Edward Hays ~ Author, Artist & Storyteller
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The Prescription

5/7/2014

 

The Prescription


Dear old and new friends,

    The author Robert Fulghum wrote about a personal account of a lady he knew who went to a psychiatrist in relation to some troubles. After attentively listening to her, the psychiatrist wrote out a prescription, folded it and gave it to her saying, “Promise you won’t return until you have used up this prescription.” She agreed and took the prescription to her druggist. After reading it he handed it back to her, “I can’t fill this,” he said, “but you can.”

    The prescription? “Spend one hour some Sunday watching the sunrise while walking in a cemetery.” Fulghum says this woman, who no longer was attending church, used that prescription and does so now several times a year. He concludes he doesn’t know if her Sunday practice entitles her to heaven, but he does know that her life here on earth is no longer the hell it once was.

                                                        ***

    Today we eat and read…and do everything in a hurry. Our mothers wisely told
us to slow down and chew our food when we ate. Unlike reading for pleasure or
information, when we read for inner-formation it requires that same rule. What is
read for soul growth should be embraced, digested and known from the inside
out. Read a little, think a lot!

    The true story of that woman and her unusual prescription is a modern parable.
Read it again and unhurriedly chew on it to help you digest its meaning. As you do, ask yourself the following questions slowly one by one:

            What, if anything, does this story have to do with me and my life?

            Why was it necessary to spend an entire hour in a cemetery?

            What else besides walking was she to do during that hour?

            Why was she to be in a cemetery at such an early hour as sunrise?
Dan Sanley
5/9/2014 04:02:59 am

Dear Special Friend,

Forgive me for not commenting each and every week, but you can be assured that your weekly postings are read and appreciated. They are always filled with inspirations that I hold dear. For this one I had to comment because it touched a string if not a chord, when nearly describing an event that already took place. On the first anniversary of my father’s funeral (which I did not plan or know at the time) I had paid a visit to his grave site. I went out before sunrise and spent a good part of an hour at the spot he was laid to rest. The thoughts were deep and personal and of no interest to anyone else. They were sad and joyful as well as thankful. In that lonely, quiet, isolated place the darkness slowly lifted and was chased away by a golden orb rising in the east. A low lying fog hugged the ground as the light and orb rose above it. It was a magical moment of extreme peace that seemed to promise of newness and freshness. I was in another dimension for awhile and left that place with great peace in my heart. If I were a poet I would attempt to draw you a verbal picture. Suffice it to say that the entire experience was not unlike the death and Resurrection of Jesus; something deep and unsearchable that exceeds all ability to praise.

Most everyone would love the experience of the sunrise, but who would want to spend an hour in a cemetery in the dark? The secret may be in that we must experience both, in order to measure the vast magnitude of difference between the two. We could not appreciate the joy of one without the desolation of the other. Most non-believers always ask, “How can there be a God who allows pain, suffering and death in the world?” My answer to that is, “How can there be a God who does not reveal the Truth?” Truth is a knowing of the reality both the glorious love of God and the horror life without God, without love. For the believers, they seem to be split into two groups: those who focus only on the pain and suffering of Christ, and those who focus on the Resurrection. The truth is that Easter and Good Friday are one. You cannot have one without the other.

- Dan

Marty Harriet Maher
5/11/2014 02:13:07 pm

I heard yesterday an old tree had been blown down in your town. Then I woke up after watching films and telling others stories of memories I had of the times when our family paths crossed. Today I sang at Mothers Dsy Mass. I was hoarse from sharing all those memories. After the Mothers Day meal I went to the Cemetery...I didn't take the owl I saw as a gift but a patriotic bow, one of my flowers and 3 glow straws. I'm not sure whose life story was the reading for today but I know I was the sheep in the green meadow at sunset. Hope all is well with you and yours. Keep up the magical telling what you hear.

Jim Henderschedt
5/12/2014 11:43:30 pm

Ah, Ed, Sunrise.....the mystical, magical time of day that is sung into being by the birds. What wonderful food for the soul (spirit) the sunrise is. I often stop in amazement at the beautiful pallet of pastels that is used to create such beauty. And one is not give much time to perceive it. It lasts just a few minutes before the hum and buzz of life is set into motion. Blessings to you my friend. Betty (diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis) also sends her love.


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    Edward Hays


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