in school, and anywhere where there is warmth and love and peace.

War rages within so many, disallowing them any connection or any strand of love that would tie them to anything that gives them a sense of security. And when people become insecure they become demanding. And in demanding they lose the most essential part – the ability to attract love to themselves simply by loving first.

In the words of William Blake: “Love seeketh not itself to please….Nor for itself hath any care….But for another gives its ease….And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.”

Some of my most productive moments are not when I consider how evil the world is, but how powerful is my God.

Some of the best times are not all when I’m enjoying life, but when those I love are knowing happiness.

The highest peak of wealth comes when the joy within surpasses anything I can create out here.

The bloom of good health is felt more richly when I let it flow through me rather than dwelling on the possibility of sickness.

Friendships are strongest and most true when I don’t worry about giving more than I receive.

In order that others forgive me, I must also learn to forgive.

I must never forget that negative thoughts feed on fear and starve on faith.

One of the greatest mistakes I can make is to believe myself to be without friend or faith or opportunity.

These personal proverbs belong to all thinking persons who want their lives to have more meaning, know more happiness and feel more richly the love that is the medicine for the sickness of the world.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org