If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I can stop one Heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching,
Or cool one Pain,
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
compassion
Today’s Quote: Reach Out, Someone Needs You
When one reaches out to help another he touches the face of God. ~ Walt Whitman
Today’s Thought: Light and Darkness, It’s Always a Choice
There is an ongoing battle between light and darkness. The two cannot coexist. The darkness draws us into anger and rage and minimizing people who are different from us. The light draws us toward respect, compassion, and cooperation. The darkness asks us to fear others because they are different. It builds false images and speaks of them as a reality. The light sees things as they are drawing people together to make a difference. Although, at times darkness seems to prevail, in the end, historically, light always triumphs over darkness.
Today’s Poem: Consolation by Frank Barbour Coffin
Consolation
Frank Barbour Coffin
Friends can’t you tell me something?
I am weary and worn tonight.
The day has gone like a shadow
And only the evening is light.
Tell me about the Master,
Of the burdensome hills he trod,
When the tears and blood from his anguish
Dropped down on Judea’s sod.
Tell me about the Master,
Of the wrongs he freely forgave,
Of His love and His tender compassion,
Of His love that is mighty to save.
For my heart is restless and weary
Of the woes and temptations of life,
Of all the treacherous conflicts
Of falsehood, and malice, and strife.
So tell me the sweet old story
That falls on each wound like a balm,
And my heart now bruised and broken,
Shall grow patient, strong, and calm.
Today’s Quote: Kindness Always Matters
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. ~ Aesop
Today’s Poem: I Am Not Alone by Gabriela Mistral
I Am Not Alone
Gabriela Mistral
The night, it is deserted
from the mountains to the sea.
But I, the one who rocks you,
I am not alone!
The sky, it is deserted
for the moon falls to the sea.
But I, the one who holds you,
I am not alone !
The world, it is deserted.
All flesh is sad you see.
But I, the one who hugs you,
I am not alone!
Inspiring Quote: A New Day
Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion. ~ Nhat Hanh
Today’s Poem: The Little Box by Vasko Popa
The Little Box
Vasko Popa
The little box gets her first teeth
And her little length
Little width little emptiness
And all the rest she has
The little box continues growing
The cupboard that she was inside
Is now inside her
And she grows bigger bigger bigger
Now the room is inside her
And the house and the city and the earth
And the world she was in before
The little box remembers her childhood
And by a great longing
She becomes a little box again
Now in the little box
You have the whole world in miniature
You can easily put in a pocket
Easily steal it lose it
Take care of the little box
Today’s Inspiring Quote: A Path for Living
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. ~ Albert Einstein
Thinking Out Loud: Be a Force for Good
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection from William Faulkner’s Banquet Speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1950
“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” ~ William Faulkner
Note: William Faulkner gives a resounding YES to life. He is speaking to each one of us when he says we are capable of compassion, sacrifice, and endurance. Too often we see the negative in ourselves, in others, and in society. It frightens us. When we choose to search for the good in ourselves, each other, and our society, we find it. There are good people throughout our planet contributing to benefit of all people. When we choose to become a part of the good, we contribute to the overwhelming and undefeatable force of love.
