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How to Meditate For A healthy Mind And Body by Frank Iamin
Learning how to meditate is the same practice among many various cultures and religions. This stays true in every aspect of practicing meditation, from learning how to breathe properly, proper posture, when to meditate, picking the correct environment, planning your meditation and understanding our thoughts and emotions.
When you are just learning how to meditate don't worry too much about every little thing. Before you can begin to unwrap the many years of programming you will have to create within yourself a great desire and sense of urgency to want to change. It is necessary that you learn how to meditate the right way to get the most from your meditation experience.
Pick Your Environment
Find a room that is quiet and free from distractions and noise. Find a comfortable area that gives you a feeling of peace and serenity. The room you choose will begin to absorb the energy you create during your meditations so if at first you don't have a perfect spot don't fret you will be programming the spot you choose. This will help you to reach a deeper state of meditation in a shorter amount of time as you continue to program your meditation area
When Should You Meditate
It's a good idea to pick a consistent time each day to meditate. A good time to meditate would be in the morning before you've been bombarded with the stresses and demands of your day. Our daily responsibilities put us under a lot of stress and the demands make it harder for us to have a good meditation when we try to meditate and relax. Be consistent with your daily morning ritual and you will notice that your day will unfold in a much different joyful pattern.
A Meditation Plan
You must choose your meditation plan when you are just beginning. You must be in the right frame of mind to have a productive meditation. Don't meditate as soon as you get home from a long day because you will wind up spending too much time trying to relax your mind and body. A good idea would be to take a short walk to decompress from the demands of your day.
If you are tired than maybe you can take a cool shower or even an energizing fresh fruit drink. It is very important to approach your meditations with the best mindset and will help you get the most out of your meditations.
Best Position
There are many different positions you can use when you are meditating but when you are just learning how to meditate it is best if you were in a seated position. Sit on the floor on a cushion or in a chair that has a straight back. Picture the energy travelling from the ground through your body and out through your head. Envision an invisible string attached to your head, which is pulling your body upright. This will give the energy a free flowing channel to travel through.
Gently place your hands on your lap with your fingers relaxed and spread apart slightly. Tuck you chin down and begin to relax you jaw and your tongue. With your mouth open slightly put your tongue against the roof of your mouth. With half open eyes look out and relax your vision by seeing but not really focusing on anything.
Focus you awareness and picture yourself in a trance-like state. Do the same thing with any sounds you hear, you notice the sounds but you don't give them any importance. They become a background symphony for the experience of the meditation, having no more importance than the background noises we hear and ignore all day long.
The Breath
When you begin to learn how to meditate you will notice that your mind is jumping rapidly from thought to thought as our minds struggle to gain control once more. You must learn to let go of these thoughts and focus your attention on your breath. To stay focused on your meditation it is a good idea to count your breaths. As you breathe deep into your belly and then breathe out consider this a count of one. Begin by counting a series of 15 to 20 breaths, this will be long enough to help you to quiet your monkey mind.
Experience the Benefits Of Meditation.
You're starting to find that place inside yourself where you are in control and your thoughts and are guided by your intentions. That place within where the mind is no longer the master of your destiny and controller of your fate. You are beginning to relax and experience what it means to be in a basic state of goodness and joy, a boundless place of deep understanding and serenity.
A level of multi-dimensional consciousness that shows you once and for all that you are more than what you see on the surface. All your former illusions of self are now breaking down and you are on a journey to discover the truly divine being you are.
Become all that you were meant to be by learning how to meditate and let go of the self defeating beliefs you have built up over the years. Use these meditation techniques everyday for the best possible results.
After meditating for many years I can tell you that the benefits of meditation can't be denied. It is my opinion and the opinion of many studies that we all will live a longer stress free life if we just learn how to meditate . Start meditating today using the above meditation techniques . It may save your life......
Article Source: How to Meditate For A healthy Mind And Body
Heavenletters™, bringing Earth closer to Heaven.
HEAVEN is here to reach every soul on earth to reawaken:
* Our connection to God *
* Our belief in ourselves *
* Our awareness of our shared worthiness to God *
* Peace on Earth *
God is always bringing us closer to Him.
HEAVEN #3465 Time and Space, Heart and Mind, May 21, 2010
God said:
Time is such an elusive thing. It gets away from you! It dominates you, and yet how does it do that? You make lists in order to master time. You try to set priorities in order to master time. Whether you follow your lists or not, time seems to get the better of you.
