Layaway Peace, llvl

Ah, the odd human brain. My brain at least wanders around more like a pinball than a train… So, I move from capitalizing letters to funding Peace to storing up treasure for Peace. huh.

But the notion of the layaway brought back childhood memories and then raised that Bible verse about storing up treasure in Heaven… But I believe Heaven is here on earth (also?) and it is our job to bring it about. So, there we are, storing up treasures for Heaven.

The truth is that Heaven and Peace are accomplished in small incremental amounts. But as they sing on Mary Poppins, a penny wisely invested…

Thoughts of Peace and efforts for Peace don’t need to be grandiose, they just need to be steady…

Mother’s Day Sabbath Peace, llvl

The life of the diminished i… I’ve gone through many periods in my life where I wrote i (i wrote I?) with a little i…

At this point, some of my non-capitalization is laziness. When i’m facebooking, which i do far too much of, i’m typing quickly rather than accurately (damn the capitalization, full speed ahead). I try to pay more attention to what I’m saying… and to not saying too much.

But I think there’s an interesting exercise in this a way of measuring my importance in what I’m saying… In the face of something wondrous, i’m pretty small. Engaging with Thou, any piece of the interconnected web of life, we are both to be marveled at.

Thinking of a favorite shrink who talked about being self-centered as a goal for everyone, knowing where I am in the question vs. being selfish, thinking I am the center of everything and oh, not so much. And this is, perhaps, not a big thought and a passing one. Some thoughts aren’t worthy of LOTS of reflection, just a hmmmmnnn and a moving on.

Today I hope you move on to a beautiful day, whether you’re celebrating with your mom or mourning her, celebrating being a mom or figuring how you will mother, Hooray for you. Yesterday, in the midst of the Mother’s Day wind-up to frenzy, I thought, well, at least Deb will not have to go through another Mother’s Day mourning her children and missing being a mom. I think too about the mothers in Nigeria, and in other parts of the world, missing their children and hoping they will be rescued. A sad Mother’s Day for too many. But I honor and celebrate these women on their journey as well… and wish you Peace and joyful reunion.

I’m going to take advantage of this beautiful day and go hang out with my friend Emily. I’m sticking the champagne split in the fridge and we can toast Betty and Nadine. Thanks for the memories, girls. We’ll live a glass to the kids in our lives as well. Thanks for the future. We’ll be sitting under her umbrella enjoying the sun eating food off the grill. Then I get to hang with the kids from church and their families. Pretty fun.

Peace!

So, whether you’re celebrating or just hanging out, I wish you Sabbath Peace.

When Mother Didn’t

My friend, Peg Streep, has been writing for a while about Mean Mothers. She’s realized that if your Mother was less than she might have been and you’re watching the hype on FB and in advertising about how wonderful Mother’s Day is, it’s going to bring up ambivalent feelings about this holiday. What to do she wondered. Well, how about starting a Mother Yourself Saturday the day before. So she did. Wander on over to her author page on Facebook and see what people are saying. There’s a lot of information that will be rolling out there, on this, Mother Yourself Saturday’s inaugural day.

She asked me to think about it, and I did. I wrote a booklet thinking about what to do when mother didn’t, either because she wasn’t capable or wasn’t caring — there’s a lot to be said about why mother’s can’t, but not here. This is about you and how you get yourself what you need to succeed wildly — which is how we all want you to succeed and how you deserve to succeed. And in the end it comes to that, if Mother didn’t, you have to. Because not to because she didn’t wastes your life.

This is just starting. Next year it will be bigger and more organized and more people participating. This year, it’s a few brave souls saying “Wait, I want more. I want for myself. I want what good mothers give their children. And I’m going to give it to myself.” So Mother Yourself Saturday‘s what I thought about this year. What do you think?

You matter. We all do. Our gifts are needed to change the world for the better. So we’d better give ourselves what we need at that core and fundamental level. I love you.

Capitalize Peace, llvl

Part of me wants to ask, why don’t we capitalize Peace — as in invest in Peace?

But then I have to realize if I don’t do it myself, really do it, and encourage others to do the same, then it’s unlikely the governments of the world (town, valley, state) are going to be moved to do the same. We’re used to investing in war. We have an infrastructure for war, but not for Peace.

Sad, eh? Which would we rather have? Peace or war? It’s hard to tell. I’m not sure we’re committed to Peace. I certainly struggle every day. Not with Peace big P… but in living in my personal life as I would like the world to be living on the planet? eeeesh. hard. Do I understand my husband’s tribes and those of my friends’ as different from me and worthy of great respect and delicacy of dealing? If I don’t, what am investing in the long run? (ew, don’t you hate it when your writing takes you right into the personal? no this is about the world’s not investing in Peace, not about my being insensitive!) Making the connections between the macro and the micro is hard work, but necessary.

But I’ll keep looking. if it means I have to root around in my life a bit… ok. Will you do the same? Because Peace will not flourish without some investment. We need to put our hearts into it and we need to put our money there as well.

Peace. It’s worth the world. The world is worthy of Peace.

Sacred Grammar Peace, llvl

I’m one of those people who writes her way to what she thinks. Hard for my friends who think things out on the inside. I love blogs and sermons for that reason. Write ’em and redact! (less fun when I’m talking, i know! oopsie!). But I often find things in my writing that I didn’t know was in there. Last week it was Peace advisories. This week it was Sacred Capitalization. (wait for tomorrow to see what comes next! bet yourself something fun if you win!)

