Sacred Ground

The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the dust and blood of our ancestors. On these plains the Great White Father is Washington sent his soldiers armed with long knives and rifles to slay the Indian. Many of them sleep on yonder hill where Pahaska - White Chief of the Long Hair [General Custer] - so bravely fought and fell.

A few more passing suns will see us here no more, and our dust and bones will mingle with the same prairies. I see as in a vision the dying spark of our council fires, the ashes cold and white. I see no longer the curling smoke rising from our lodge poles. I hear no longer the songs of the women as they prepare the meal.

The antelope have gone; the buffalo wallows are empty. Only the wail of the coyote is heard. The white man's medicine is stronger than ours; his iron horse [the railroad] rushes over the buffalo trail. He talks to us through his "whispering spirit" [the telephone].

We are like birds with a broken wing. My heart is cold within me. My eyes are growing dim - I am old.

Chief Plenty Coups - Crow

Chinook Lords Prayer

Nesika papa klaksta mitlite kopa saghalie
(Our Father Who dwells on High)

Kloshe kopa nesika tumtum mika nem.
(Good for our hearts Your Name.)

Kloshe mika tyee kopa konaway tillikum;
(Good you Chief of all people;)

Kloshe mika tumtum kopa illahee kahkwa kopa saghalie;
(Good Your heart to make our country such as Yours up above;)

Potlatch konaway sun nesika muckamuck,
(Give us all days our food,)

Pee kopet-kumtux donaway nesika mesachie,
(And stop remembering all our sins we make to them,)

Kahkwa nesilka mamook kopa klasksta spose mamook
mesachie kopa nesia;
(As we suppose not their sin against us;)

Mahah siah kopa nesika konaway mesachie.
(Throw far away from us all evil)

Kloshe kahkwa.
(Amen.)

Starry Night(Vincent)

Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now

Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Chorus:
For they could not love you, but still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night
You took your life as lovers often do,
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Starry, starry night, portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls with eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the stranger that you've met, the ragged man in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose, lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will.

 

- Don McLean

Dream Catchers

An ancient Chippewa tradition
The dream net has been made
For many generations
Where spirit dreams have played.

Hung above the cradle board,
Or in the lodge up high,
The dream net catches bad dreams,
While good dreams slip on by.

Bad dreams become entangled
Among the sinew thread.
Good dreams slip through the center hole,
While you dream upon your bed.

This is an ancient legend,
Since dreams will never cease,
Hang this dream net above your bed,
Dream on, and be at peace.

Wornout Fences

"

  "Wornout Fences" Sitting Bull and his comrades called the place where they went to trade with the Wasichus - the white men. Fort Pierre Chouteau had stood on the west bank of the Missouri River three miles above the mouth of the Bad River since 1832, and its rotting palisade and rundown log buildings did indeed resemble wornout fences.

  The fort could defend itself if necessary. A protective stockade surrounded the interior, and corner bastions mounted cannon. The treeless river bottom extended westward for a mile or more before broken by bluffs gently rising to the plains, so no Indians could approach without detection. Usually, however, clusters of tipis carpeted the valley floor, sheltering Sioux who had come to trade rather than fight.

  Fort Pierre afforded the Hunkpapas and their Lakota and Yanktonai neighbors their principal window on the white world. Originally an outpost of the American Fur Company, it now operated under the rubric of Pierre Chouteau and Company, a loose partnership that had brought out the Astor empire's Western Department in 1834. From the first, the fort had served as the company's chief trading outlet for the Missouri River Lakotas.

There the Indians went to exchange buffalo robes for the trade goods that had become essential parts of the material aspect of their culture. - from The Lance and The Shield - The Life and Times of Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley

If the Great Spirit has desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans; in my heart he put other and different desires.

Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows. Now we are poor but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die, we die defending our rights.

Sitting Bull - Teton Sioux

Dark is the Night

"The Indian's night promises to be dark. No bright star hovers about the horizon. Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance. Some grim Nemesis of our race is on the red man's trail, and wherever he goes he will still hear the sure approaching footsteps of the fell destroyer and prepare to meet his doom, as does the wounded doe that hears the approaching footsteps of the hunter. A few more moons, a few more winters, and not one of all the mighty hosts that once filled this broad land or that now roam in fragmentary bands through these vast solitudes will remain to weep over the tombs of a people once as powerful and as hopeful as your own.
"But why should we repine? Why should I murmur at the fate of my people? Tribes are made up of individuals and are no better than they. Men come and go like the waves of the sea. A tear, a tamanawus, a dirge, and they are gone from our longing eyes forever. Even the white man, whose God walked and talked with him, as friend to friend, is not exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. - Chief Seattle

The First Peace

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.
Black Elk - Oglala Sioux

The Cost of Money

 

 

 

How much did your money cost you?
Was the ladder of wealth hard to climb?
Did you stage some attacks,
Perhaps stab a few backs ~
Did it take all your effort, your time?

How much did your money cost you?
Was your home full of peace or unrest?
At the close of the day
Could you honestly say
That you'd given your family your best?