And so it is with space. There is too much or not enough. You try to arrange it. You try to keep it one way or another.
Both space and time seem to have their own say. You try and try to keep them in place, and, yet, time and space speed, and sometimes you just can't keep up.
If you race time and space, you won't be the winner, or you won't be the winner for long.
Must time and space dominate your lives? Of course, time and space are the relative that you are dealing with. You may say you are dealing with people as well. Of course, the people you interact with are yourself in one shape or another. They too are trying to keep up with time and space. People seem to be your biggest issue, yet it may be that time and space are.
Of course, sometimes people are in your space. And sometimes people take up your time. Those same people, if they came without space and time and without their physical attributes, they would be easy for you. All that interferes with your love would fall away. All that interferes would not exist.
You would become two souls meeting as One.
What are some of the things in the world that do irk you? Speeding cars. Litter on the streets. People talking with their mouths full or making slurping noises.
And so your senses come into play. Counting is with your fingers and your toes. Counting is touch. All the senses are beautiful. It is your mind that would make something else of them. The five senses are your great intermediaries in life, yet the mind takes over. Your mind tells you what is worth keeping and what is not, and, yet, as strong as your mind is, you sometimes escape it.
What is the missing factor? Some might say it is habit. Some might call it will.
You would like to be above anger, and yet you find yourself angry, perhaps time and time again. You cannot contain yourself. Yet is not anger willful?
Is it will or lack of will that makes you help yourself to anger? What incurs your anger?
Does your mind actually make your choices for you? Does the heart? What makes you tick?
What does rule you, beloveds? What makes you swim in the dark. What makes you use a blindfold?
Whatever, come nearer to Me. Stay close to Me. In truth, Our hearts are One.
Your thoughts, fostered by the world, pull you off track and unsettle Our arrangement. Let Our minds be One as well. Come closer to My way of thinking, for I earnestly seek you to see in new ways. Be open to My heart, and be open to My mind, for I would like you to be attuned to all that good and true. I speak of your inheritance. My heart and mind are for you.
The reality is that not even are My mind and heart separate, one from the other. Our One Heart and Mind embrace its One Self in the same manner that you and I, as One, embrace.
Permanent Link: http://www.heavenletters.org/time-and-space-heart-and-mind.html
Thank you for including this link when publishing this Heavenletter elsewhere.
Daily OM – Clinging to the Core
May 21, 2010
Clinging to the Core
When Our World Falls Apart
When it feels as if your world is falling apart, know at your core that you are a strong being of light.
There are times when our whole world seems to be falling apart around us, and we are not sure what to hold onto anymore. Sometimes our relationships crumble and sometimes it’s our physical environment. At other times, we can’t put our finger on it, but we feel as if all the walls have fallen down around us and we are standing with nothing to lean on, exposed and vulnerable. These are the times in our lives when we are given an opportunity to see where we have established our sense of identity, safety, and well-being. And while it is perfectly natural and part of our process to locate our sense of self in externals, any time those external factors shift, we have an opportunity to rediscover and move closer to our core, which is the only truly safe place to call home.
The core of our being is not affected by the shifting winds of circumstance or subject to the cycles of change that govern physical reality. It is as steady and consistent as the sun, which is why the great mystics and mystical poets often reference the sun in their odes to the self. Like the sun, there are times when our core seems to be inaccessible to us, but this is just a misperception. We know that when the sun goes behind a cloud or sets for the night, it has not disappeared but is simply temporarily out of sight. In the same way, we can trust that our inner core is always shining brightly, even when we cannot quite see it.
We can cling to this core when things around us are falling apart, knowing that an inexhaustible light shines from within ourselves. Times of external darkness can be a great gift in that they provide an opportunity to remember this inner light that shines regardless of the circumstances of our lives. When our external lives begin to come back together, we are able to lean a bit more lightly on the structures we used to call home, knowing more clearly than ever that our true home is that bright sun shining in our core.
LOVE IS ALWAYS THE BEST MEDICINE...
From: Elizabeth Cusova
FRIENDS FOREVER...........
The orangutan was in a rescue and not doing well. This old hound wandered in absolutely emaciated and the orangutan snapped to like his buddy had arrived. He stayed with the hound night and day until he was well and in the whole scenario, found a reason to live. They are now inseparable.
