The Best Time in Life for a Children's Prayer

A timely prayer is a rare find.  Let me present the case that one traditional "Children's Prayer" is a candidate for people in their 80s and 90s.

"Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take."

When a child the possibility of dying in my sleep was not imaginable. In the mid 80s I find that the chance of a surprising death is no longer a remote possibility. The value of time raises when it becomes more limited. Thoughts about the reality of mortality are no longer a lullaby.

Finding the right prayer involves the state of mind that a person brings to a particular time in the journey of life. I rest my case.

Delton

What is "One"?

Whether counting time or the flowers in a garden or the nature of God there is a point when a person runs into "One". And then comes the question: "What is one anyhow?"

The linguist will say that One is a number, a glypth representing a measurement.
The mathematician will say that One is the probability of a number almost certainly probable.
The average person will say that this is all pointless because anyone knows that One is One.
The religious person will think of God as One in contrast to Many. And then the religious persons will argue over whether One means a static lump or a combination of persons all together called One. 

I am caught up in the tangle of trying to count time in order to present an online calendar at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org   The incident bringing on this spasm of words is dealing with paganism and all its appearances in finding the honored days to show up on a calendar.  In a vain attempt to show both northern and southern hemisphere dates for a nature based religion there arises a fog of uncertainty as to who is counting how and what.

Perhaps someone can develop an App that will solve all these mysteries of time counting by religious traditions but I have not seen any drift in that direction.

In the interim time just keeps happening. One day at a time, they say. Or One millisecond at a time for the more detail minded person who will likely shave it even further. As I deal with ordinary human survivors the role of the marking points of special days rises in significance. To this point religions have done the best job of creating those marking point events.

Delton

Minnesota Spring Ballet

On this cool bright afternoon we walked on a bluff of the Minnesota River in the city of Bloomington. In a front yard there were Daffodils in full bloom. In a moment of time an American Goldfinch flew over from an evergreen tree, landed on a Daffodil flower that immediately bent low under the miniscule weight of the bird and then sprang back up as the Goldfinch flew back toward the tree.

The brilliant yellow of the flower blended momentarily with the golden plumage of the bird and then erupted in a flash of color as the earth anchored flower and sky destined bird parted.

The score for this original ballet had been written long since and has no doubt been performed numberless times. On this day a human audience was present for a performance that lasted all of two seconds and yet extends beyond measure.

Graduation Time Markers

2012 will be the 65th anniversary of Redwood Falls High School graduation in 1947. 2011 is the 60th anniversary of Hamline University graduation in 1951.

The Hamline graduation anniversary looms large since I am on a committee to design how the event will happen. The committee is to figure out what might interest people and even attract them to attend.

What might interest people who graduated 60 years ago and went off to do whatever has happened since 1951? Telling stories has values but does not rate high because we are primarily interested in our own stories and get bored by others. Comparing wonderful accomplishments over the years (real or imagined) only makes people either depressed or homicidal. Pretending to be interested in people who one does not even recognize looks like work without any pay. Giving awards to those who have given the most money to the school leads to class warfare.

The passage of time presents a major challenge to any institution that wants to generate continuing loyalty among constituents. Relationships and interests that prevailed at graduation have changed beyond recognition. Suspicion of what the school wants from this event comes with the territory.

A 65th graduation anniversary is even more of a stretch. By this time many have gone on and health problems of body and mind come with the territory. So is there any value in a gathering at either the 60th or 65th marking point ?

The Jeffers Petroglyps teach me that any artifact, living or inanimate, carries on information that can be accessed and can provide the curious mind with hints regarding the future. Graduation anniversaries are an artifact that may be the occasion for creative growth for at least one person. I am in favor of the anniversary as long as there are living representatives of the group being recognized. Institutions benefit from reminders of their human history.

Religious Time Markers

This written on March 19, 2011. On the 20th a signal gathering of religious holy days point up the natural roots of many religious anniversaries.

The months of March and April are crowded with religious holy days greatly because of the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere. This points up the central role of natural forces in world religions development. The moon and its phases have held human attention throughout recorded history and likely since earliest life that we call human. I believe that it is safe to assume that the creators of the Jeffers Petroglyphs were informed by the moon as well as the sun and stars in their thought processes and cultural development

The following information is a specific illustration of the influence on religious experience in the 21st century.

In 2011 more than the usual number of religions observe sacred events on the Equinox which happens on March 20. Jewish Purim takes place recognizing Jewish deliverance from genocide. Wicca/Pagan observers celebrate Ostara as spring arriving in the Northern Hemisphere and Mabon as Fall arriving in the Southern Hemisphere as. Some Hindu people observe Holi as a colorful celebration of the arrival of Spring. Sikhs observe Hola Mohalla. And Christians observe Sunday with worship services commemorating Easter coming in about a month. On Monday the Baha’is have Naw Ruz, their New Year. The Persian Zoroastrians observe Norous as their New Year.

This concentration of holy days takes place at times when the various calendars happen to gather religious events together. During 2011 this appears to be one of those coincidental gatherings that call attention to the natural ties of world religions. The Jeffers Petroglyphs have no dates attached or hints as to the cycle of observations, The hints may be there but we do understand their language yet. Perhaps thoughtful persons of the 21st century will use imagination to raise possible insights into the ancestors.