Peace in ourselves

Reading the news these past days, I could feel hope drain. And a lot of certainties felt upended.
When life is upside down and pain is real, I can close my eyes and pretend that life is different. And I get the temptation. It’s a self-protective thing. And there’s a blame game to remove myself from any responsibility. Or calling, or duty. I can do that, yes, but here’s the deal: when pain is real, there’s still a hand to hold. There’s a spirit to hug. A wound to heal. A wrong to right. A mouth to feed. A fear to repeal.

Pain is real. And shock is real. And yet. There is something in our DNA that knows we still have the capacity to choose.
I’ve always been drawn to the life and writing of Etty Hillesum. At the age of 29, Etty died at Auschwitz, but the last two years of her life led her into a deepening relationship with God. And into great solidarity with those who suffered.
She wrote, “There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too… Dear God, these are anxious times… We must help You to help ourselves. And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves.” (An Interrupted Life: The Diaries)

I will take Adam Bucko’s encouragement, “It may not be in our power to determine how things will unfold, but it is in our power to decide how we respond. It is in our power to hold on to the practices that nourish us, inform us, and give us courage.”
Yes. And when there is a shift, there are choices to be made.
So. What does that look like?
Mother Pollard was one of the elders of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, during the bus boycott of 1955-56. When her pastor Dr. King, suggested she go back to the buses because she was too old to keep walking, she told him, “I’m gonna walk just as long as everybody else walks. I’m gonna walk till it’s over.”
King marveled. “But aren’t your feet tired?” he asked.
“My feet is tired,” she replied. “But my soul is rested.”
So tired is one thing. Being soulless is something else altogether. Mother Pollard knew this. I doubt she went to a workshop to figure it out. She just knew in her bones; that she is whole, and filled with grace and sufficiency.
Which meant that for Mother Pollard, her rested soul allowed her to live fully into this life. (I read that the best beauty product is to actually have a life.) She walked toward, and not away from, life. This life, her life, with its contradictions, frustrations, weariness, tired feet and injustices.
Mother Pollard knew who she was. Her strength came from that place. Because she did not see herself as a victim, she could live with intention, beyond circumstance or public opinion. In other words, “tired feet” was not an impediment.
When we know that the light is here, now, we embrace the permission to be present. Where we are grounded, we pause. We say thank you. We will see beauty in places we didn’t expect, and we are gifted with surprises of grace. We will see craziness and pain, yes, but now we have the permission to engage, instead of resigning. To care. To spill light. Even in small ways, from our soul flows tenderness, tenacity, compassion, inclusion and sanctuary, joy, passion and justice, mercy and restoration, healing and community. And non-cooperation with evil. “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as cooperation with good,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us.

My soul is rested. Thank you, Mother Pollard.
Last week in my doctor’s office, I smiled when I saw, “Free Charging Station.” It was for devices, but it wouldn’t hurt to have one for the human spirit. Because here’s the bottom line: Let us begin with the permission to become our own healers.
“Self-care is never a selfish act,” Parker Palmer reminds us. “It is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”
Let’s just say, I needed this Sabbath Moment more than anyone. A time to reset and replenish. To remind myself that I can choose compassion over indifference. Inclusion over heartlessness. Peace over discord. Joy over despondency.
And I take Robert Reich’s words to heart, “But you must not burn out. You and I cannot do the work that’s required of us without attending to our own well-being, too. So while it’s understandable to be anxious right now and necessary to be an activist in resisting and countering this regime however we can — it’s also important to take time out for yourself. Time out for your loved ones. Time out for play. Time out for joy. Time out to dance or sing. Time out to do absolutely nothing. These are frightening times. Your courage and tenacity are desperately needed. They will be needed for the rest of this year and next, and the years thereafter. Which is why you must also take care of yourself, now.”
And one more from Etty Hillesum. “Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”

It is spring. And let’s just say, I’m sidetracked, smitten and besotted. Buds, blooms, leaves and surprises. My Oh My. It’s the true gift of springtime. And in our distraction, too often we’re not even aware of the gifts. But we need to pause. To savor. To absorb and be absorbed.
Speaking of gardens, I love the Cotswolds in England. It is where I fell in love with gardens and gardening many years ago. My garden design company fittingly named, Cotswold Garden Design. In 2020 a trip to the UK was on the books. And then cancelled due to the pandemic. Wondering if it would ever be revisited, I’m grateful to say that the time is now, as we are on our way to Scotland and England for the month of April. I’ll be posting as I wander and savor moments of joy and healing. And welcoming helpful conversations with my British friends.
Onward together my friends.

Quote for our week…
“Giving thanks today for the compassionate people; the lovers, helpers, and healers, who see more than just themselves, who move through the world with open hands and not closed fists. Thank you. Keep going. It matters.” John Pavlivitz

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Today’s Photo Credit: “Terry, Spring is arriving in the desert in Tucson. And your words are a blessing to John and me.” Linda Stapleton…. Thank you Linda (and John)… And thank you to all, I love your photos… please, keep sending them… send to terryhershey.com 

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Letters that do my heart good…
–Terry, Thank you so much for reminding me and others around the world of these great principles. As I was reading, I was thinking these are things that I tell my patients as I talk to them you are a counselor therapist to a greater audience. Blessings for that work, I need the words so I can remember to pass them on, we are walking each other home. There’s no doubt about that. Thank you for helping me walk myself and others home. Enjoy your walk and may you with each step be aware of your heel touching the ground and then your toes and then the next foot over and over again and may you be grounded with this and may also gain inspiration and insight to yourself first then for others. Thanks again! Stephen
–You get an “Amen” from me! I actually have all the letters I wrote to my parents after I left home for college. I found them when we cleared out my mom’s belongings after she died. I brought them home and they’re in a large plastic tin with other family info on a shelf in my closet but I haven’t taken the time to read them. Maybe I should put that on my daily To Do list. I know I enjoyed reading about Frog and Toad to my grandkids almost as much or maybe more than they did. Terry
–Dear Terry, rather than waiting for the “right time”,  I want to thank you for
your daily thoughts and “This is the Life” book. You have inspired me  to reengage with my light and with God’s. You are a blessing to me! Thank you. Warmly, Eric
–Thank you for  all that you do to keep us going with our prayer life we are  so blessed to have faith Lent is a time for us to.look at the gift  God didn’t give up on us instead he sent His Son Jesus to teach us how to live. Lent is that time we renew –putting our many challenges, losses etc. with God. Palm Sunday and Holy week is his gift to us. We are never alone He doesn’t give up on us. God bless you for all that you continue to remind us we are now never alone. Kathleen