Did you have a nice home?
Did you drive a fine car?
Now you're six feet below ~
Will it get you that far?

How much did your money cost you?
Was that paycheck your only reward?
All those hours pulling strings
Just to buy you more things ~
But no time for the things of the Lord?

How much did your money cost you?
Did you look in the mirror with pride?
Or did greed run amuck
For that Almighty Buck
Till you pushed your own conscience aside?

Did it cost you your soul?
Did you dawdle in sin?
Now you're outside of Heav'n ~
Can you bribe your way in?

 

Oh, Satan appears as an angel
In guise of supporting one's own ~
If your god becomes cash,
Your life's gone in a flash,
And your time on this planet has flown.

Have the fanciest stone in the graveyard,
Have the prettiest casket they sell ~
If you never asked Jesus to save you,
Then you purchased your ticket to Hell.
Just a sure one-way ticket to Hell.

by Connie Hinnen Cook

"Keep your lives free from the love of money
and be content with what you have,
because God has said, Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you." (Heb. 13:5, NIV)

Go Carefully

Aya-angwa-a'mizin is drawn from the Algonquian language. Translated literally, it is usually read as " to go carefully" or "to read carefully."

But beyond this superficial meaning is the idea that the actions of persons have consequences for a larger whole. The term is used in a context that assumes the meaninglessness of existence and action, that we do not live in a "neutral" universe that exists beyond and outside ourselves. We are part of the universe.

All things are connected. - AUTHOR UNKNOWN

One of my favorite movies depicts the consequences of one's life lived in a selfish vs a sharing way. It's A Wonderful Life by Frank Capra starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, traditionally broadcast during the Christmas Holidays, reminds us of how one person's life can impact so many lives. As the angel Clarence says in the movie, "you've been given a wonderful gift".

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the many things You have delivered me from. I am very grateful that I am free of those things that were destroying me. Father, help me to be patient with those around me that are struggling with their sins. Remind me to pray for them and help me not to talk about them in the wrong way. Lord, I do need Your counsel also, as I have many decisions to make and I do not want to make the wrong ones. Help me to recognize and appreciate godly advice that comes from others. I humble myself and ask that You lead me in all of Your ways. I pray for my brothers and sisters, as well. May we all submit to Your will in all things. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Hunters

There were but two beneath the sky -
The thing I came to kill, and I.
I, under covert, quietly
Watched him sense eternity
From quivering brush to pointed nose
My gun to shoulder level rose.
And then I felt (I could not see)
Far off a hunter watching me.
I slowly put me rifle by,
For there were two who had to die -
The thing I wished to kill, and I.

- UNKNOWN

My Heart Soars

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
The rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away, they speak to me
And my heart soars.

- CHIEF DAN GEORGE, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Coast Salish Band

Grandfather, Do You Know Me?

                                                     
                                         Grandfather, do you know me?

I am your blood.
The son of your son. I come to ask you a question Grandfather.
Grandfather, don't you know me? Can I stop being Indian now

There are others that want to be Indian,
And if they can start from nothing,
I should be able to stop from something?
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Grandfather, I don't look like you.
I don't know what you know.
It would be easy for me to hide behind my paler skin.
No one would know the pain I feel,
Or see the tears I cry for your Great Grandchildren.
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Grandfather, look what I have done to our world.
Mother Earth is on her knees.
The Snake and Owl rule the day.
I don't understand the language you speak Grandfather.
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Grandfather, I want my Pepsi, Levi's and Porsche too.
I want to go where the others go,
And see the things they see too.
I don't have time to dance in the old way Grandfather.
Grandfather?
Grandfather, why are you crying?
Grandfather, why are you crying?
Grandfather, please stop crying.

Grandfather, don't you know me?

- CHARLES PHILLIP WHITE, Ojibway

My Friend

My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were the only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make so much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow? So many other men have lived and shall live that story, to be grass upon the hills.

- BLACK ELK, OGLALA SIOUX, 1863-1950

Warmth of the Sun

 

My heart is filled with joy,

when I see you here,

as the brook fills with water

when the snow melts in the spring,

and I feel glad,

as the ponies are when

the fresh grass starts

in the beginning of the year.

- TEN BEARS, YAMPARIKA COMMANCHE

Sunday's Devotional

Proverbs 10:31-32(Amplified): 31 The mouth of the righteous (those harmonious with God) brings forth skillful and godly  wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be cut down (as a barren and rotten tree). 32 The lips of the (uncompromisingly) righteous know (and therefore utter) what is  acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked knows (and therefore speaks only) what is  obstinately willful and contrary.

