| Thursday, May 8 |
Potential |
| In many places in the Northern Hemisphere, it's planting time. And seeds have always been a great metaphor for potential. Many people are familiar with the Bible passage about how faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed, is able to accomplish great things. Within us, there are many good things waiting to grow. Today's selections encourage us to hope and to nurture our potential. |
First Light | Midday Meditation | Evening Reflection
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 Fulton John Sheen was born on May 8, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois. As a Catholic priest and bishop, he served as a pastor, taught theology and philosophy, and authored more than 50 books and scholarly works in his lifetime. In 1930, he began a weekly Sunday night radio broadcast called The Catholic Hour. He began a television program entitled Life is Worth Living in 1951, and hosted The Fulton Sheen Program from 1961 to 1968.
 Jean Henri Dunant was born May 8, 1828, in Geneva. In 1862, he published a small book, A Memory of Solferino, that included a plan for the nations of the world to form relief societies to care for the wartime wounded. The next year, the Geneva Society for Public Welfare appointed a committee of five, including Dunant, to examine the possibility of putting this plan into action. With its call for an international conference, this committee, in effect, founded the Red Cross. Dunant, pouring his money and time into the cause, traveled over most of Europe obtaining promises from governments to send representatives.
 On May 8, 1919, Australian journalist Edward George Honey wrote a letter to the London Evening News, appealing for a five-minute period of silence to be included in plans to celebrate the first anniversary of the end of World War I. King George V took up the idea, and attended a rehearsal for a five-minute silence at Buckingham Palace. Five minutes proved too long and the period was changed to two minutes. On November 7, 1919, the King issued a proclamation asking "that at the hour when the Armistice came into force, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, there may be for the brief space of two minutes a complete suspension of all our normal activities...." While the idea of a silent tribute to the dead was not new, the Australian committee honoring Honey's contribution observed that "this was the first time in history that a victory had been celebrated as a tribute to those who sacrificed their lives and their health to make the victory possible."
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Everybody has good intentions.
Intentions just need a little help. They need the reins of will and discipline, because that's the only thing that separates good intentions from doing nothing.
In many cases, people will never know our intentions, good or bad. But when we give them flesh, when we live them out in a way that can communicate those intentions, then they can be clearly seen.
I think intentions are maybe like a song without words — it's just the music. It needs both things.
Intention needs will and discipline to go with it to make it understood.
—Nicole Johnson
New Morning Treasury
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It's been a day of joys and sorrows, successes and failures. As you move into your evening time, here are some thoughts about planting our own seeds:
When you plant a garden, you take a seed and you put it into the soil, and you know that this seed is going to turn into something.
With intention, you do the same thing. You take a seed of thought, knowing when you plant it in the creative soil of mind — your mind and God's mind — you are looking for it to transform into some thing, as well.
It's the same process....
What you do when you plant the seed — the first thing you want to do — you want to make sure, just like you know you want to plant a certain flower, you need to make sure what it is you are planting in the creative soil of mind.
You need to be specific. You need to know what you want, what you desire. You need to know that you deserve it and that you're worthy of receiving it.
You even need to begin to prepare to have it.
—Rev. August Gold
New Morning Treasury
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.
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From Readers
"And the last shall be first."
This week's "Last Light" photo is spectacular. I am really glad you decided to publish it.
In our ever shrinking global village, what is first light for some is last for others, so for half the world this was indeed a first light.
That is one of the awesome things about the dependability of our creation. Each day, without fail, our sun rises and sets and brings with it a never ending cycle of hope.
—Cherie Booker, M.Div.
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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 see "First Light Submissions" information at the end of this newsletter.
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Live Simply.
Be Complicated.
 Whenever a new product or electronic gizmo hits the market, do you say, "I need that; I have to have it," only to realize later you really didn't need it?
I'm Timberly Whitfield! Visit our online community for my new reflection: how we can simplify our lives by giving up some of our stuff.
You'll see the links to my reflections under "Videos." (Free registration is required for viewing.)
Please share your own thoughts in our forums. What are some of the things you could live without?
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Today's Blessing
May we have the courage to trust in our own potential, despite circumstances that may be limiting or discouraging at the moment.
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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®.
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About Daybook
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