CELEBRATING TOGETHER

     I love the story about the four-year old girl who was busily creating a large and colorful drawing, when her kindergarten teacher remarked, "What a beautiful picture! What are you drawing?" Without hesitation, the child said, "I'm drawing God." "But, but... no one knows what God looks like," answered the teacher." "Well," countered the child, "they will when I finish my picture!"

     The little girl was demonstrating what so many of us adults tend to forget: that we are all free to choose when and how we manifest Spirit in our daily lives. That we are, in a very real sense, all expressing "what God looks like" through our words and deeds.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US

     This Saturday night, the Celebration Circle will be celebrating our 25th Birthday, and we really hope you can join us for the big party. You'll find details about WHAT the party involves elsewhere on this page; but I'd like to focus on the WHY for a moment: because for more than two decades, the Celebration Circle has been gathering regularly "to honor and nurture the Sacred in ourselves, each other and all creation." To support each other in exercising our co-creative power to demonstrate "what God looks like" by making conscious choices about who we are, and what we're really here to express in our lives.

     In doing so, we've been helping give birth to a powerful New Story being born in the midst of our dominant culture: a story of love, peace, sustainability and inter-connection that arises out of our willingness to experience, explore and express our Oneness. And it's amazing that we've been able to do so as an independent, interfaith community, without a formal membership process, and funded solely by individual contributions of time, talent and treasure from folks like YOU. And that's a big accomplishment!

     So that's what we're celebrating this Saturday night, and why we hope you can join us in having Big Fun, as we remember, "We Are One."

With blessings and hopes of seeing you there Saturday night (and/or Sunday morning!!),

     Rudi

Thanks for supporting the Circle with your time, talent and treasure, just by reading this you are tapping into our collective abundant consciousness of Love. Please consider making a financial donation to support that consciousness by clicking 
HERE.

Top Ten Reasons to Buy Raffle Tickets for Celebration Circle's 25th Birthday Party

#1.  Each Raffle ticket is good for one of six different raffle packages, and each package contains a fabulous prize package valued at $500-$800 each - while the tickets cost just $5 each (or 5 for $20).

#2.  There's something for everyone in these basket packages, including: Health and Wellness; Livin' the Life In SA; Get Creative Getaway in the Hill Country; Family Fun; Old World-New World Wine Collection; and a one of a kind, custom-designed, sterling silver Circle Pendant in a 14" tall amethyst crystal!

#3.  The drawing will be held on April Fool's Day, but the quality and value of the items is no joke.

#4.  The photos of the packages shown here are beautiful, but only hint at the high quality of the prizes themselves.

 #5. The odds of you winning one of these wonderful basket packages are much, much, MUCH greater than your odds of winning the Lottery!

 #6. Your money is going to support the work of the Celebration Circle...100%.

 #7. You can buy your raffle tickets in person Sunday mornings or online at the Circle website celebrationcircle.org/store

.

#8. You need not be present at the raffle drawing to win.

 #9.  But you can enjoy watching the drawing, whether you attend or not, because it will be shown live via Facebook Live Video streaming at 8:50PM  on April 1st - no fooling!

#10. When you buy your raffle ticket(s), you will already be a winner, simply by knowing that you are supporting a powerful interfaith community with a 25 year history of supporting countless people on their path of spiritual growth. 

To purchase admission and raffle tickets (and to see a list of all the items in each raffle package) go to CelebationCircle.org/store

 and click a ticket option.

Thanks for your support!

LET MY HEART STAY OPEN

The rooster crows from my neighbor's yard

cuts through the pre-dawn darkness

calls me to leave my bed

my soul responds with gladness

eager to greet the mystery of what comes next,

I hear the echoes of a favorite song, written long ago,

needing to be sung, 

longing to be lived, today:

Let my heart stay open, let my mind stay clear,

Let me be aware of the beauty that is here

Let me feel my feelings whether high or low

Let me be a vessel for love to flow.

Facing into dying, I embrace living

Forgiving myself and everybody I have known

For all the things we did that I wish we hadn't done

We all did our very best, each and everyone. 

 

Sometimes the vultures of our linear culture

May seem to have a bone or two to pick with me

But when I take a second look I see I was mistaken

I take a breath and I give thanks remembering I'm free

For my problems are my teachers, so why sit in the bleachers

A victim of my enemies down below

For I am what disturbs me and all my problems serve me

Helping me remember everything I know.  

Let my heart stay open, let my mind stay clear,

Let me be aware of the beauty that is here

Let me feel my feelings whether high or low

Let me be a vessel for love to flow.

 

With gratitude and blessings,

   Rudi

Thanks for supporting the Circle with your time, talent and treasure, just by reading this you are tapping into our collective abundant consciousness of Love. Please consider making a financial donation to support that consciousness by clicking 
HERE.

BEFORE AND AFTER

     Now that March has arrived and the last freeze date for San Antonio is in the rear view mirror, I've started pruning the trees and shrubs in our yard. This is an annual ritual, so I shouldn't really be surprised by the results, and still I am. It's so satisfying to whack away at a flowerbed full of dry, dead branches with a pair of pruning sheers, and just a few minutes later have the space cleared out completely. And more surprising still to return to the same spot just two days later and see the stunning amount of new growth that has emerged from the seemingly bare, stubby branches in this short amount of time. It's happening so quickly that it almost seems like the leaves are unfurling and expanding in the sun right before my eyes, and I'm awestruck at the sight.

 ONCE AGAIN

     I'm no botanist, so I don't know all of the bio-chemical processes involved. But apparently this burst of growth is possible because the new buds were already waiting at the surface of the branches, mostly invisible to the untrained eye.  As soon as the dead leaves (and the protective layers of shade and insulation they provided during cold weather) were trimmed away, it's a signal for the plants to focus all their energy on the new leaves, which are now being bathed in sunlight with space to grow rapidly in the absence of the old growth.

 NOW AND THEN

     Watching these bright green leaves growing while feeling the crisp spring breezes blowing, I can't help but wonder once again about what in my own life is needing to be pruned away to make room for the new growth that is ready to burst forth? What new "buds" of growth are currently invisible, and just waiting for me to prune away some of the old, so they have room to sprout and flourish? Which of my self-imposed habits and limitations am I ready to release in order to help create room for such new growth to emerge and bloom? Which of the many material possessions cluttering our household have outlived their usefulness, and could be released to allow for more psychic space?

 WHO KNOWS WHEN

     Hearing those questions emerge in my heart, part of me wants to know The Answers right now. Part of me asks curtly: "Didn't you go through all these questions at this same time last year -- and the year before, too?" But another, larger part of me knows that just hearing and honoring these questions is sufficient for now. The answers - and the actions I need to take in order to live into those answers - will appear soon enough. I remember once again the powerful words from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes:  "To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven." And right now, I think it's time to go back outside and prune a few more branches.

 With gratitude and blessings,

     Rudi

Thanks for supporting the Circle with your time, talent and treasure, just by reading this you are tapping into our collective abundant consciousness of Love. Please consider making a financial donation to support that consciousness by clicking HERE.