Cherokee Feast of Days: Daily Meditations

JANUARY

Unu la ta nee'
Cold Month

The Cherokee people stand upon new ground. Let us hope the cloudswhich overspread the land will be dispersed and that we shall prosper aswe have never before done.
CHIEF JOHN ROSS
OCTOBER 9, 1861

January 1

If, like a Cherokee warrior, I can look at the new year as anopportunity to stand on new ground, then strength and courage are on myside. If I have waited a long time for everything to be perfect - andthere have been moments, brief as they were, that filled my expectations- then I can face the challenges. I will remember that things do workout, bodies do heal, relationships mend - not because I said it, butbecause I believe it. But it is time to make things right, to stay onthe path. As water runs fresh and free from the woodland spring, so newlife and meaning will bubble up from my own inner source. I will bestill and steady, because there is nothing to be gained by showing fearin a chaotic world. I can turn from ignorance and prejudice toward alight that never goes out.

The death of fear is in doing what you fear to do.
SEQUICHIE COMINGDEER

January 2

This morning, snow wrapped every tree and rock in soft white, andpromised to keep the outline of distant hills hidden against a gray sky.But it could not keep its promise. After a few hours the sun came outand turned it all into nature's jewelry, beautiful dew gems sparkling onthe grass. We can be so busy that we miss the little things that sweetenlife, the way a pet waits to be noticed, the way an owl, a wahuhi, hoots in the woods, and a bluejay chortles in the middle of winter.It is a lovely thing to turn away from busy work to pay attention to ourloved things and loved ones. We know how we wait to be told we areimportant. We should never wait to say or think something beautiful thatwill make someone's day easier and more secure.

We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
RED CLOUD 1870

January 3

When we last saw Essie she had been ashen and without the strength wesee in her now. Now she sits flat on the ground, legs straight out infront, and reeds tumble across her knees and lie around her. Nimblefingers seek the perfect one to start a basket. Essie is close to ourhearts. She has our Grandmother's name. Her reticence does not inspireidle talk, so we ask what happened to change her. With a quick glance,she says, "God heal." "Is it possible? So quickly and completely?"Hesitantly, she asks, "You got fast oven?" I say I do. "What make itwork?" "Why, microwaves - energy. They change the molecules, thestructure of the bread from cold to hot." Seconds pass. She says, almosttoo softly, "Prayer energy. Make me well."

I love a people who have always made me welcome to the best they had... who are honest without laws ... who never take the name of God invain ... who worship God without a Bible ... and I believe God lovesthem too.
GEORGE CATLIN, ARTIST 1830

January 4

To the Cherokee, worry is the dalala, the woodpecker, peckingaway on the roof. It is easy to understand that even new wood cannotbear such hammering without giving way. Imagine what would happen to aroof which has already been through storms and many hot summers. But howdo we handle this woodpecker called worry? By seeing it for what it is -a bird that causes damage. We can shout and scare it away for awhile,but as soon as we drop our guard it is back again. Worry did not crashin suddenly. It entered our lives little by little, so that we did notnotice. Surely it will go away, but it takes its toll so gradually thatwe grow accustomed to it - thinking it is just a normal part of living.When we hear worry rapping on the roof, we can ask ourselves, what havewe talked about? What have we heard or dwelled on that distresses us?

Udadolisdi nuwhtohiyada Jalagi. Cherokee pray for peace.

Excerpted from A Cherokee Feast of Days by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. Copyright © 1992 by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.