clfuu – Page 681 – Daily Compass

A Good Guest

“’We’re on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we’re saying: We know how nice you’re being. We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble, and we’ll try to be good guests.’

‘Like a note you’d send somebody after you stayed in their house?’

‘Exactly like that. ‘Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the refrigerator, and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry, I hope it wasn’t your favorite one.’”
― Barbara Kingsolver

How do you try to be a good guest on this earth?

Red Velvet Cupcake

How do you approach a cupcake? Frosting first? Nibble the cake out from underneath to save the frosting for last? Do you carefully balance the cake to frosting ratio for each bite or do you open wide to take in a mouth full of glory all at once? There is only one wrong way to eat a cupcake, and that is to fail to give it your full attention and appreciation while the moment lasts.

What will you give your full appreciation to today?

Back to School

Most US schools these days start up after summer vacation some time in August. Whether this is a moment of liberation or incarceration, the end of an adventure or the beginning of one depends not only on whether you are a child or a parent, but also on the perspective you bring to your education.

How do you pursue learning as an adventure?

A Vision of Loveliness

What could be lovelier, more perfect, than a view through the trees to a white, sandy tropical beach? Of course, once you were on the beach you would face the danger of sunburn, and perhaps poisonous jellyfish lurk in the clear water. But for a moment, in a glimpse through the trees, it’s possible to see only the vision of loveliness, shining there like a perfect gem.

Who or what will you allow yourself to see as a vision of loveliness, setting aside all flaws for a moment for a glimpse of shining perfection?

The Cost of Seeing

This telescope requires the viewer to put in quarters in order to get the eagle’s-eye view of their surroundings. But there are other forms of seeing clearly that are also not without cost. When issues such as racism, climate change or economic injustice come into focus for us, then we must face the price of figuring out how we will respond—or the price of knowing that we have seen injustice and done nothing.

What price have you been willing to pay to respond to the injustice that you’ve seen?