 

Thoughts for the Day These scriptures in Proverbs compare the words of the righteous with the words of the  wicked.  When I was young some of the children would call others names and make fun of them.  The children who were being harassed would reply with this old saying:   "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."   After studying the Bible, I realized this old adage is not true. Using unkind names  or words against people is harmful. It is harmful to the one who uses them, as well  as to the one it is being spoken against. Words are very powerful. Think about this.  Lawyers use words to build their cases. Our nation's laws are made up made up of  volumes of words. Our national treaties are words written on documents.  Words announce the daily news.  Words are tools that are used to communicate with one another. In the beginning  God used words to create the earth by speaking everything into existence (Genesis 1).  In the New Testament Jesus, Himself is referred to as the living Word. The Bible is  also known as the Word of God. Words are powerful! John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the  Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were  made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." The Bible has a lot to say about the way we should speak, and also warns us not  to speak in certain ways. In the Bible when someone speaks words that are good  and uplifting, they are referred to as speaking a "blessing." When one speaks evil  words against someone it is referred to as speaking a "curse" against them. This is  how "curse words" or "cussing" originated by speaking evil words. Since the devil is  behind curse words, many curse words are direct expletives that come against God  or Jesus. Jesus taught in the Bible that when a man curses or uses profanity it is a sign of evil  that is in that man's heart. It is popular today for both men and women to curse.  They never think of it as an evil condition in their heart, but rather a small thing  that everyone does. These small words of cursing the Bible says, will defile the  whole man if they are not repented of and stopped. Cussing and using the name  of the Lord in vain causes one to become defiled. Popular movies and T.V. are responsible for causing society to accept foul language  as the "norm." They portray cursing as a way to vent anger and tell people off.  The very attitudes behind cursing show that it is not right, as cussing is used to  demean and put down people. These words can be mild expletives to horrible  blasphemies.  Since the devil is the one who inspires these evil utterances he causes people to  use our Lord's name in the most ungodly ways. In the modern definition of cursing, usually people use the name of Jesus or God  in vain and swear with curses such as "go to hell" or "damn you." These words  clearly show it is an evil coming from the devil. Have you ever wondered why  people do not not use the names of gods of other religions when they curse?  The names that the devil hates and uses people to voice hateful curses are "God,"  "Christ," "Jesus Christ" and "Jesus."  Terms about hell and heaven are also used in derogatory ways. The very misuse  of these words should prove the existence of God and the reality of a heaven and hell.  Neither adults nor children should use bad language if we are to be like our Lord.   We do not have to use curse words to emphasize our intentions. Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,  filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye  have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image  of him that created him." Matthew 5:37: "But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for  whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Psalm 19:14: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,  be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." These verses in Proverbs say that God accepts the words of the righteous  while the words of the wicked will one day be cut off, along with those who  speak them.

 

Prayer for the Day Dear Father, Thank You for all that You have done for me. Lord, I ask you to forgive me for  failing You. Lord, I want my words to be like Your Words. Lord, you never speak any unkind  thing. You are gentle and loving. Your Words are always the truth. We can depend on You  and trust that what You said is the truth. You never lie. Lord, may I be good for my word.  Help me not to give it lightly, and when I do tell someone I will do something, remind me  if I fail to keep my word so I can make it right. In our society it seems that so many, especially  in the business world, are very careless about their words. Help me to be a witness for  You as one that keeps their word even as You do. In the name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

You Are Part of Me

You are part of me now
You touched me,
With your kindness and love
So enchanted.
Your soft lips are kind.
Your eyes glow with life.
I'm glad you touched me,
You're part of me now.

- Lloyd Carl Owle, Cherokee

Treasures of Life

This life offers many treasures
Some too wonderful to believe
Our status in life is measured
by the money we receive.

It's a show of size and measure
In the amount that we possess
We walk proud at the vision
of one living with much less

We have a pride so large
It cannot be controlled
Our mouths speak so foolish
of all that we could hold!

But you know that we really
are holding NOTHING at all....
What a short life that we live
when eternity gives its call!

Will we cry of pride and stature,
when we're standing before our Lord?
Will we show a pile of money?
Or hide in shame of all we've hoard?

You see dear friend that life
Is not the wealth that we own....
It's in the precious Grace of Jesus
and the forgiveness He has shown!

No possessions will go with us
as we travel that last mile
Will He know us when we're knocking?
and greet us as His child?

Or will His door close slowly
with a tear running down His face?
As He cries, "I KNOW YOU NOT!"
"Why did you turn from Grace?" 

 -Linda Sue Etling

We Are Still Here

I have been asked, how do you define an Indian, is it a matter of blood content? I say no, an Indian is someone who thinks of themselves as an Indian. But that's not so easy to do and one has to earn the entitlement somehow. You have to have a certain experience of the world in order to formulate this idea. I know how my mother saw the world, and her mother before her. That's how I see the world. - UNKNOWN

Did You Know?

 

There are many stereotypes of American Indians that must be avoided.

The truth is:

• Indians do not all look alike.
• Not all Indians know Native history and culture, especially that which is not their own.
• Indians observe the religion of their choice.
• Not all Indians are alcoholics.
• "Indian-ness" is not decided by the percentage of Indian blood in your body.
• Indians do not always have an Indian name.
• Indians were not uncivilized before the white man came to the Western Hemisphere.
• Indians were not conquered.
• There are many American Indian heroes.