Category: Love

Contemplation

Tis the season of giving and the season of gratitude, light gives way to dusk, dusk to darkness and if we are not trying to escape, it’s a perfect time for contemplation.  Contemplation is not worry. It is a pause from the ordinary to reclaim the extraordinary. It’s a gift we give to ourselves in answer to a call that comes from deep within. And if we are fortunate contemplation is more feeling than words.

There is a silence within us that welcomes us home. 

Gratitude wells up there. It arises when we take full stock of all the Good that has come to us and through us. And it arises for no reason at all.

Often the whirlwind of circumstance carries us away but then sometimes by chance and sometimes by purpose we are reminded.

Life is a gift.

It is worthy of our recognition, worthy of our gratitude and worthy of our attention.

We offer up days to celebrate and give thanks. We invite loved ones and strangers into these moments and we hold these times as special and sacred. I have always had a hard time with that – the designation of a day or an hour for celebrating life. 

It has always seemed to me that everyday should hold that celebration, that accountability towards all we dearly love. 

What a difference could be made in this too often cruel world, if more of us would take the time…extend this time of thanks  – even just a bit more.

Be well friends. Seek Gratitude. Share Love and take time for Contemplation

Your Fighting Spirit

Never give up your fighting spirit and learn from others who refuse to conform. 

I had an older cousin who spent the last four decades of her life in a wheel chair. In her early twenties she was paralyzed from muscular dystrophy and could barely move her hands or her head. The first time I learned of her, it was because I heard her voice singing in church. It was a strong and clear voice. It embodied love. When I realized the powerful voice I heard had come from her seemingly broken body, I was amazed. 

She then became my Sunday school teacher. She was devout to her faith, but what I witnessed in her was an unyielding ability to be true to her self. She didn’t tolerate sympathy, because she did not feel lacking. She was not satisfied with Sunday worship alone; she lived her faith and cared for those less fortunate. Many a Saturday I spent ripping sheets apart and rewrapping them to be sent to lepers’ colonies. Many more were spent volunteering at a local Down’s syndrome home – under her supervision. Simply put, she was a powerhouse. 

Her fighting spirit helped keep my own alive. I know her unwavering determination to love caused many to keep her a bit at bay. They respected her, but few could keep up with her. They wanted her to conform to their understanding of what her seeming illness could and should do. But she was defiant, and her resistance to become what others expected of her was a great teacher to me.

We never walk alone. Take courage from those who give it so freely. Let the love and compassion that pulses through us be the victor. Hold onto your fighting spirit.  Resist normality. It was never meant for you.

For Love’s Sake

Once again, the United States has demonstrated its disregard of refugees of color and especially Haitian refugees. Once again we watched as this president followed the directions of past presidents before him. Party affiliation doesn’t have much clout when racism rears its head. 

Thinking people are noticing the implications of climate change. The horrific ordeals the people of Haiti have endured over the past few years coupled with our unending racism damns them to imprisonment and worse. 

The photos of white men on horseback rounding up black men, women and children desperate for aid were absolutely abhorrent. Too painful to look at, but to look away is to ignore. To ignore is an act of compliance and agreement. Compliance with inhumanity is a deadly disease.

Clearly we are engaged in a war to save our souls. We have politicized every aspect of our society and we buy every lie that is dangled before us. The biggest lie of all is the one declaring our righteousness as God’s chosen. We have made outcasts of our humanity and our ideals.  And we elect status quo politicians to keep it that way.

Kindness and compassion must reawaken in our dialogue, in our actions and in our policies. There will be no Superman to save us from ourselves. We hold all that we need within us and it’s bursting to come forth. 

The only thing we have not tried…is Love.

It will only take a few more of us to stand in unity and in peace.

It will take a revolution of understanding to erupt in our hearts and in our minds.

And it will take trying the only thing we have not tried…  

Let us do it, for Love’s sake.

The quote and the photo are attributed to Rev. Jacqui Lewis found on Facebook.

Blessed Existence

Hardship has never escaped the human family. We are pummeled by Nature and by the ignorance that compounds suffering.

My Navajo friend told me how her grandmother fought to keep her baby alive during the forced Long Walk. Mothers who lost their own babies would give what little breast milk they had to the infant. That infant was my friend’s mother. I’ve often reflected on the courage, perseverance and kindness that enabled Annie, my friend, to exist. And how blessed was that existence with all of its hardships. 

