Post by judyb on Aug 26, 2005 13:34:30 GMT -5
I don't know who the author of the following is. It came to me by email
"I wish I would have known Mohandas Gandhi. An Indian nationalist
and spiritual leader, he was foremost a man of rare courage. He
developed the practice of nonviolent disobedience that eventually
forced Great Britain to grant India's independence. Mahatma"" "
Gandhi claimed to have never made even a minor decision without
prayer.
He spoke often about spirituality and prayer. He told about
traveling to South Africa to oppose a law there directed
expressly against Indians. His ship was met by a hostile mob and
he was advised to stay on board. They had come, he was told, with
the express intention of lynching him. Gandhi said of the
incident: "I went ashore nevertheless. I was stoned and kicked
and beaten a good deal; but I had not prayed for safety, but for
the courage to face the mob, and that courage came and did not
fail me."
Gandhi sought courage over protection. He prayed for strength
to resist fear, even to overcome it. He did not seek to avoid
danger and neither did he pray to be kept safe and secure. He
repeatedly sought only to bravely face his fear, and what courage
he needed came and did not fail him.
Of course, our lives, too, can be scary. We live with political
uncertainties. We also live with frightening diseases, from
cancer to mental illness. We live with the unsettling knowledge
that age will possibly claim our minds and will certainly claim
our bodies. We will undoubtedly experience frightening losses --
perhaps death, loss of employment, or loss of family. Life is
scary.
I am learning that courage, more than safety, is what is truly
required along life's journey. Like someone said, "If Columbus
had turned back, no one would have blamed him, but no one would
have remembered him either." Rabbi Harold Kushner eloquently
reminds us that 'people who pray for courage, for strength to
bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have
left instead of what they have lost, very often find their
prayers answered. Their prayers helped them tap hidden reserves
of faith and courage that were not available to them before.' "
Posted by Kathleen 2/2000
"I wish I would have known Mohandas Gandhi. An Indian nationalist
and spiritual leader, he was foremost a man of rare courage. He
developed the practice of nonviolent disobedience that eventually
forced Great Britain to grant India's independence. Mahatma"" "
Gandhi claimed to have never made even a minor decision without
prayer.
He spoke often about spirituality and prayer. He told about
traveling to South Africa to oppose a law there directed
expressly against Indians. His ship was met by a hostile mob and
he was advised to stay on board. They had come, he was told, with
the express intention of lynching him. Gandhi said of the
incident: "I went ashore nevertheless. I was stoned and kicked
and beaten a good deal; but I had not prayed for safety, but for
the courage to face the mob, and that courage came and did not
fail me."
Gandhi sought courage over protection. He prayed for strength
to resist fear, even to overcome it. He did not seek to avoid
danger and neither did he pray to be kept safe and secure. He
repeatedly sought only to bravely face his fear, and what courage
he needed came and did not fail him.
Of course, our lives, too, can be scary. We live with political
uncertainties. We also live with frightening diseases, from
cancer to mental illness. We live with the unsettling knowledge
that age will possibly claim our minds and will certainly claim
our bodies. We will undoubtedly experience frightening losses --
perhaps death, loss of employment, or loss of family. Life is
scary.
I am learning that courage, more than safety, is what is truly
required along life's journey. Like someone said, "If Columbus
had turned back, no one would have blamed him, but no one would
have remembered him either." Rabbi Harold Kushner eloquently
reminds us that 'people who pray for courage, for strength to
bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have
left instead of what they have lost, very often find their
prayers answered. Their prayers helped them tap hidden reserves
of faith and courage that were not available to them before.' "
Posted by Kathleen 2/2000