Day Twenty-Five: Sustenance

Word of the Day: sustenance

Image of the Day: icons of Mary and Jesus on our prayer table

Token of the Day: Frida Kahlo butterfly grip from an exhibition at the Tate, 9 June-9 October 2005

Sustenance - something that sustains life or health; means of livelihood. Middle English, from Old French from sustenir, to sustain.

Sustain - Middle English sustenen, from Old French sustenir, from Latin sustinere.

Sus- is from sub- meaning from below and tenere meaning to hold.

So that which sustains us is whatever it takes to hold us up. The image in my head is of a ballerina balanced on the raised hand of her partner. Should his strength fade or his focus wane she will fall. She is utterly dependent on him and must trust him completely. And this is how our relationship with God should be.

Human beings are of such nature that they should have not only material facilities but spiritual sustenance as well. Without spiritual sustenance, it is difficult to get and maintain peace of mind. Dalai Lama

Non-violence is not a quality to be evolved or expressed to order. It is an inward growth depending for sustenance upon intense individual effort. Mohandas Gandhi

Who and what sustains me?

• God, the Great I Am and the host of divine beings that are part of God nourish me with guidance, support, and comfort. Through worship - icons, candles, prayer, music, chants, words, teaching; through community - sharing, loving, debating, co-operating
• Love - amorous, passionate and soul-deep love for, from, and shared with, Gail
• Love - family (blood and chosen) which is enduring and forgiving and essential
• Being all that i can be - using my gifts, skills and experience for the good of the whole
• receiving what i need - psychotherapy, spiritual direction, massage, friendship, medication
• food and drink - and herein lies the battle. I no longer drink alcohol so caffeine is the closest i get to addictive fluid substances! But food is a battleground. All my skills and experience tell me the way to be...my heart and my psyche, the hurting me, tell me otherwise.

Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about what sustains them physically but to trust God (Luke 12: 22-34)

In Deuteronomy we learn of God's generosity, providing manna and spiritual nourishment; and the psalmist tells us to cast all our worries on Yhwh and Yhwh will sustain us (Psalm 55: 22)

O Divine Generosity
flood the droughts in all our hearts
with Your nourishing, living water
pour out the sweet honey that our souls so desire
and teach us to desire only You,
to be greedy only in outpourings of love,
hungry purely for Your Spirit
that we might be Your sustaining instruments in the world.