Mystery, Beauty, Peace, llvl

Our beautiful little village and our photographer who captures it. This is such a splendid picture of what’s happening all over at this moment in moist and lush central Pennsylvania. There are certainly other places as beautiful, but none more so, I think.

For some reason this catapults me back to childhood and playing make believe. Which I did for years. (who knew, all those years when they thought I wouldn’t ever grow up, I was just preparing to be a writer.)

It’s true that today’s Ann looks at this and thinks, oh, there’d be bugs under there (yes, I’ve gotten crochety/practical as I’ve seasoned.), but when I look through the eyes of the little girl I was I see Magic and Possibility everywhere. And where there’s Magic and Possibility, there’s Peace. There’s got to be Mystery, too, who knows what magical beings might choose to live in such beauty…

So, feast your eyes on this picture and enjoy the beauty. Consider who you used to be and consider how you might have played in this Faerie garden and who you might have met… Oh, such joy!

Peace, Both Simple and Complex, llvl

I find life fairly complicated. Or, perhaps, I make life fairly complicated. I sometimes wonder if I love Swedish Modern design because I’m Rococo enough on my own. I describe my thinking style as associative — which is perhaps only another name for the bright, shiny object style of thinking. Look a thought, I can tie it to this thought.

And yet some things in life are fairly straightforward. This hunger thing we’re working on. Straightforward. The causes for poverty and hunger are complex and confusing. But children who are hungry on the weekend? Straightforward solution. Feed them. Someone, and not me, needs to figure out the root causes and find ways to make change. In the meantime, I’ll gather money because children are hungry. I’ll ask you for money because children are hungry. See. Simple.

My faith journey looks like one of those cartoons of a kid walking everywhere to get from here to the corner. It has been both a struggle and a delight. But if I had to put a FB description on it, I’d have the heart and then: It’s complicated.

So it’s wonderful from time to time to encounter folks whose journey is simpler. They have a tradition that works for them, and mostly, they go about doing good. It’s what is required of us…

Faith can be all those things, complex and straightforward. Elemental even. Peace is all those things as well. What’s important is that we consider what’s important and reflect about how those things shape and transform us.

Popes for Peace, llvl

Well, it’s not my local vida, but it’s the vida local at the heart of three important religious traditions. There where there should be Peace, there is only conflict.

I can’t tell you that Francis’ gesture toward Palestine and Israel will go anywhere, neither can he. But his open-hearted invitation and their acceptance gives Hope. This is the work Popes are supposed to do, since no one else is making any progress. On the sixth of June, when they pray together, may we all pray for Peace between Palestine and Israel. And as our prayers hang in the air, like incense, let us wage Peace.

If Peace doesn’t start with one of us, it doesn’t start. All our high-minded posts on social media about revering the soldiers don’t matter today, they matter tomorrow and the days after that. If we revere them we do everything we can to keep them safe. We do that by addressing the Need and the Possibilities for Peace that don’t demand their ultimate sacrifice.

Memorial Sabbath Peace, llvl

An odd juxtaposition. On the one hand its my favorite day of the year. The pool opens for the summer.

On the other, it’s a memorial for all the soldiers from all the wars. Young men and women who because they believed in a cause volunteered and sacrificed. It was hard enough when the enemies were clear cut and the danger real. And now, governments decide and people are risked and no one at home, except the families, pays the price. Perhaps war has always taken people to ugly places, but now we’re seeing it all on tv.

And then, of course, war. And Peace. We’ve never found a good way to getting to Peace. One that cares for the victims. One that engages everyone.

For two weeks, since the Pete Seeger concert, I’ve had this song by Ed McCurdy on my heart:

“Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands end bowed their heeds
And grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

May we dream of Peace and not War. But let us never forget those who are lost to us, those who sacrificed. It’s the Sabbath. Let us take some quiet time in the day and remember. Let us take some quiet time and rededicate ourselves to Peace.

Realigning Peace, llvl

Every once in a while, you get a day that is all about wide open space. Exhale.

Sometimes, you want to take those days off and just relax. And I say, do that!

But other days you realize there’s all this empty space for thinking, considering and pondering. Days when you can re-imagine your Life or maybe your Work. Days when there’s an itch to poke at.

That is not a day to fritter away. That’s a day to seize. That’s a day to take yourself seriously. Try this, try that. Let Peace, with all its bold Possibilities push at the constrictions you’ve placed on your life, even your soul…

Why are you still here? Go be present to yourself! Dream very large dreams!

Surprising Peace, llvl

Sometimes you surprise Peace. Sometimes Peace surprises you.

Tuesday’s ruling was a surprise. Even though I’d been seeing rumors, I hadn’t really been able to allow myself to hope. Could it really happen? Could such a thing be true?

For years, I’d thought what I’d heard, this will only happen when the Federal Government acts against all state bans. The work, in this state, was against the thousands of small villages and townships and cities and their codes that specifically allowed discrimination in housing and workplace. Enough small changes were made that SB & HB 300 are finally in the legislature and look like they have a fair chance of passing. Even our antediluvian governor seemed predisposed to sign this.

But then, boom. And there was dancing in the streets. It’s only now, a day or two later that the wonder sneaks in. If you have witnessed the pain of elder lesbians and gays, years of solid relationship under their belts weeping at young couples’ blithely assuming the right of hallowing their relationships, laws be damned, it doesn’t seem real or possible that, just like that, life is different.

The surprise isn’t lessened when you’ve tried to make your life a Prayer and a Witness for the change. It’s only compounded, I think. So many people for so long have lived in fear or at the very least been forced to accept their position as less than.

Here in a state where the assumption was that Life and Possibility could not stretch that far. and yet they have. Grace. Peace. and overwhelming Joy. Thanks be, to the All that Is!