Suryia and Roscoe - Best Of Friends
Where you lead, I will follow...best friends Suryia the orangutan and Roscoe the Blue Tick hound.
Doggy paddle's the order of the day here for the couple who live at the Tigers sanctuary in Myrtle Beach , South Carolina .
Suryia and Roscoe spend hours together every day - they're particularly keen on swimming.
The two mates see the funny side of most things.
There's always time to chill.
For once, Roscoe's letting it all hang out.
The three-year-old orangutan goes everywhere with Roscoe.
A dog's not just a man's best friend, he's an orangutan's too.
No_Kid_Can_Resist_a_Mud_Puddle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JVHayaUEeE
Reunited with the Vietnamese 'girl in the picture'
Nick Ut's famous image of Kim Phuc fleeing the napalm attack on her village
By Rebecca Lumb
BBC News
Kim Phuc, the Vietnamese girl in one of the unforgettable images of the Vietnam War , has been reunited by the BBC with Christopher Wain, the ITN correspondent who helped save her life 38 years ago.
When Chris last saw Kim, she was lying on a hospital bed with first-degree burns to more than half of her body, after a South Vietnamese napalm bomb attack.
It was 8 June 1972 and Chris and his crew had been in Vietnam for seven weeks, covering the conflict for ITN.
I found our reunion much more moving than I'd anticipated... Kim was quite emotionally charged, and that's catching
Christopher Wain
He remembers the day clearly: "That morning we'd arrived at the village of Trang Bang, which had been infiltrated by the North Vietnamese two days earlier. They were dug in, awaiting a counter-attack.
"In the late morning, two vintage Vietnamese bombers started to circle overhead - this wasn't anything unusual, but because we had been into the village we knew something was going wrong."
Many of the villagers had already fled to the shelter of a temple, among them nine-year-old Kim.
"We thought this would be a safe place - but then I saw the plane - it got so close," she remembers.
"I heard the noise of the bombs then suddenly I saw the fire everywhere around me.
"I was terrified and I ran out of the fire. I saw my brother and my cousin. We just kept running. My clothes were burnt off by the fire."
Chris and his crew were about 400m from the point where the four canisters of napalm had exploded.
"There was a blast of heat which felt like someone had opened the door of an oven. Then we saw Kim and the rest of the children. None of them were making any sound at all - until they saw the adults. Then they started to scream."
Lasting memory
A Vietnamese photographer, Nick Ut, was also covering events in South Vietnam that day.
As Kim ran down the road, her arms outstretched and screaming for help, he took what is now seen as one of the most memorable images of the Vietnam War.
She was still running when Chris stopped her and poured water over her, while directing his crew to record the terrible scenes.
Chris helps Kim as the horrific scenes are captured on film
"We were short of film and my cameraman, the late, great Alan Downes, was worried that I was asking him to waste precious film shooting horrific pictures which were too awful to use. My attitude was that we needed to show what it was like, and to their lasting credit, ITN ran the shots."
Nick took Kim to the nearest hospital, the US-run Saigon First Children's Hospital. Shortly afterwards, his photograph and the film footage appeared all over the Western media.
One result was that everyone wanted to know what had happened to the little girl.
It was Chris who found Kim the following Sunday, in a small room at the British hospital.
"I asked a nurse how she was and she said she would die tomorrow," he says. So he got her moved to a specialist plastic surgery hospital, for life-saving treatment.
Kim stayed in hospital for 14 months and went through 17 operations, remaining in constant pain to this day.
Her image became a lasting memory for a generation - but the little girl herself disappeared from public view.
Powerful gift
Then, 10 years later, a journalist from Germany tracked Kim down.
She was at university studying medicine but the Vietnamese government cut short her studies and ordered her back to her village to be filmed and interviewed. She was now a propaganda tool.
Even when she succeeded in resuming her studies, this time in Cuba, she was still expected to fulfil her duties as a "symbol of war".
I realised I have a powerful gift... now that I have freedom I can control that picture
Kim Phuc
It was at Havana University that she met Toan, a fellow student from Vietnam. They married and took a honeymoon in Russia, which provided them with a unique opportunity to flee to Canada.
