Thursday, August 28, 2025

Prayer to Mother Earth

 




“Prayer to Mother Earth

 

“We pray to you, Mother Earth, with gratitude
For your holding and sustaining love
For the air, water, and soil that feed us
For the mountains and rivers and oceans that calm our spirits
For loving and supporting all beings and all creation.

We pray to you, Mother Earth, with humility 
Help us to remember our place in the great web of life 
Help us to remember that we are but a part of this great web, 
and that we must do our part for all life.

We pray to you, Mother Earth, for forgiveness 
For our ignorance and willful disregard of the damage we have done to you, to the air and the waters, 
and the soil and the life of this beautiful planet.

We pray to you, Mother Earth, for fortitude
to uphold our part in reversing the damage we have caused, 
for fortitude to make and sustain a commitment to do our part to heal the planet.

Mother Earth, in gratitude and humility, we ask that you hold us and sustain us, 
as we strive to live in connection with you and all life. Amen

By Lucy Bunch”

Monday, August 25, 2025

Learning from Hurricane Katrina - not repeat the errors or what was lacking

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

This week marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina forged a path of destruction along the Gulf Coast.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: The storm's sustained winds reached 175 miles per hour, making it a Category 5 hurricane.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: The famous Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. That's where there was a big breach in the levee.

RUSSEL HONORE: I don't think the storm was discriminating in any way.

MARTÍNEZ: That last voice was then-Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He became well-known in 2005 when he led the military response to Hurricane Katrina and has become a go-to crisis leader for the last 20 years. Our co-host Michel Martin spoke with the now-retired General Honore from his home in Baton Rouge.

MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: You got there two days after the storm made landfall in Louisiana. That was actually the second landfall. What stands out to you just when you first arrived in New Orleans?

HONORE: Well, I was the - flying in on the helicopter on Wednesday morning and then landed next to the Superdome. That was a sight to behold. Imagine 15,000 or so people standing outside the Superdome, then getting off that helicopter and making eye contact with people, and that look of desperation in their eyes to get out of there. And it broke my heart when I saw a lady with a toddler in a shopping basket, pushing that baby in the water. The water was up to the baby's chest, and she was trying to get into the Superdome to save her baby and herself. And I said, we got to get these people out of here. I walked in and saw the mayor, and he said, my priority is evacuation.

MARTIN: Had you ever seen anything like this?

HONORE: Nothing of this magnitude. Over 240,000 homes flooded in and around New Orleans.

MARTIN: How did you decide what to do first?

HONORE: Well, I listened to the priority of the mayor. And I left the mayor and went to see the governor, Blanco. Her priority was evacuation, provide food and water for people. This obviously was a logistics issue. The talking point on - most of the major media was covering alleged looting. It led the governor to a point to say, hey, the priority is to prevent the looting, where in essence, people went into the survival mode. But somehow it got portrayed in the national media as looting.

MARTIN: But isn't it also true that there were law enforcement agencies in the area who were also treating people like they were looting?

HONORE: Yeah. That was the assumption, in my observation, that - this prenotion that the poor is going to loot. It's a sad commentary, but it's built into our culture. And in some cases, adjacent parishes and municipalities blocked people from coming in because they said, well, these people are going to come loot our stuff. And, you know, 80% of the area did evacuate. And it was this big fear that the people who were left behind were going to go loot people's stuff, whereas in essence, what they were doing was going in to try to get food and water.

MARTIN: The memory that a lot of people have is that there were too many people in leadership positions that were seen as incompetent. In hindsight, is that fair?

HONORE: We have to take into account, when you have a major disaster, first of all, all your first responders are survivors. The storm overmatched the infrastructure. And it overmatched the ability for them to deal with it 'cause in a real crisis, the local leaders lose control because it's beyond their ability to immediately respond to. That's why we got these levels of government and federal organizations that need to be prepared to go in and help people.

MARTIN: Is there something that you think emergency response leaders have learned from Katrina or should have learned?