I remember witnessing her in morning prayers. Though humble, she was not docile. She stood boldly in her life and welcomed all of the winds that blew her way. 

The story of shared breast milk was not new to me. My mother had been the recipient of wet nurses as they were called. My grandfather had been killed and my grandmother lost her ability to breastfeed. Poverty demands help. And help came in the form of neighbors. I’ve often reflected on the strength and the compassion that surrounded my mother’s existence. And how blessed was that existence with all of its hardships. She, too, had the gift of powerful prayer. 

I am the recipient of the Love of these two matriarchs. With that kind of Love mountains can move.

All of us have been blessed with existence and while our stories vary, hardships and blessings have come our way. Be nourished by them.

These are hard times. These are the times to dig for strength and to uncover our gifts, to seek and offer help. We have the potential to flourish, individually and collectively, despite the hardships.

Have the clarity to be guided by Love. Find the courage to hold onto it.

Regardless of hardship, it is a blessed existence.

The above photo is of Annie.

My Grandmother and me.
My mom and me.

The Greatest Lie

Two hundred and fifteen children’s bodies were unearthed at a former residential school for Indigenous youth. Forced assimilation was the hallmark of schools throughout North America. 

And we are finally acknowledging the 1921 massacre of Tulsa’s thriving Black community, as we continue to uncover the systematic racism that haunts us.  

These are not merely historical one-offs. The mindset that created them is alive and permeates all dominant cultures. It’s a sickness that forbids diversity and that is why trans people are among today’s targets. It’s a virus willing to stifle anything and anyone that may interrupt its control and that is why children from Palestine are routinely arrested, as are imprisoned Uighurs of China and on and on…

If we view these atrocities as separate issues, change seems hopeless. How can we possibly stop all inhuman acts? We lack the will and our excuses are endless. But if we look to the source of the sickness…we have a chance.

Our sensibilities give way to self-destruction. Our insistence on conformity and our inability to see ourselves in another allow ignorance to thrive. It’s not enough to “love the sinner and not the sin”, as my Christian friends are eager to say.  No, it is best to slay the dragon of judgment that we each carry. 

It’s not enough to cry for the two hundred and fifteen children and their families, rather we must stop perpetuating the greatest ignorance of humankind: that we are separate from the whole. It is the greatest lie.

One people. One planet. Every action carries consequence. Every silence is betrayal.

Print / photo compliments of wikimedia commons.

For more on the evolution of humankind, Listen to John Trudell.

Hold Onto Wonder

In years past I traveled the world. Humanity’s contrasts of life styles and beliefs are a marvel, but it was witnessing our similarities that touched me. At the end of the day, we all want and need the same things. Good food, clean water, fresh air, “a little elbow room”* to live as we please, and peace. Settling into farm life, I questioned if my travel discoveries had come to an end… but now it seems the world comes here.

This region is a magnet for people seeking to enjoy the natural world and a simpler way of life. There is migration afoot in this melting pot of milk and honey and I’m grateful for the kaleidoscope of diversity and the richness it brings.  

People often say, “It feels like home,” and I smile because the “home” to which they refer is not the terrain. It’s in the welcome, the beauty and the acceptance. “Home is where the heart is” most surely and when we live within our heart, we’re always at home.

They visit in one season or another and usually leave wanting to see them all. The stars are the same stars, the moon is the same moon, but living outside the neon jungle is a rare gift and those who have not lost the wonder of it appreciate the darkness. 

And in all of this coming and going and listening to each other’s stories, I learn why one has said she’s from Burma instead of Myanmar, and glean deeper understanding of Palestine from a young Muslim couple. 

For a brief time difference is irrelevant and human sweetness is victor once more.

Hold onto wonder. It opens the door to Love.

Love Wins

My partner and I shared a ceremony honoring our love and ending with the words, “I do.” The marriage license was officially signed and the legalities of our bond of love are sealed. 

For people who know and love us there is celebration and good will and that is how it should be. But that tricky word “marriage” may cause a few to be ill at ease. 

Priests in Germany are challenging the Vatican decree that same sex couples cannot be blessed. The priests are calling it “Love Wins” and are holding  “blessings” throughout the country. 

So call it what you will, unions, blessings or marriage, this is a precious moment for us. And I can assure you there was no offering made for someone to say, “Speak now or forever hold your peace”. There were no obeys, until death, or any of the contractual agreements normally heard. We did it our way.