"I heard rumours that a lot of Cuban students stay in Canada on the way back from Moscow, when the plane stops to refuel. By doing this I was finally able to gain my freedom."
Kim settled down to a peaceful and anonymous life in Canada with her husband and two children, but in 1995 she was traced by another journalist and the picture was splashed across the front page of the Toronto Sun.
"I wanted to escape the picture because the more famous it got, the more it cost me my private life. It seemed to me that my picture would not let me go," she says.
However, the realisation came to her she did not have to remain an unwilling victim. The photo was, in fact, a powerful gift that she could use to help promote peace.
"I realised that now that I have freedom and am in a free country, I can take control of that picture," she says.
'Impressive woman'
This idea led her to establish the Kim Phuc Foundation, which provides medical and psychological assistance to child victims of war.
Chris continued with ITN for another three years as defence correspondent, covering amongst other things the Yom Kippur War and the invasion of Cyprus. Later he moved to the BBC.
He retired in 1999 and never expected to see Kim again.
"At the time, it was just another story, though an appalling one. It was certainly the worst thing I ever saw.
"Later, when interest was rekindled, I felt that Kim was being used. That was why 10 years ago I declined a proposed on-screen reunion with her on the Oprah Winfrey Show - it sounded exploitative."
Now, having met Kim, he's changed his mind, and no longer thinks of her as a victim of that picture.
"Despite everything that has happened to her, and all she's endured, she's become a very impressive woman."
Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in maps and graphics
A massive operation is under way in and around the Gulf of Mexico to halt a leak from a blown-out oil well and prevent the spread of the slick.
The graphic above shows the scene 1,524m (5,000 feet) beneath the waves where oil is leaking out of the damaged remnants of the oil well apparatus.
Below we explain the various attempts to stem the leak from the damaged oil lines on the sea bed.
Underwater efforts to cap oil leak
Initially, BP tried to lower a 125-tonne, 18-metre (59 feet) high container dome over the main leak on the sea floor. However, this failed when gas leaking from the pipe mixed with water to form hydrates, ice-like crystals, that blocked up the steel canopy.
Meanwhile, four robotic submersibles have been trying to activate the blow-out preventer, a set of huge valves designed to seal the well.
Experts believe the blow-out preventer (BOP) must have partially triggered otherwise the flow of oil to the surface would be more extreme than it is.
In an unusual move, BP, the British oil giant which contracted another company to drill the well, has also started using dispersant chemicals down at the leak site as well as on the surface.
A long-term solution is also in progress - drilling a relief well which can tap into the leaking well and take the pressure off the broken well. However, it could be three months before this is operational.
Up to five thousand barrels a day are thought to be leaking from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig which sank on 22 April after an explosion in which 11 workers lost their lives.
The delicate eco-system of the gulf coastline is rich in wildlife including the brown pelican, many species of duck, turtles, and whales.
There are fears that the disaster could reach the scale of the 11m gallon Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska in 1989.
How the oil has spread
Approximate oil locations 22 April - 15 May
TACKLING THE OIL SLICK
Emergency teams are using several methods in attempts to deal with the oil at the surface, which has created a slick covering about 2,000 sq miles (5,200 sq km).
More than 275 vessels, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels, are being used.
Skimmers, which skate over the water, brushing up the oil are also being employed and more than 90,000 barrels of oil-water mix have been removed.
Around 190 miles of floating boom are being used as part of the efforts to stop oil reaching the coast. A US charity is even making booms out of nylon tights, animal fur and human hair. Hair donations have been sent from around the world to help make the special booms, which will be laid on beaches to soak up any oil that washes ashore.
Dispersant chemicals, rather like soap, are being sprayed from ships and aircraft in an effort to help break down the oil - which is also degraded by wind and waves.
Burning is another method used to tackle oil spills - although it can be tricky to carry out and has associated environmental risks such as toxic smoke.
So far emergency crews have had little success in containing the spill using those methods.
New underwater technology aimed at stopping crude oil rising to the surface at the site of the leak has had some success.
12 Vows of Medicine Buddha
1. I vow that my body shall shine as beams of brilliant light on this infinite and boundless world, showering on all beings, getting rid of their ignorance and worries with my teachings.
May all beings be like me, with a perfect status and character, upright mind and soul, and finally attaining enlightenment like the Buddha.