PA Marriage Peace, llvl

I live in Pennsylvania. I find it quite beautiful. There are many things about it that make me very happy. Here I am, living la vida local in a village full of nice people.

And, yet, all the jokes about how backward we are often sting with truth. Tuesday some of that changed. Not so much because people went out of their way to change it, but because the Federal Court said, “no, this is hateful. We’re better than this.” Thank you. And certainly, there are people who are still unhappy, who feel that their rights have been taken away because someone else has gained theirs. Oh, no, they say, I don’t want to see people (usually men) doing x, y and z. that’s nasty. (OK, I started 4 sentences, couldn’t get anywhere but ranty in the x-rated category.)

There’s still work to be done. HB & SB 300 which would prohibit discrimination in housing and workplace has yet to be passed. But there are even signs that that will pass (go right ahead here’s move on‘s version and here’s change.org‘s, sign either!)

But as a woman on of whose online monikers is the wedding priestess, let me just say i’m really happy. It’s ‘way past time for people’s relationships to be recognized by their communities, by the state and, I believe, by their faith traditions. Not all faith traditions agree with me… ok. But our beloved separation of church and state allows your tradition to believe as it does while not allowing it to abrogate anyone’s rights.

So I am grateful for this much needed striking down of a hateful law. I’m proud to officiate at weddings and proud that my tradition encourages that. I believe we will be better for that. You don’t make Peace by excluding folk. You do make Peace with Love. Let’s hear it for Love! Wanna get married? Call me.

Sometimes Peace is Silent, llvl

Peace isn’t always a loud and boisterous thing. And sometimes it moves glacially. For those of us who are let’s go now! kinda people, the measured progress can be tedious.

Other times, it feels pretty wonderful. Part of my lesson as spring comes around this year is about the depth of my grieving. On the one hand, my sister’s absence is becoming somewhat normalized — if normalized is what you mean when you begin to stop reaching for the phone to call her. On the other it’s an endless ache.

I’m beginning to realize that much of this winter I was just numb with the grief. I’m now unpacking it a bit and letting both the numbness and the grief recede. But part of the work of grieving is remembering. So this year as the flowers put on their Spring Show, I’ve been remembering Deb’s pride in her red bud tree. She received a sapling from a friend. It took a while to find a home where it was happy. (it did NOT like being close to the holly!) But eventually it did. It shot up. It flourished and come Spring, it showed Deb and the rest of us how happy it was to be alive.

Except for this year. This year it didn’t bloom. This year, the sapling my sister’s neighbor got from this tree didn’t bloom. Is it odd to find that soothing — to believe it a cosmic recognition that at least my life has tilted on its axis? It was a bitter winter, these two trees may simply not have survived… and I hope they did. But I confess I find Peace in the somewhat silly notion that the trees are mourning too.

Purple Peace-Seeing, llvl

This is Beauty in the local life, that’s for sure — all this glorious purple… I’m counting purple blessings as fast as I can!

Let’s all be one-eyed, one horned flying Purple Peace-Makers… (so could not resist!)

And I admit, I’ve been considering whether I might not start working to see if i can’t develop some, i don’t know, 89th sense that allows me to see the color of a word. What the heck, I learned to parallel park, I can do anything! Possibilities abound!

I’m also trying to train myself to see the Abundance as well as the deprivation as a call to Peace. There is so much that we must share, rather than there is so much that we must have it all to ourselves. To fill up and overflow… into Peace-Making. From Peace-Seeing into Peace-Making… Are you with me?

Everyday Peace Challenges

Peace isn’t something you pull out the cash for and buy in one fell swoop. It’s something you put a down-payment on and you pay as you go, every day, every day. Some things will change. Some things you just have to work around. Some things you have to work darned hard at. And so it goes.

This was a tough weekend. I’d put this work off for the whole winter. After going through an immense amount of stuff to fit Deb’s stuff into my life, I reached an end to what I could deal with and still remain sane. It was a lot. There were only about 6 boxes out on the winterized porch. I’ll deal with them in the Spring I said. That was after I’d started to look at the pictures from Deb’s family’s life. I couldn’t see the happy ones. I couldn’t bear the missing members, more and more and more and more of them. Later. It was what I could do. No shame there.

But this chilly rainy weekend, the lure of preparing the porch for the return of the sun, outweighed my reluctance to confront the past. And so I sat and sorted. I learned a lot. I learned nothing at all. I remembered, with great searing clarity the turn of a head, the shape of a mouth, what their hair felt like in my fingers. I remembered some other things that weren’t so pretty. I remembered again that they were dead.

What I didn’t know now, I would never find out.

Not a lot more to say about that, is there?

But I know that that’s not all there is — or not everything isn’t anymore, or something. More of them will be like the death of a family — simply things that are. Others will be things that we will shape…

In the midst of my grieving, there is a sweet little porch. There’s more stuff to move, and more to sort through, but I can see what it wants to be again. Last year, I didn’t sit on the porch at all. I didn’t open it until September. I wasn’t here. And I couldn’t bring myself to care. But Summer comes again. And this year, by and large, those boxes and their contents are in the trash, in the recycling or in the cellar. If you’re the one who has to go through my house when I’m aged, I’ll label them. Don’t open them, just pitch them right out. Nothing to see here, just move along, that was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone…

And some things will be things we encounter, things we are called to act upon. They may be big things, they may be little… but… much of the work we see is ours to do. Not all of it, but a good deal of it. We’re the ones to pick the fast food trash up from the alley. We’re the one who has to stop to see if someone needs our attention. We’re the ones who need to speak up (to the best of our ability) when we see something happening.

We make Peace. With what was and is no more. With what may become and needs our dreams. With what is and demands our attention and our care. It’s why we’re here. Everyday Peace, done every day.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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