Red Road and Great Spirit

Living gratefully today, I feel cooler air on my skin, see the sun's shadows, and hear the garbage trucks in the neighborhood. My five senses bring me the world.

Speaking of the world, I make daily efforts and do regular practices to connect with this world, a Higher Power of my own understanding, myself, and others. I have been using the term Great Spirit more often to refer to this higher power concept. It is a term more often used by Native Americans and to me is all-encompassing and expansive, welcoming me to explore further.

The book 365 Days of Walking the Red Road: The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day by Terri Jean is a book of daily readings that I have incorporated into my repertoire of prayer and meditation books. I pick one or two books to read from most days and always find meaning and direction in what I read.

The reading for yesterday was:

"When a man does a piece of work which is admired by all we say that it is wonderful; 

but when we see the changes of day and night, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky, 

and the changing seasons upon the earth, with their ripening fruits, 

anyone must realize that it is the work of someone more powerful than man." 

(Chased-By-Bears, Santee-Yanktonai Sioux, 1843-1915) 

If you read about the Red Road, you will find references to living the right path, living in the moment, living a life of truth and charity. It all fits nicely with living gratefully. It is all about who and what I am connected with, and gratefulness fosters connections that matter.

This morning as I considered this reading and composed this post, I connected with that cooling and gentle breeze, I noticed a white squirrel exploring a corner of our yard, I appreciated the physical presence of my husband Darcy sitting next to me. Thank you Great Spirit for all this and much more.