A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.
The root of joy is gratefulness…It is not joy that makes us grateful; It is gratitude that makes us joyful.
-Brother David Steidl-Rast, Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer
The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address
The Thanksgiving Address (the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen) is the central prayer and invocation for the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations.) The Address is recited in thanksgiving for the diversity that, like all wonders of Nature, is truly a gift.
Found at Dance for All People.
The Wedding Banquets
In this week of Thanksgiving when many of us will enjoy plentiful food at family tables, we recall that Jesus used banquets to speak of God’s generosity. “God is clearly into abundance and excess,” says Richard Rohr, “and God’s genuine followers share in that largesse: first in receiving it and resting in it, then in allowing it to flow through them toward the world.
Crafton: Living with Limitations
It is true that as we age we lose some abilities. It takes us a little longer to accomplish some tasks, we have to think a little harder to come to a decision, we can’t do the heavy lifting any more. What we must do now is determine how to use the gifts and abilities we do have.
From Joanne Seibert.
Matchmakers Connect Teens and Elders.
What do an 82-year-old and a teenager have in common? They are both big basketball fans. That is just one of the things that cements an unlikely friendship fostered by an organization that pairs elders and teens for the benefit of both.
Found in Daily Good.
Advent Hope
Advent begins this Sunday, December 1. In this season of expecting God to fulfill God’s promise of joy and peace, we wait in hope. We are reminded that hope, as Ron Rolheiser says to us, is a vision of life that guides itself by God’s promise, irrespective of whether the situation looks optimistic or pessimistic at any given time.
From Ron Rolheiser blog.
Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.
If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.
To learn more visit our website.
The Wisdom Years 