Friday, Feb. 2, 2024
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Before talking of holy things, we prepare ourselves by offering …One will fill his pipe and hand it to the other who will light it and offer it to the sky and the earth …They will smoke together…Then we will be ready to talk.
— Mato-Kuwapi, Santee Yankton Sioux
Rituals prepare us for moments of spiritual experience. They bring people together; they mark occasions; they give us metaphors through our senses that expose us to mystery, awe, peace, and wisdom. Traditional spiritual practices all use ritual to reach toward God. In our meetings, we also have rituals that accomplish these things.
We may have dismissed ritual in our cynical minds, thinking of it as irrelevant hocus-pocus. But when we seek connection with other people, or with God, we learn that ritual is a way to set our cynical minds aside and open ourselves to the presence. Even in our private time of prayer and meditation, we may light a candle as a sign of our spiritual search.
Today, I will honor the rituals that create conscious contact.
Hazelden Foundation
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