January 27 – Patient, gentle effort of endurance

Dear Friends,

Continuing with the talk by Kamala Masters titled, “The Power of Patience.”

Kamala says

[Patience] gives us this gentle effort of endurance, to not only remember to stay open to the ever present changing moments in retreat, but also to remain with that quiet faith inside of us that we can do it. To keep our hearts and our minds and bodies just moving in the direction of our aspiration. Sometimes our aspiration is to just get through this sitting. And sometimes it’s full liberation. But what we need to do is to take it one moment at a time.

This patient, gentle effort of endurance isn’t just good for meditation practice, it’s good for life.

On the retreat this weekend, Jeanne talked about the work of Dutch inventor Boyan Slat and The Ocean Cleanup organization he founded. Last fall, they successfully captured ocean plastic to prove the concept Boyan first presented at a TEDx conference in 2012.

In the press announcement, they said:

Our team has remained steadfast in its determination to solve immense technical challenges to arrive at this point. Though we still have much more work to do, I am eternally grateful for the team’s commitment and dedication to the mission and look forward to continuing to the next phase of development.

~ The Ocean Cleanup Successfully Catches Plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Do you hear patience, effort, and endurance in that – a quiet faith that we can do it?

Reflection: In what ways have you experienced a patient, gentle effort of endurance to support your faith in doing something that matters to you?

If you have a good news story to share, please let me know.

Feel free to share your reflections or comments below, or by email.

With warm wishes,
Andrea