United Nations Day Oct 24

The weekend is over and today is United Nations Day. It is a day set aside to honor the founding of the United Nations and the promise of a world united that it holds.  It has somehow lost sight of its great mission to provide a forum where the representatives of peoples of the planet may sit and find the chords that bind us. The air we breathe is common to the whole planetary surface. The rivers run from country to country heedless of national boundaries, the oceans carry currents from warm climes to render habitable colder climes. Storms begin oceans away and impact coastal regions on the other side of the globe. By and large we look alike except for the small differences in the color of skin and texture of hair; yet we continue to see how very different we are instead of how similar we are.  I experience a deep sadness as I contemplate our continuing separation into meaningless factions.  But there is hope, there are unifying trends, and the United Nations serve as the symbol on a global level of those unifying trends.  

 For that I am grateful.

This day I honor the Great Creator of the Universe with my continued attention. This attention is the only true gift I may give to that which created me to love me.  It calls to mind all the graces that fill everyday life, and leaves me breathless with wonder and delight. There is the breath that I take, the health in my body, the strength in my limbs,  the sight in my eyes, the sound in my ears, the very steady and consistent rhythm of my heart and more so much more.  All given as free gifts to be savored and honored and used to bring into manifestation the Kingdom of the Heavens here on the earth.  Today there is much to give thanks about and I will endeavor to give close attention to the inner world as I negotiate the outer world.

Along with the purely personal reasons to be grateful, I am truly grateful that we have come to the place in our global squabbles to form a United Nations. Let us grow closer together with every breath we take.