2. I vow that my body be like crystal, pure and flawless, radiating rays of splendid light to every corner, brightening up and enlightening all beings with wisdom. With the blessings of compassion, may all beings strengthen their spiritual power and physical energy, so that they could fulfil their dreams in the right track.
3. I vow that I shall grant by means of boundless wisdom, all beings with the inexhaustible things that they require, and relieving them from all pains and guilt resulting from materialistic desires. Although clothing, food, accommodation and transport are essentials, it should be utilised wisely as well. Besides self-consumption, the remaining should be generously shared with the community so that all could live harmoniously together.
4. I vow to lead those who have gone astray back to the path of righteousness. Let them be corrected and returned to the Buddha way for enlightenment.
5. I vow that I shall enable all sentient beings to observe precepts for spiritual purity and moral conduct. Should there be any relapse or violation, they shall be guided for repentance. Provided they truly regret their wrong-doings, and vow for a change with constant prayers and strong faith in the Buddha, they could receive the rays of forgiveness, recover their lost moral and purity.
6. I vow that all beings who are physically disabled or sick in all aspects be blessed with good health, both physically and mentally. All who pays homage to Buddha faithfully will be blessed.
7. I vow to relieve all pain and poverty of the very sick and poor. The sick be cured, the helpless be helped, the poor be assisted.
8. I vow to help women who are undergoing sufferings and tortures and seeking for transformation into men. By hearing my name, paying homage and praying, their wishes would be granted and ultimately attain Buddhahood.
9. I vow to free all beings from evil thoughts and its control. I shall lead them onto the path of light through inculcating them with righteousness and honour so that they will walk the Buddha way.
10. I vow to save prisoners who have genuinely repented and victims of natural disasters. Those who are sincere will be blessed by my supreme powers and be freed from sufferings.
11. I vow to save those who suffer from starvation and those who committed crime to obtain food. If they hear my name and faithfully cherish it, I shall lead them to the advantages of Dharma and favour them with best food and eventually lead a tranquil and happy life.
12. I vow to save those who suffer from poverty, tormented by mosquitoes and wasps day and night. If they come across my name, cherish it with sincerity and practise dharma to strengthen their merits, they will be able to achieve their wishes.
Extracted from The Sutra of the Master of Healing.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
185 voices. 243 tracks. 12 countries. A choir unlike any other. What started as a simple social media experiment, has become a poetic metaphor of our shared humanity and the power of connection.
Acclaimed composer and conductor Eric Whitacre offered the sheet music of his original composition, "Lux Aurumque", as a free download and invited singers to submit a video of themselves performing one part (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass).
These rather ordinary videos of solo performances were then pieced together to form a choir of singers who have never met each other...but have unwittingly created music in perfect harmony together.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Sleep'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1h3Tf26TcA
Mandalas: Spirit In Art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBlV56y87Uw
Zendalas- How to Draw a Mandala Zentangle Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nlz4XMxcs
Just In Time - Posted by Carol Anne Paradis
"I would like to share a message I saw the other day with you called Just In Time.
Novelist Vicki Baum once said, "You don't get ulcers from what you
eat. You get them from what's eating you." And what's eating us much
of the time is worry. It eats us from the inside out.
I wish I could always be like former baseball player Mickey Rivers.
He philosophized, "Ain't no sense worrying about things you got
control over, because if you got control over them, ain't no sense
worrying. And there ain't no sense worrying about things you got no
control over either, because if you got no control them, ain't no
sense worrying."
Maybe that makes sense, I'm just not sure. But even if it does, I'll
likely wind up worried anyway. Which is why I like this story
related by inspirational Dutch author and holocaust survivor Corrie
ten Boom.
Corrie learned a powerful lesson as a little girl. Having
encountered the lifeless body of a baby, she realized that people
she loved would someday die, too. She thought about the fact that
her father and mother and sister Betsie could quite possibly pass on
before she does. The thought frightened and worried her.
One night her father came in to tuck her into bed. Corrie burst into
tears and sobbed, "I need you. You can't die. You can't!"
Her father sat on the edge of the narrow bed and spoke tenderly to
his daughter. "Corrie," he said gently, "when you and I go to
Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?"
She sniffed a few times and considered the question. "Why, just
before I get on the train," she answered.
"Exactly," he continued. Then he gave her assurance that was to last
a lifetime. "When the time comes that some of us have to die, you
will look into your heart and find the strength you need - just in
time."