HONORE: Yeah, that you can't skip the preparedness phase. In the preparedness phase, if you're going to put people in a shelter, they have prepositioned food and water. But what changed their entire quick response to create those shelters was the fact, when the levees broke, people couldn't leave. And they were run out of their homes, and they were on the top of the interstate. And some of them were still on their roofs days later. And the people on the ground - there were people working their you-know-what off, trying to save lives.

MARTIN: Look, I know in the past when we've talked, you've emphasized that people also need to take care of themselves. They need to have a plan. They need to be able to get ahold of their important documents, for example. Do you think that people have taken that in?

HONORE: Let me tell you, Michel, we spend more time here getting ready for football season than we do hurricane season (laughter). Now, obviously, that 80% that evacuated - they may have - not have started off with a plan. But the alert system, I can't overemphasize, that came from the National Weather Service was significant in getting people to evacuate. And the 80% that evacuate, I will tell you, could evacuate. That 20% that didn't evacuate - most of those were poor people that - many of them didn't have cars, and the majority of them didn't have the means, Michel. Or, in the case of those that we took out of their homes, they didn't have the information or the means. And remember, most of them were elderly, disabled and poor, and most of them were by themselves. And when you're elderly, you don't want to leave your home.

MARTIN: Yeah.

HONORE: They want to stay 'cause they know where their medicine is. Many of them lived alone, as I said, and they'd got left out of the information system. And in some cases, the system failed them. The city did send people to pick them up, but at that time, you couldn't take a animal in a ambulance. And the elderly people said, well, I'm not leaving if I can't take my dog with me. We changed the law after that - a federal law that says if you're doing an evacuation, you have to have a shelter in place for the animals.

MARTIN: Wow.

HONORE: And that has been fixed.

MARTIN: If there's a lasting legacy of Katrina, what do you think the lasting legacy is?

HONORE: It's a reminder that on any given day, Mother Nature can break anything built by man. And when we get proper warning, we need to evacuate, and we need to be prepared to evacuate.

MARTIN: That is retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He coordinated the country's military response to Hurricane Katrina as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina. General, thank you so much for talking with us once again.

HONORE: Thank you, Michel, and be prepared to evacuate. I know you live in D.C. Be prepared to evacuate, 'cause you can flood up there, too.

MARTIN: OK.

HONORE: Get your checklist together and get ready.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


 Source: iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5500576/nx-s1-9424884" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"></iframe>

Give us peace, Give us liberty, Give us Freedom!

Give us peace.

Bring an end to violence and hatred and discord. Steady the feet that rush into war and the finger poised on the trigger. Bring justice to the downtrodden, restoration to the marginalized and abused, hope to the hopeless. Guide all those in positions of power—whether that power is political or physical or social—and give them wisdom to use their power wisely. Give them, and all of us, the grace to admit when we are wrong and to seek forgiveness. Give us the grace to forgive.

Help us see your face in the faces of the people around us. Give us courage to love one another even when love seems like a risk. Give us compassion for those who are unlike us. Teach us to listen to those we disagree with, to hear stories that make us uncomfortable. Heal the hatred in the world around us by healing our own hearts first.





Read on my FB profile 08 25 2025. Cite in below.

 Source: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/a-prayer-for-peace-in-our-country-and-world.html

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Prayer: Blessings upon Animals

 Prayer: Blessings upon Animals






Eternal God, in your love our creator of all things and within your great purpose provide for every kind of animal.

May the whole of creation rejoice in you, and every creature experience the joy and wonder of the life for which you have made.

Give to all your people an attitude of care and consideration for animals, that We may honor you, the creator through Jesus Christ, our lord and savior.

Amen.



