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The InSpiritry Times, founded and edited by writer/speaker Anne McCrady, offers news as well encouragement for those who live with a Passion for the Greater Good. InSpiritry Times readers see the big picture, enjoy the wider view, are curious about the world  and know life's not just about them! The InSpiritry Times is your source for eye-opening news, heart-warming human interest stories and live feeds from around the world and around the corner as well as Anne's provocative, illuminating commentary.

Whether you are already living out your passions or just beginning to follow your dreams, The InSpiritry Times offers articles for people just like you who believe in a better world. Visit often for content that focuses on the InSpiritry core values of CommUnity - One World; Compassion - We Before Me; Creativity - Finding New Ways; Collaboration - Working Together; Consilience - Knowledge Leads to Wisdom; Courage - Strength of Character and Celebration - Joy, Generosity and Gratitude.

For more about InSpiritry or Anne McCrady, you can visit her website at www.InSpiritry.com or her blog www.InSpiritry.com/wordpress.

Fast Pray Love

This weekend I went to see the new movie based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s New York Times best-selling memoir, Eat, Pray, Love. It follows a young woman’s classic New Age search for personal fulfillment, as she leaves her angst-ridden marriage, takes-then-leaves a lover and travels alone to Italy, India and Bali. Along the way, she re-examines her ideas about the pleasure of food, the way to enlightenment and the difficulties of relationships.  

While enjoying the story, I left the movie theater struck the character’s self absorption and by our general American sense of dissatisfaction, including about religion. Then, I realized that in the past couple of weeks, I have felt a consilience (coming together or unifying) of experiences regarding personal faith related to eating, praying and loveing, and that perhaps there is wisdom to be gained. The first event has been the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan, August 11, a lovely time when devout Muslims refrain from eating between sunrise and sunset, breaking their fast each evening with joyful and prayerful family meals. During this month, Muslims are also called to share food or money with those who are hungry. It is a time of memory-making and internal reflection. As Ramadan ends in mid-September, in another faith tradition, Jewish families will celebrate the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Essentially the Jewish New Year, the historic ceremonies of these sacred days represent a prayerful time that, like Ramadan, include aspects of prayer, spiritual centering, fasting, renewal and celebratory family meals.  September is also the month of the United Nations International Day of Peace on September 21. Around the world, adults and children who believe War is Not the Answer and that Peace Begins Here with gather to promote a peaceful world. There will be festivals, concerts, prayer poles, retreats, prayer services and service projects. I will be in Belton, Texas, to read poetry as part of the second annual Art of Peace Festival, held at a lovely retreat center and includes poetry, stories, music, art and fellowship. Of course, in September, Americans of every religion are prayerful, as we remember the catastrophic events of 9-11-2001. We relive the moments of watching the Twin Towers fall, the feeling that peace that was shattered and the fears that were born and remain. This year, those lingering fears have flared as television news channels have focused on the controversy over whether to build a Muslim worship and fellowship center in Manhattan near the site of the 9-11 disaster. There is renewed talk of “us” and “them” and even frightening calls for a limit on the American core value of religious freedom. For me, September has personal spiritual reminders. In 2001, in the days after the World Trade Center tragedy, when I could not bear the anguish unleashed in those awful moments and the flood of hatred that followed, even as a writer, there was no prayer to speak my pain. Having Muslim friends and knowing the practice of fasting during Ramadan, Yom Kippur and Judeo-Christian traditions, I decided to make my peace prayer physical and personal. From that first week in September through the seven following months to the penitent Christian season of Lent and finally to the celebration of rebirth at Easter, I fasted each Monday as a “prayer by walking around,” letting sacred writings from many sources feed me during the day.  Of course, hatred and violence did follow 9-11, resulting in destruction and death that I could not have imagined.  In addition to fasting, I turned to my life-long habit of writing my heart’s longings into poetry. Those poems from the dark but hopeful months and years that followed became my peace chapbook, Under a Blameless Moon, which happily won the Pudding House Prize and were published as one collection. Coincidentally (or maybe not such a coincidence!), during that time, each Tuesday, I was meeting with our church pastors to design the coming week’s contemporary worship service. That meant that, after fasting on Monday and writing peace poems each morning, on Tuesdays I could express my sense of spiritual focus in discussions of sacred music, readings, visual displays, dramas and experiential activities. It was a precious time.   With all this on my mind, this week offered more spiritual growth. Yesterday for the 25^th year, I participated in our local annual school supply project, an event I support that brings our community together for our children. This year, youth from a new cowboy church near our town joined our loyal group of volunteers of every race from traditional churches. Many of the teenagers who helped out were seeing for the first time attention to poverty as a practical prayer, and a meal as a gathering of servants. Of course, for all of us, the smiles of nine hundred children leaving with new backpacks full of school supplies is the best blessing of all!  

The other thing that happened this week was more personal. After two InSpiritry speeches I gave to non-profit groups, both suggesting great things happen when we Believe, Belong and Become, audience members shared comments like, “You made our work sound like a mission” and “It was like going to church – only this is what we do every day” and even “You changed a life today.”  Oh, how grateful I am to help people celebrate the blessed miracles of their lives!

All this to say that peace may be closest when it seems the farthest away. God works in all kinds of circumstances. Our search for love begins where we are. Food can be a blessing…or a curse. Life is a mission.  This month, whether you are ending summer gardening to plant for fall, ending vacations to start back to school, celebrating Ramadan, preparing for Rosh Hashanah, remembering 9-11, planning an International Day of Peace celebration or continuing to support your congregation and community, the coming days can be your own journey to a deeper sense of InSpiritry. 

For me, this month will once again be a time to:

Fast, Pray, Love! 

When We Make InSpiritry Personal, We Can Be a Blessing! 

Join the InSpiritry Conversation about this post!  How do you keep your relationships in good working order?

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