| Monday, May 5 | Fault Lines | | A fault line, the U.S. Geological Survey tells us, is where a fault — a broken place inside our planet— cuts the Earth's surface. We have our own human fault lines, too — places where hidden brokenness or pain surfaces in our lives or communities. Today's selections invite us to gently consider ways to understand these damaged places. |
First Light | Midday Meditation | Evening Reflection |   During the French-Mexican War, some 6,000 French troops, supported by heavy artillery, attacked Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico, defended by about 2,000 Mexican loyalists. When the French finally retreated, they had lost nearly 500 soldiers to the fewer than 100 Mexicans killed. The victory against great odds strengthened Mexican resistance, and six years later France withdrew. Today, Mexicans celebrate the anniversary of the battle as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday.
 The Patent Act of 1790 opened the door for anyone, male or female, to protect his or her invention with a patent. However, because in many states women could not legally own property independent of their husbands, many women inventors didn't bother to patent their new inventions. Mary Kies broke that pattern on May 5, 1809. She became the first woman to receive a U.S. patent for her method of weaving straw with silk. Straw weaving was an important industry in some areas beginning in the 1700s; straw was used for making hats and containers.
 The American Bible Society was founded May 5, 1816, in New York. The organization has distributed millions of Bibles in numerous languages worldwide. The society's translations include the "Good News" Bible, and it also maintains a Rare Scripture collection, an extensive archive of noteworthy editions of the Bible.
| Our personal "fault lines" are not lines in the Earth; they are fractures in our body and spirit. Because of this, we can be encouraged by the possibility of healing, improvement, or better ways of dealing with our brokenness:
Virtually all of us have experience dark mornings. We sometimes awaken from bad dreams, from bad nights, or into bad days.
If we do manage to get some sleep during a crisis, temporarily forgetting our struggles, we may feel assaulted anew by the resurgence of pain when we awaken....
Morning does not consistently promise healing, but it does offer a sense of newness, a sense of possibilities.
Possibilities will not relieve us of our struggles, but if we are open and receptive to them, they will offer us hope.
— Rubin R. NaimanHealing NightCopyright © 2006 by Rubin R. Naiman, Ph.D. | | |
It's been a day of joys and sorrows, successes and failures. As you move into your evening time, here are some thoughts about one view of fault lines in society:
After years of living with the geologic fault lines that lie beneath the earth's surface in the San Francisco Bay Area and after his experiences covering the social earthquakes of the l960s, the late Robert C. Maynard identified the five "Fault Lines" of race, gender, class, generation and geography as the prisms through which we in this country see the world.
Maynard focused on the five Fault Lines of race, class, gender, generation and geography because he believed they were the most enduring forces that have shaped social tensions since the founding of this nation.
Maynard's no-fault Fault Lines framework provides a sophisticated tool for journalists to analyze and make sense of our complex realities. One person's Fault Line perspective is another's Fault Line blind spot. This approach reminds us that people are the totality of their Fault Lines rather than any one Fault Line. It's not always enough to look at things strictly as a matter of gender or race. While it's true that those differences shape our perspectives, the other Fault Lines play a role as well.
A difference of perspective or opinion that appears to one of us to be based on age may appear to others to be based on class. When we confuse race with class or class with geography, we confuse our readers and erode our credibility. With Fault Lines, journalists have a check list that helps them identify the various Fault Lines in a story — and acknowledge where they sit on the Fault Lines chart so that they can try to see the world through someone else's eyes.
Weekly Prayer There are times when I talk too much.
There are times when I repeat things which I have no right to repeat.
I pass on a story which may not be entirely true
or add my own embroidered flourish to a tale in the telling.
O God who always listens, forgive me.
Help me remember to keep a deliberate
and constant check on my tongue.
Keep safe within me the hurts and secrets that others have shared,
for they trusted me, and I was glad of that trust.
Keep safe within me the confidences of children,
lest they be hurt by my crass joking over their tender moments.
Keep safe within me those safe disclosures of weakness and fear
shared in a moment of intimate vulnerability by my spouse
as a further expression of love for me.
Keep safe within me all those communications
which were entrusted to me for safekeeping.
Help me to listen, as you do Lord.
Help me to use my ears more than my mouth.
With your help, Lord, may I never again hear myself
betraying a confidence or breaching a trust.
Instead, transform me, Lord, into a listening, trustworthy friend.
Amen.
Weekly Prayers are drawn from many faith traditions.
| | This Week's Last(!) Light This week, we received a wonderful photo taken by Dianne Hellekson just as the sun was setting in Faith, South Dakota.
We didn't have to think about it too long to decide to use it — even if it is a sunset rather than the sunrise we typically use in this spot.
Readers, thank you for generously sharing your inspirational photos. And if you prefer to send photos of sunsets as well as sunrises — that's great!
In any case, we do love to be able to publish your brief comments about where the photo was taken and what it meant to you.
If you would like to share a photo that you yourself have taken, please send it as an attachment—along with your name, the location, and a little about what it means to you—to: .
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You also are granting us permission to use your First (or Last) Light image, your description of the photo, and your name in Daybook, and permission to store this information in our online searchable archives and databases.
You retain the copyright to your image, but FaithStreams Network may use this image, credited to you, in our newsletter, in screensavers, and on Web sites in the FaithStreams Network, freely and in perpetuity.
. . . . . . . . . . Listen to Your Intuition  Intuition, sixth sense, hunches, or gut-feelings: everyone experiences them, but not everyone takes the time to listen to them.
I'm Timberly Whitfield! Visit our online community for my new reflection: No matter what you call them, I think we need to be aware of those feelings and learn how to trust them.
You'll see the links to my reflections under "Videos." (Free registration is required for viewing.)
Please share your own thoughts in our forums. Do you listen to your intuition?
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. . . . . . . . . . Today's Blessing May we gain deeper understanding of the divisions within us and among us, and begin to see opportunities for action and healing. . . . . . . . . . . Spiritual Practice Scripture reading, meditating on sacred books and writings, is an important daily spiritual practice for many people. Find today's readings from a number of traditions on FaithStreams®. . . . . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . About Daybook The New Morning spirit is alive and well ... on FaithStreams®! Your Daybook is a daily encouragement from FaithStreams® Communities.
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