Some years later Corrie and her family, arrested for sheltering Jews
and members of the Dutch resistance, were sent to Nazi concentration
camps. She, indeed, experienced the deaths of her parents and
sister, as well as numerous friends. She endured hardships that she
could never have imagined as a young child. But the words of her
father stayed with her and proved to be true. "You will look into
your heart and find the strength you need - just in time." She
always did. Regardless of the suffering or hardship she encountered,
when she looked inside her heart she found the strength she needed -
just in time.
If you worry and fret, or if you feel anxious about your future, you
may find Corrie's experience helpful. And if that thing you dread
should ever arrive, then you need only look inside your heart. The
strength you need can be found there - just in time.
The Legend of the Wissahickon – Posted by Carlton Newman
The original author and publisher are unknown.
Taken from the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.,
by Guy W. Ballard in the early 1930's.
Near Philadelphia, on the banks of the lovely Wissahikon River, there was once a Protestant monastery where lived a brotherhood of noble men who had left Europe and sought a home in the wilderness where they might worship God in their own way, far from the courts of kings. They were known as Fanatics.
About one mile from the old monastery, there lived a man who was of the brotherhood in belief, but not with them because he had brought with him to the new world his young son and baby daughter. He was a nobleman of wealth and position, whose religious beliefs were tolerated neither by Protestants nor Catholics. He had lived patiently and quietly in the Old World doing his best and faithfully serving his king, until his beloved wife died. Then he had given up his castle, his lands, his title and most of his great possessions, and fled across the sea with his young son and baby daughter, to make a home in an old time blockhouse of the Wissahikon wilderness. There he lived and studied the book of Revelations for seventeen years. Meantime his little son became a noble youth who shared in his father's every hope and conviction; his baby daughter became a fair maiden, lovely beyond words; with gold hair which fell not in ringlets nor curls, but in soft, wavy profusion to her shoulders.
We are told that when the shadows were beginning to lengthen on the last day of 1773, the little family might have been seen walking arm in arm along the banks of the Wissahikon, beneath trees bending under their weight of snow. The father, who was then known and loved far and near as the Priest of the Wissahikon, wore a velvet cloak with a silver cross suspended by a cord around his neck. The girl, with a look of adoration upon her face, listened without questioning to the conversation between father and brother in whose eyes shone the light of immortality. For seventeen years the old man had studied Revelations and again he repeated what he had affirmed so many times before, as the result of these years of study.
"The Old World," said he, "is sunk in all manner of crime, as was the Antediluvian World; the New World is given to man as a refuge, even as the ark was given to Noah and his children.
"The New World is the last altar of human freedom left on the surface of the globe. Never shall the footsteps of Kings pollute its soil. It is the last hope of man. God has spoken and it is so. Amen."
It was the girl who urged a return to the house, and it was she who sought its warmth and shelter for the sake of her loved ones, and drew the curtains at the windows of the living room to shut out the gloomy forest and coming night. It was the girl who tried to bring cleer to the little group and to lighten the sadness of her father and brother; to distract them from their somber thought and study. That night she tried in vain; she knew that passing hunters again would hear the voice of prayer late into the night, and see the chapel lights streaming across the snow until the dawn.
The hour of separation came when father and son bade the maiden good night and together sought the chapel where two tall candles were already burning on the white altar. It was a circular chamber with oak panels. Between the candles on the altar was a slender silver flagon, a wreath of laurel, freshly gathered from the Wissahikon hills, and a velvet bound Bible with clasps of gold. Behind the altar was an iron cross. The Priest of the Wissahikon was the first to break the silence.
Said he: "At the third hour after midnight, the Deliverer will come!"
Said he: "At the third hour after midnight, the Deliverer will come!"
Then as the young man stood pondering, the father responded, "Tonight he will come. At the third hour after midnight he will come through yonder door and take upon himself his great mission to free the New World from the yoke of the Tyrants. All is ready for his coming. Behold the crown, the flagon of anointing oil, the Bible and the Cross!"
Hours passed. The lad knelt in prayer; but the father paced up and down the chapel waiting until the clock of the great hall struck twelve and the New Year dawned. Then the lad arose and gently tried to prepare his father for disappointment. Perhaps they were mistaken; perhaps they were not right in believing that the time for the deliverer was at hand.