What will be is the incredible opportunity to step out of the shadows and be seen as we are, a loving couple who want sweetness, kindness and peace in our lives together and for each other. 

What will happen is that we will not be denied the right to administer to one another in a hospital or in any legal setting. We will be as one.

Beliefs have caused great harm to people who are different. I am not a fan of the word marriage and I don’t like the words gay or lesbian. Today’s youth who are bucking labels have my respect. 

I prefer human being.

And wish to be treated as such. 

We want the same rights as any other couple. 

How hard is that to understand?

For those who struggle in this straightjacket world, never give up. You are seen. You are loved. 

The Myth of Division

My mechanic is the kind of guy never too busy to stop and have a chat. He couldn’t have known I finally decided to be vaccinated when he opened our conversation with his doubts about covid, vaccines, why antibody tests aren’t given and do you really trust Bill Gates?  My resolve to be vaccinated was being tested. Being tested isn’t something I oppose; it’s good to be clear. It’s wise to be prepared to accept all consequences. As our conversation covered more territory: gun regulation, distrust of politics, and the difficulty in having civil discourse, our respect and care for one another was apparent even in our differences.

I smiled beneath my mask, grateful for the human contact. And I responded with my thoughts that covid originated from human disregard of nature and one another. That if we do not wise up, it will be repeated. Yes, variants are real, and yes media and politicians screwed up. There is no reason to blindly trust vaccines and no, I do not trust Bill Gates. But then again I don’t put my trust in individuals or into systems.  

I trust myself. I don’t want to be driven by fear or storybook tales – from any side. I want to reach that place that I learned about long ago, “Leave no room for doubt in your mind”. And that has little to do with untangling the scrambled facts that bombard us daily and drive us to take sides. He understood.

There are three little boys many states away that I long to hold. There are elders suffering from isolation and there are overworked caregivers desperately needing a break. For the sake of all, I will follow Love and trust something Greater than facts.

Jab the left arm, please.

Our Ability to Love

They say that even with a vaccine we must be willing to stay distanced and wear masks well into spring. To some this is a great sacrifice. They scream of freedom lost and stand firm in their disbelief. To those freedom fighters, everything is suspect including the surging numbers of sick and dying.

The hardest part is that it didn’t have to be. The pseudo warriors have already sacrificed something greater than freedom. They have forsaken our inherent gifts of clarity and compassion. 

But I can’t waste time talking about ignorance. I want to talk to talk to the warriors who have not forsaken love and compassion.  I want to say, “Do not give up.” 

It’s not lost on me that scriptures share the phrase, “Leave the dead to bury the dead.” And I do not think for a moment this refers to our loved ones who have succumbed to this horrid disease. But there are those who have chosen to walk with the death of spirit in their hearts, forsaking the living. And they are very willing to lead us into their living hell.

But I am telling you, “Do not go there”. Do not live in the despair that makes one abandon heart and clarity.  Do everything you can to stay alive.

And what does it mean to be alive? It is to wake every day to the realization that life is a gift, and that we are, in fact, a gift to life. We hold within us the strength and the courage to persevere.  We hold the clarity and the wisdom to right the most grievous wrongs.  We can ask for help and we can receive it.

We have the ability to love. And it is time we use it.

Snap Out of It

I learned of a relative who is waiting on the results of a covid test. Her son sat next to a child in school who tested positive. A single mom, she will have to quarantine and miss work for nearly two weeks or longer if she falls ill. Many workers are not receiving any compensation for unworked hours and must spend vacation days – if they have them – to recoup. Our front line caregivers are facing harsh realities as the virus escalates and no safety nets are in place to help them.

Also, Wisconsin hospitals are warning they will soon be unable to help those in need due to the escalation. This, while the Republican legislature goes to court once again to revoke the virus precautions ordered by Governor Tony Evers.

Hitting back at the ignorance of the current administration, the CDC issued another finding that masks do help keep the wearer from either spreading or contracting the disease. 

No health care for too many, no safety net for the working class and a government so enmeshed in division that it cannot or will not help its people. This is what we are facing, as well as a host of people unwilling to wear a mask while in public.

While it’s easy to hunker down in division, we are not helping ourselves as a nation, if we pretend this virus is going away any time soon.

Snap out of it.

Your president was able to get socialized medicine at Walter Reed Hospital, but you won’t have that luxury. And if you are one of the millions without health insurance or live in a state like Wisconsin, you may not get any help at all.

This is no time for fairy tales. Sober up. Wear a mask.