My heart goes out to the millions of people affected by Hurricane Helene and the devastating floods that followed.
This is one of those times when I wish I could do more than just pray.
Hurricane and aftermath
One of Ramesha’s best
Ramesha recently shared this video from a few years ago. It’s so beautifully moving that I want to share it here as well.
This is what he writes about it in the video description:
This is a rather particular chant titled “They Have Heard Thy Name.” It was written by Yogananda. It’s a heartfelt prayer asking God to give comfort to those who are suffering.
LYRICS:
They have heard Thy name, the blind halt and lame. (2)
They have come to Thy door, Lord, they have come to Thy door;
Give them an audience, Lord.
They have heard Thy name, the blind halt and lame. (2)
Those who are in despair, wipe Thou their tears! (2)
They have come to Thy door, Lord, they have come to Thy door;
Give them an audience, Lord.
They have heard Thy name, the blind halt and lame. (2)
Those who are drowned in sin, to whom will they go? (2)
They have no one, Lord, they have no one;
Do not turn them away.
🙏
God is great and God is good
Seeing this graphic brought back sweet memories of saying grace before family meals when I was a child.
God is great and God is good.
Now we thank Him for our food.
By His grace we all are fed.
Give us, Lord, our daily bread.
Amen.
God is love.
As I recall, our original prayer ended after the “Amen,” but then we had a meal with some family friends and their prayer was simply, “God is love.”
I guess we liked it because we added it to our prayer and it stayed that way forever after!
Actually, it occurs to me that I should ask my Dad if I’m remembering this correctly. 🥰
My prayer this evening
Sometimes when there’s so much to do (as is happening in these days!) I can feel the overwhelm slowly but surely starting to paralyze me.
So, I’m grateful to be reminded that I can ask for help, for guidance, which makes all the difference in the world.
Today’s hospital adventure
I had just arrived at the Infusion Center to receive my weekly Velcade injection and was waiting for my nurse to come and get me.
While still in the waiting area, I heard over the intercom: “Attention. Code blue in the Infusion Center, Room 210.” The announcement was repeated three times, which allowed me to slowly process that this was happening just steps away from where I was seated.
I’ve heard the term “code blue” on TV shows and in movies, but realized I didn’t know exactly what it meant. So I looked it up: “Cardiac or respiratory arrest or medical emergency that cannot be moved.”
Over the next little while I gained a whole new appreciation for just how “professional” the medical professionals were in responding to the emergency. If I hadn’t heard the announcement, I wouldn’t have immediately been able to tell by the noise or activity level; it was more a matter of feeling the intensity ratchet up to very high levels.
That intensity level definitely affected me. I closed my eyes to meditate and focus on my breath so that I could stay calm enough to pray and send love and healing energy to the situation. But it wasn’t easy to stay centered.
Gradually I could tell there was more coming and going. At one point, a hospital employee escorted a young man into the room and I realized that Ramesha and I had seen him, together with a young pregnant woman and an elderly man, in the oncology waiting room just the day before.
We noticed them in particular because the young people (married couple? brother and sister? friends? We have no way of knowing) seemed really kind and considerate of the elderly man (father? grandfather? Again, no way of knowing); while he, in turn, was a very refined, articulate, good-humored gentleman with a lovely voice.
This made it feel personal enough that I found myself sinking into a more emotional space and had to work to raise my consciousness again.
They helicoptered the gentleman to another hospital and of course, I don’t know if he made it. I sure hope so.
But what a beautiful opportunity it was to bring our techniques and understanding to the situation by quietly sitting off to the side and praying and meditating.
And then, once the immediate crisis had passed and the nurse came to get me, I felt blessed to be able to offer her even a little support and understanding. Also to observe the way they calmly went back to their usual tasks (after all, the Infusion Center was still full of other patients!), while checking in with one another and making sure each of them was okay.
All in all, a beautiful and deeply moving experience filled, I’m sure, with God’s grace and the presence of angels.
A global chant vigil
The “Aum Guru Chant Vigil” is what I’ve been focusing my energies on the past couple of weeks. It promises to be very uplifting.
But it’s okay if you don’t relate to the word, “Guru”. You can replace that word with whatever deity or entity works for you (“Aum Mother”, “Aum Jesus”, “Aum God”, etc.).
Our hope and intention is to draw on that invisible yet omnipresent power that responds to prayer and to our heart’s call, send healing vibrations to all beings and the entire planet.
Join us if you can!
Go with love, Lizzie
Saying good-bye tonight to someone who I knew only for a short while “in person,” but we stayed connected on Facebook through multiple moves and numerous life challenges for the ten years or so that followed.
I followed her seemingly victorious battle with cancer and knew when it had come back. Just a few weeks ago she shared that she had made the decision to chose hospice over hospital-based care. She was at peace with making her transition.
Lizzie continued sharing her love and light until the very last, dying peacefully in the middle of sharing a prayer on Facebook. I find this so deeply inspiring; I don’t think she would mind me sharing it.
Aspiration to The Holy Family
Prayer:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph: I give Thee my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I breath forth my soul in peace with Thee.
Go with love, dear Lizzie.
Cool clouds & mist hands
Feeling deeply impacted by fires everywhere and the heat and smoke and predictions of more lightning storms…and hearing deep within myself: BASTA! Enough!
Unfortunately, I don’t get to be the one to decide when it’s “enough.” Darn!
But it does seem like we need to take some concerted action to help bring it all back from the brink somehow. I found myself thinking that a major prayer vigil is perhaps in order. People of all faith traditions praying intensely for peace and calm and healing… Ahhhh, I just felt myself take a deep breath as I typed those words!
Of course, I don’t know how to get a bunch of different groups united in doing a prayer vigil; that’s not my area of connection and strength. But then I heard these words in my mind:
Cool clouds that gather to bless us. Mist hands that soothe away pain.
And I thought maybe we can flood the world with Peace, as sung by Swamiji, and help cool down, calm, and sooth our planet and everyone/everything on it.
This is something I can do my best to make happen!