"At the third hour after midnight the Deliverer will cone!" was the father's answer.
The lad returned to his prayers and the Priest of the Wissahikon continued his lonely watch while the clock struck one, two, three. Then there came footsteps in the hall, and a tall stranger of commanding presence entered the door of the chapel and spoke these words:
"Friends, I have lost my way in the forest. Can you direct me to the right Way?"
Answered the Priest of the Wissahikon, "Thou hast found the way to usefulness and immortal renown!"
Wondering, the stranger came a step nearer to see if he were being mocked; hut the Priest of the Wissahikon rapidly questioned him. Did he come from the city? Yes. What was the burden upon his heart; was it not his country's welfare? Yes. Was he not troubled about the right of a subject to raise his hand against his King? Yes! Then said the Priest of the Wissahikon to the amazed stranger:
"Thou art called to a great work Kneel before this altar and here, in the silence of the night, amid the depths of these wild woods, will I anoint Thee, Deliverer of this great land!"
Immediately this peerless stranger before whom ten thousand might bow their heads, knelt before the white altar in the old blockhouse and placed his hands on the Bible.
Then, says the legend, these words fell from the lips of the Priest of the Wissahikon:
"Then art called to the great work of a Champion and Deliverer! Soon thou wilt ride to the battle at the head of legions - soon thou wilt lead a people on to Freedom - soon thy sword will glean like a meteor over the ranks of war!"
The candle light cast weird shadows on the wall, the silver cross of the Priest shone, the white altar cloth waved in the wind from the open outer door, the trees moaned outside, while the Priest, so the story goes, continued thus:
"Dost thou promise that when the appointed time arrives, thou wilt be found ready, sword in hand, to fight for thy Country and thy God?"
Solemnly came the answer, "I do!"
"Dost thou promise in the hour of thy glory, when a nation shall bow before thee, as in the fierce moment when thou shalt behold thy soldiers starving for want of bread, to remember the great truth written in these Words, 'I am but the minister of God in this great work of a Nation's freedom'?"
Clearly, firmly, came the answer, "I do promise!"
"Then in His name who gave the New World to millions of the human race, as the last altar of their rights, I do consecrate thee its Deliverer!"
The Priest of the Wissahikon dipped his fingers in the anointing oil and described the outlines of a cross upon the stranger's forehead and was about to place the laurel wreath upon his head after saying: "When the time comes, go forth to victory. On thy brow no conqueror's blood-red wreath, but this crown of fadeless laurel," when the girl appeared, took the wreath and crowned the stranger.
Unable to sleep, she had hastily donned a white robe, and putting a dark cloak around her, had gone down to the chapel and had witnessed the scene unnoticed until she had seized the laurel crown from her father's hands. Fearing she had been presumptuous, the girl bowed her head; but the father smiled.
"It is well," said he, "from whom should the Deliverer of a Nation receive his crown of laurel, but from the hands of a stainless woman."
Then spoke the lad: "Rise, the Champion Leader of a People. Rise, sir, and take this hand which never yet was given to man. I know not thy name, yet on this Book I swear to be faithful to thee even to the death." Then Paul, for that was his name, buckled a sword to the Stranger's side.
When the ceremony was over, the stranger stood in the chapel in towering strength and majesty and said these final words:
"From you, old man, I take the vow. From you, fair girl, the laurel. From you, brave friend, the sword. On this Book I swear to be faithful unto all!"
A moment later the stranger vanished into the outer wilderness of the Wissahikon and the sound of his retreating footsteps mingled with the moaning of the wind. That was New Year's Night of the year 1774. In the darkest hour of the American Revolution; the blockhouse was burned; and while smoke still rose from the ruined home, three were sleeping in their graves by the Wissahikon; one was an aged nobleman; one was a fearless lad; and the other, a fair girl with a wealth of golden hair.
Years later, when America was a nation, and George Washington was her President, again came the stranger of noble presence to the banks of the Wissahikon, seeking the blockhouse and the three who sent him on his mission that New Year's Eve of 1774. He found the ruined blockhouse and the graves. That night, at a party in the bright city of Philadelphia there were many who wondered why, at a time when a nation bowed before him, the Father of our Country was sad and thoughtful, and bowed his head as if in memory of grief when a fair maid, with a wealth of golden hair, sang a song of the Wissahikon.