The prayer is adapted an author was not attributed however it maybe more from the Catholic tradition that I am not an expert on but respect & honor its legacy of peace. Others may be found on similar sources linked below.

https://connectusfund.org/25-powerful-prayers-for-healing-comfort-recovery-and-strength


Friday, August 22, 2025

Heart Strings for Good

 While playing my string bass along with a worship song, without having the sheet music the thought came to research heart strings. Below is what A.I. says on the topic. One article says to cut ones heart strings, when felt the pain or tug can be real. Today even learning principle which say to detach the we must be reminded the word of God says "I am love". That tug is a guide and we should endeavor to follow it even at the risk of operating on the fringes of relationships. What was the original intent of mankind? Only God knows the answer. Follow those heart strings!!! Mantra: Peace, love and beauty. - A.T. Yoda Brooks



"I am love" is 1 John 4:16

'The "spiritual relationship of heartstrings" refers to the symbolic connection of our spiritual self with emotions like love, compassion, and longing, often described as a divine or soulful pull that resonates with our innermost being. In Christian contexts, it can be the Holy Spirit's intervention to guide a person's conscience, while in other traditions, the heart is seen as the seat of wisdom and the path to a deeper spiritual connection. The term also evokes the anatomical heartstrings (chordae tendineae) as a way to connect the physical heart's function to its profound symbolic meaning in our emotional and spiritual lives. 
Symbolic & Emotional Connection
  • Soulful Resonance:
    .
    "Heartstrings" symbolize the deep, unseen parts of the human soul that are stirred by emotions, particularly those of love, sadness, sympathy, and longing. 
  • Emotional Trigger:
    .
    When something "tugs at your heartstrings," it means it evokes a powerful emotional response that is central to your personal experience and feelings. 
Spiritual & Religious Meanings
  • Spiritual Conviction (Christianity):
    .
    The phrase can describe a divine intervention where the Holy Spirit "tugs" at a person's heart to awaken their conscience and lead them toward a transformation or a deeper understanding of their spiritual state. 
  • .
    Various spiritual traditions view the "heart" as more than a physical organ; it is the seat of deeper intelligence, wisdom, and the potential for divine illumination. In this sense, heartstrings represent the connection to this deeper, spiritual core of a person. 
  • Path of the Heart:
    .
    In mystical traditions, the heart is the "doorway" to spiritual awareness, where the emotions and feelings of the heart lead to a deeper intellectual and spiritual understanding. 
Link to the Physical Heart 
  • Cordae Tendineae: The phrase is a direct reference to the physical structures in the heart called "chordae tendineae" or "heart strings". These anatomical strings help the heart's valves function properly, and the phrase uses this physical function to symbolize the profound emotional pull we experience.'


Source: https://biblehub.com/library/gordon/quiet_talks_on_johns_gospel/the_heart-strings_of_god.htm

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Prayer to the creator and nature

 

 

 Prayers to the creator and nature

Lord God of all creation, may the richness and beauty 

of the natural world never cease to uplift and sustain us.

May we constantly be aware of how our actions affect the environment

And strive to create a fairer and more sustainable world.

May we always be grateful for nature's gifts, and mat we continuously 

work to preserve and cherish them. Through Christ our lord.

Amen.

 

 

Source: the artist is unknown but grateful for the depiction of angels which many of believe in across faiths.

Continuing Tribute to Weedon Island Preserve, a legacy of Indigenous Heritage

 Continuing Tribute to Weedon Island Preserve, a legacy of Indigenous Heritage within Pinellas County Florida. Prayer of Conservation I spoke in the park, one of two such prayers. The other 'prayer for creation and nature' will be shared under a separate post, both said over that land yesterday while exercising alludes me.  Each time visiting this public park & preservation I felt a release of stress

 


 

 

Prayer of Conservation 

 Divine spirit of the Earth

We gather in reverence for the conservation of the planet.

May we inspired to protect the natural world, recognizing the sanctity of every

Sentient species, ecosystem, life and landscape.

Help us act as stewards preserving the

Earth's natural beauty 

for generations to come.

Amen. 

 

    Why was he not with family, friend or a caretaker is the question I posted in social media and the same on this blog. The statement is not a political statement; my wise mother advise me some time ago that I cannot to wear my heart on my sleeve. Blessings and peace to the family and legacy of the missing youth. Readers please review this story yourself as its not my job to go in details on such matters.

 https://www.wkrg.com/state-regional/florida/body-found-in-weedon-preserve-identified-as-missing-st-pete-teen/?nxsparam=1 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-origins-of-wearing-your-heart-on-your-sleeve-17471279/