Peace and What We Wish the Butterfly Effect Were

Last week my friend Rachel helped me preach. Every year at the winter holidays, I write a small play for Rachel who is my Glorious Holiday elf. She always helps me find a new symbol to those we already use to celebrate the winter Holidays.

Last week, at the beginning of Spring, it seemed that we needed a bit of encouragement to make a difference. Now, I know, because I keep looking it up (because I always forget) that chaos theory doesn’t say that the fluttering of a butterfly wing WILL have some intended consequence, just that everything can have some UNintended consequence.

We thought that perhaps we could flutter our wings, do kind things and see what happens. Apparently Annie thought so too.

Here’s to kindness in this season of Beauty. Here’s to making the decision and then making a difference

Here’s to Rachel and Annie. and here’s to Peace. Now get out there and flutter those wings.

Heart Problems Galore

Dear Bartender and Priestess,

I am a 22-year-old man and recently got dumped. Again. And this last one really hurt.

We were together for about a month, and I really liked this girl, “Sally”. One night, we got involved in a long conversation about family, and family history, and the kind of baggage we have. One of the things she told me about (along with her parents’ divorce and an estrangement with another sister) was she had a brother who was born with a congenital heart disease. I thought, FINALLY! Someone who might understand me. You see, I too was born with heart disease. I got all excited when I told her about my condition. I thought she would get it. Continue reading →

The Peace of No Squalls

We really do seem to have sailed through March with no flurries. So our flowers are bravely pushing their way out of the ground. We’re having the flowers we often have at Easter, despite the fact that Easter is incredibly early. (Western Easter, that is)

On the one hand, it’s crazy. It’s too warm for this time of year. Whether it’s climate change or El Nino, something is not right. On the other, it’s hard not to appreciate it. It’s the end of March and it’s supposed to be a balmy, sunny 72˚.

March is such an amazing month filled with ups and downs, filled with anticipation. It’s amusing to watch people fuss and fume when it does what it does. You hear people say, here, in Central PA, “but it’s Spring, it should be warm.” Uh, no. Well unless you have Climate Change or El Nino.

But here we are, with a beautiful day, and many people on holiday. Be here now. Enjoy the Peace of today.

Preparing and Waiting for Peace

An empty mailbox beside an empty field. Ready. Waiting. Or is it

A stuffed mailbox beside a seeded field?

You can’t tell by looking. You have to explore. You have to ask. You have to prepare. You have to reach out.

Fields and mailboxes: both demand participation.

Except when delightful surprises surface. A volunteer flying seed can propagate in an empty field. A letter that you don’t expect can arrive. In both cases, the news can be either a pleasant or an unpleasant surprise.

But that’s the nature of life isn’t it.

However, you can make sure that people have pleasant surprises by mailing a lovely letter… or planting the seed for a beautiful flower or an interesting vegetable at the corner of a field.

Whether you’re the one who gives the gift or the one who receives it, both offer possibilities for Peace. Deepen those possibilities why don’t you? Let’s Peace!

Yellow Daffodil Peace

It is that time of year. I had to go drive along the North Branch of the Susquehanna yesterday. As much as I love Lewisburg, that’s my part of the river. I know how it reacts.

This time of year, as the road runs between the hill and the river, you drive past the beginnings of the forsythia. The forsythia stretches for a mile or two. Half the year it’s simply bramble; the other half, it’s green. Except for these astonishing two weeks when it’s gloriously yellow.

And these daffodils. Ha! it says to this snow. Ha! I will bloom bravely and defy what is leaving, however reluctantly. Winter is leaving. Spring is coming. They know their minuet intimately. It sometimes confuses us, but that’s not their problem. The seasons know the steps to the dance.

There’s a message in that for us I think… Peace. Make Peace. Declare Peace. Dance Peace. If our time is short, make our mark in Peace.

In the name of what we believe in, in the shadow of Ankara, Brussels, Paris, and on and on and on, let us pray and work for Peace. Let us Peace.

