The most important meaning of the symbol of a cross is missed by this article. It has a line upward and downward to connect heaven and earth, and a line from side to side, which represents time or the life of man, or all of us going about our business. The up-and-down line represents now, becoming present to this moment, and the horizontal line is from here to eternity.

Deep apologies. I often take messages from awaken to Facebook. I was one of the editors of the daily good and karma tube for a while and feel this is a service to humanity, as is your work.

Making no Demand

 
Sitting in the park on a hot June day, with lists to make and editing I brought along to do, I decide to stop my busyness and make no demand. What will come if I give it all up and sit here and wait for a few minutes? So I wait and listen and look at the abundant green growth that followed yesterday’s rain.
 
And I am changed. Birdsong becomes music, for one thing. I hear a variety of notes and rhythms, trills and single sounds. My breathing deepens, for another. Or maybe it’s just that I become more aware of it. But no. It’s more than that. I enter into a new relationship with myself. No longer is the mind directing the physical equipment. I become a living, breathing being, here, at rest.
 
Why do I use myself the way I mostly do, as if this body is only there to get stuff done with, never calculating the quality of the service? My body almost always tries hard to do whatever I ask of it. It makes an honest effort at serving my intention, whatever it may be, and however unconscious the directing energy. The mind, which often forgets it is also a servant, seldom takes into account the body’s needs and desires.
 
As I sit and muse on these things in the heat, amid the smells of park and New York, the impression deepens,\.  Myself in this beautiful place. Myself mysteriously alive in this five-foot, seven-inch container that I am. And words spring into the waiting state I am in: Lord, let me grow and prosper in Your service; mind, body and whatever else I am!
 
Thus I become aware, sitting on a park bench, how “making no demand” melts into prayer.