Follow-Up to WATER Meditation with Jan Elsea      

“Praying”

Mon. April 11, 2022 7:30 PM

Video can be found at https://www.waterwomensalliance.org/watermeditations/

The April WATERmeditation happened at a very special time when Lent, Ramadan, Passover, and several other religious celebrations converge. “For the first time in over 30 years, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, and Baha’is will celebrate their spring holidays at the same time. Ramadan, Passover, Easter, and Vaisakhi are overlapping for the first time since 1991.” https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/celebrating-together-2022-spring-holidays/ March 3, 2022.

We are grateful to longtime WATER friend and supporter Jan Elsea for her leadership in this session. Jan is the Founder and President Emerita of Communications Skills, formed in 1978. She has been a consultant, public speaker and author in communication, executive development, and leadership skills. She coaches in these areas as well. She is a lifetime member of the National Communication Association. She lives in a retirement center at Arizona State University, Mirabella at ASU, which facilitates intergenerational interaction with students for mutual enrichment.

Jan offered her reflections on living with health challenges as she turns 80, and how her prayer life is continuing to evolve. She used Mary Oliver’s lovely poem, “Praying,” as she invited us to reflect on our own lives through a similar lens.

“Praying” by Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Thirst: Poems by Mary Oliver, Boston: Beacon Press, 2007.

Jan’s words, and those of Mary Oliver, found deep resonance in many of us for which we are grateful.

WATER wishes you a delightful holiday, whatever you celebrate this season.