I don’t know how significant this is to anyone else, but for me it’s a way of preferencing the words. Use more of the sacred words which have that tiny caress and fewer of the non-sacred. Talk about what I want to grow toward and spend less time thinking about what I want to grow away from.

so Peace. Love. Happiness. What are your Sacred words. What feels holy in your mouth?

Partly Cloudy Peace, llvl

So a couple days ago, if you’re following this blog, while discussing the notion of having your own personal Board of Advisors who support and contribute to your Peace Work, I wrote the words Peace Advisory. It tickled my fancy, this notion that there might be a Peace Forecast that looked at the nature of Peace today and also looked at the possibility of Peace’s breaking out in your area.

What would happen if that were to happen? What would need to happen if that were to happen? How many people would have to be involved? To start a movement that began to focus on Peace as a goal. It’s a complicated thing, this Peace. Bob Marley sang (Bob!) “No justice, no Peace.” It’s easy to think of Peace as the “peace, love and happiness” thing, but more challenging to envision it as a reality that permeates daily life. We’re all for peace, love and happiness. But are we in favor of, willing to work for Peace that demands sacrifice.

When in liturgy, you hear the words “Peace that passes understanding” it’s often describing the Divine. This encourages us to accept this Peace into our lives. But I’m not sure it’s here to tell us that we can’t understand or shouldn’t.

Peace is complex. But hey. That’s why we have these big brains. What better thing to expend our mental, spiritual, emotional and physical energy on…

And for Peace, like Spring, to be bustin’ out all over, we need to to get to work. If we don’t the Peace Advisory is always going to be only partly cloudy. We’re the world’s hope for the Sun’s breaking through. We’re the world’s hope for Peace. We all are. But it doesn’t take a village, it takes a world. We are that world. Let’s go.

That Keep-Trying Spring Peace, llvl

When you’re in the depths of winter, you think about Spring and you think you know what it means. (Substitute any seasons here. I think longing clouds your vision.) I know I don’t remember the allergens (achoo!), but I don’t think you remember Spring’s long and sustained beauty. There are too many wonderful flowers blooming, too many trees bursting with color; the scent of all the unfolding dances on the breeze — oh right the breezes and the gales.

There’s a rail trail in our area and a girlfriend and I strolled down it at dusk, talking about life and its challenges. It’s hard to decide whether the setting was simply antithetical to our conversation or a balm! Life is very hard and life is very beautiful. There we were, all in one splash. The trail cuts through people’s back yards, farmers fields and wooded copses. It does that all in rapid succession, lest you think i walked for miles and miles and miles. Violets, bulbs, trees, new plantings, birds and barking dogs soothed conversations of loss and challenging presents and subsequent futures.

As we were walking for clarity and health, the earth was offering Beauty. Maybe the conundrum of Spring that I was poking at earlier is that it is so ephemeral and short-lived, in such an exuberant and sustained way. That’s good to remember when life is confusing. Peace comes in many guises, doesn’t it, and it keeps opening new ways to walk. Filled up with beauty and gratitude and searching for Peace in the midst of the chaos. We’ll make it the weather and the rest of us… Our lives depend on it.

Peace Advisory, llvl

I couldn’t resist. It came into my head and out my mouth. I wrote about our own personal advisory boards. I didn’t think about this until later.

I keep saying this… you should have a listing of the people who counsel you and in what areas. We need our own Wisdom keepers.

That said. what it would be like if we had a daily Peace Advisory… I’d have to say today, globally it looks a little glum. But maybe, in this village, or in yours, it could be cheerier as we begin to do work that brings folks together.

“All we are saying, is give Peace a chance.”

I’ll be singing Pete Seeger songs with my friend Larry. I’ll be asking the question, who’s writing the anthems for Peace? and who’s singing them? as we answer that, the Advisory gets more optimistic…

Today’s Peace Advisory: Warming Trends?

Speaking Out Peace, llvl

For whom do you speak? What rouses your passion? Whose plight stirs your soul? What gets you going enough that you get going?

I hope you have an answer. If your answer isn’t clear yet, I hope you are inspired to reflect and poke around a bit.

Having a constituency to speak for, to act for, to dream for changes your life. It’s often not what you plan; it’s what you notice.

I’ve spent most of my life working on women’s work and gender and sexuality. That stirs me. It always will. But when the hunger statistics invaded my consciousness, that stopped me cold. This is it. This is the bottom line on the Maslow hierarchy of needs. You can’t get far in life without satisfying hunger and shelter and healthcare. So here we are. I have a team and we’ve got a mission. And that mission has a people. And so, without any personal experience of childhood hunger, I speak for them… and agitate. and lobby.

So what gets you going? What overwhelming Love in your heart compells you finally to speak up for Peace? It’s a great feeling to know that. And an even better one to be acting on it. Because you can make a difference.

Community Sabbath Peace, llvl

When I lived in a big city, on those rare occasions I had a weekend off, when I headed out to do something, I went far and rarely saw anyone I knew.

But here in my little town, when I go to walk the rail trail, I see my neighbors. I may know some of them well, with others, I may just be on nodding acquaintance. Same thing at the local ice cream stand. Every line is an option to catch up: “Hey, how are you. I haven’t seen you for a while (since the last time we stood in line for black raspberry ice cream.)

I confess, I like it. It’s not like I can’t get away. It’s just that rural living means the green encroaches on the town. And that’s a lovely thing.

So enjoy a slow day in your lovely community. That’s what sabbaths are for. What the heck, it’s on me! Make Peace by loving the land and getting to know your neighbors better.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In