Vindaloo Peace!

I’m a huge fan of other kinds of food. I’m a bit squeamish… so I’m not all wow! baby eels or lookee, bugs, but I like a lot of things. I’m also not a huge fan of hot peppers (although give me horseradish any day!)

One of the reasons I wanted Terri to do food is that aside for her eye for what’s beautiful with food, she’s so adventurous. Foods wander from one culture to the next.

I like it when I can do that — wander from one culture to another. And you know i like a gastronomical wander now and again!

Getting to know another culture’s food, beginning to understand how their traditional foods came to be, getting to know people who eat that food enriches your life. And can, won’t necessarily, but can bring you Peace. If you do the work.

As Terri pointed out when she sent this pic, this dish was easy for her to make because our neighbors run Spices Inc, an on line spice emporium. It’s quite amazing! You never know who’s going to show up in a small town, do you?

The advice for the day? Eat good food. Eat good food from other cultures. Share it! Build Peace through fun food and fun friends!

Spring Equinox! Sabbath Peace!

It was a dark and stormy day… never you mind, it’s still the Vernal Equinox! It’s still Spring.It is, as is every day, a sacred gift to be unwrapped and celebrated. Stand still and be amazed!

It’s my Sabbath, day to gather with my community, day of rest and reflection.

While it may not be the day that I do the most for Peace, it is the day I focus the most on it.

I love this sunrise pic because it’s such an everyday picture. It’s a reminder that every day matters. A new day dawns. What will we do with it? Every day arrives to be filled up with Peace or Sweetness, according to our whims.

We have such freedom here to do that. We’re not waking up in a war zone. We’re not waking up under someone else’s thumb. And yet we’re allowing our world to be filled up with such ugliness. Ugly rhetoric. Ugly actions. So let us make whatever small stands we can.

Every day. Everyday matters. Every day matters. Everyday Peace. Every day, Peace.

Peace in Sepia

Every day when I lived in the house on Colton, I would get stopped by the Sunset. For some reason, the way the weather works in the Bay Area, sunset is often clear. Socked in with fog all day, and then it all blows away. I’m sure a meteorologist could explain it, but for me, I’ll take the magic.

Sometimes some of the fog would stay to be layered in rose and gold. Such beauty.

But one thing that always took my breath away was when the bay would turn black and white at some magical hour and then be infused with gold.

Life. Beauty. Peace. All of them in sepia. That you and I could share this wonder. This is both Peace and the reason for it. There is Beauty, let us acknowledge it! There is Peace, let us spread it.

The Goats of Peace

They’re so goofy those goats. Happy. Most of the time. Although on all occasions decline to step between Mr. Goat and the ladies. Also, stand up-wind of Mr. Goat when he’s interested in the ladies. He has rather odd courting behavior.

But they’re beautiful and funny and curious. And when when goat is curious, the whole trip of goats wants to know. That could also have been a tribe, a flock, a drove, a herd, but trip, that’s sorta what they do if you’re in their way while they’re trying to look at something. Or feed them.

Well, now we’ve all learned something fun to start the day off, Beware the trip of goats!

But enjoy them as well, because they really are funny and friendly. When my friend EG is home, she often has a goat in her arms. “Love me!” they demand, and she does. And who wouldn’t?

Here’s to a wonderful day and the Peace of a drove of Goats. And a lot of happy hopping. Everyone’s got to feel better when they’re hopping, eh? And we’d all look ridiculous, it might be the great leveler. And when we realize that we laugh at the same thing, there is Peace in that, is there not?

Strategies for Peace

How do we work together for Peace?

How do you and I work well together? What do we have that we share.

The more we hear about hate, the more need there is for our voices to be lifted and our hands to be joined.

What we want and how we get from where we are to where we need to be — those are questions to be asked… and answered.

This is a strategy game worth playing. Collaboration is the tool. Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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