Welcome to Peace Land

I can’t imagine how difficult it is to feel you have no choice about leaving your home.

But if you can’t feed your children, if you have no hope for work and a future, if you are targeted for execution, if your home no longer exists because of war and bombs, then I don’t even think it’s an act of courage as much as an act of resignation and determination to save your life, to save your family’s lives, to be free.

In this case (and in many others, I would argue), there can be no justifiable argument for not opening our doors.

My friends were just here from Sweden. They spoke with great compassion about the fact that more than 1,000 people from Syria and other places are living in their town and what the community is doing to welcome them. And their voices were full of sympathy when they talked about how hard it is for them, and full of joy when they talked about the new stores popping up, and full of derision when they talked about people’s sanctifying culture which changes anyway. We let our fear overcome our hearts… and don’t check to see if the fears are real…

But in the land of Peace, all comers are welcome. Safety and respect are the boundaries we will keep. Peace. Welcome.

Lookin’ for Hope and Peace Wherever We Find It

You never know where you’re going to find the Hope you need.

So you have to keep your eyes open. Sometimes it shows up in the most unexpected places.

And when you need it and it appears, you say yes! thank you!

Thank you to Hope! Thank you to Peace.

Mountains of Peace

Tall, majestic, enduring. These are great qualities to inspire us.

Obstacles. In the way. Less exciting. But inspiring nonetheless — if we let the challenge settle…

And perhaps, we might see them as less than in the way, and more the way.

The way to Peace lies over the mountains. Even in the flat lands there are mountains between Peace and us. We must negotiate them to get to the Peace we want.

So no, I don’t climb mountains for recreation or because they are there. I climb them because the perspective can change my life, the way inspires me to adapt and the companionship (or the promise of it) encourages me to continue.

There is Beauty. There is Hope. There is Challenge. And always, always, always, there is Peace.

Peace at the Drinking Fountain

This is a lovely shot of a backyard just above a hollow that was a site of many a childhood adventure.

In particular, my brother and his buddy Blair spent many an hour playing down in the ‘hollow.’ Word was there were Indian arrowheads there. Plenty of stuff came home, how much of it was real or imagined, I don’t know, but it was a magic place with ties to a long ago life.

There have always been deer there. We’re the interlopers. And yes, they like their garden delights, but they’re such beautiful creatures.

This was a gorgeous picture of co-existence… I couldn’t help imagining the story!

We’re called on to consider the Peaceable Kingdom… they certainly come in Peace.

Breakfast of Peace

I try to start my mornings out slowly. But slowly doesn’t have to mean solitary.

For the past three weeks, i’ve had good friends staying with me on a long visit from Sweden. Oh, such joy, they haven’t been to my house before. so it was grand. On most mornings, we’ve had Swedish breakfast, bread, cheese, with tomatoes or cucumber (darn, i forgot to buy a cucumber the other day!)

But once in a while, we’ve done a big breakfast. It’s a meal I actually feel competent at, so no stress. And they’re not sitting tapping their feet waiting for the next thing, they’re quiet in the morning as well. They too like peace and quiet in the morning.

Good breakfasts fuel us for a day of Peace-making! Another slice of toast, before you Peace, my friends?

Dawning Peace-making

Any day’s a good day when you get up after a meeting on hope.

Yesterday I sat with a group of people who are beginning to work on racism and white fragility in our region. The organizers are young and earnest, but the people who gladly showed up are not all young — although most of us are earnest!

It was so hopeful.

And so we work.

And then we go to bed and get up to a world with just a bit more joy in it. There’s so much going wrong, but joy can bubble. We have to clear out the springs of Joy and Peace so that they can bubble freely and we can drink deeply.

Soft Folds of Peace

Some evenings and some mornings, the beauty of the sky is enough to talk about.

It’s sad how infrequently we give ourselves time to “indulge” (indulge????) in the beauty of this world. Beauty is such an astonishing gift; we should honor it, not take it for granted.

It’s good to stop and gaze in reverence as the sun is going down, to notice the colors and shadows that are cast. It’s good to stop and gaze in wonder as the sun rises, and gently blesses the new day with beauty.

If we make time and invite others to share that with us, then we are sowing seeds of Peace. Perhaps that’s all the seeds of Peace really are, Beauty — and perhaps Compassion.

Let us give Peace and Beauty their due.

Missteps, Consequences and Peace

This little pup didn’t really learn any consequences from getting into the flour. There were consequences… but she may or may not have connected them. Or at least I’m assuming that, but I fully confess I’m no dog psychologist. But dogs have been eating things they shouldn’t for millennia and offering them back to the world. yuck. (why no, i don’t have a pet…)

But we need to think more closely about how our acts and our non-acts affect people.

Particularly today, I think about all the shootings of Black men. We’ve been being horrified for years now. But most of us, and I include myself here, do nothing to stop it. Nothing to dig into the racism. Nothing to be supportive of the folks whose lives are in danger. Nothing to cry out. Nothing even to support the cops making such awful decisions… and this is from years of racist policing.

Where are our voices. Because the consequences from this land at our door as well.

That’s hard medicine for me to swallow. Turning to that old prophet Ezekiel: “Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash…”

All the words there are hard, aren’t they… Peace and Consequences. Let us Peace that the consequences begin to change.

Clean Windows for Peace

Sometimes our perspective really has to do with the windows from which we gaze at the world.

Sometimes it helps to give in and clean them up.

I know, ironic, coming from me, right? the woman least likely to be found cleaning her windows? But yep?

And your glasses? Clean them too. Take a better look at what’s going on in your world.

Peace needs that from us. I can’t believe I blew past international Peace Day… But the day after arrives and we still desperately need Peace. Let us Peace, together.

Cycles of Peace

Even though the weather remains warm, there’s no disguising that summer has been transformed into fall. The days are shorter, the sun less direct. The fields are golden, final crops are being harvested. The skin on fruits and vegetables is thicker; fall offerings replace summer. And pushed along by the drought the leaves are beginning to turn.

When I’m not seeing this all through the lens of a swimmer losing her outdoor pools, I am amazed at the abundance. And apples are coming!

The cycle of the year is so astounding. And, yet, it’s so easy to ignore the rolling bounty. All year long, every day, something magical happens. Too often we deprive ourselves of the wonder by focusing on what we don’t have. What we don’t have anymore. What we don’t have yet. What we don’t have, period.

Now is the time of the ingathering. I thought about this last night as I was writing the musing to respond to this beautiful photo. I had just finished a conversation with a dear friend who lost his mother. It was her time to be gathered back in at the end of a very long life. Now he has the memories to preserve. He’ll mourn, even while knowing they lived every last drop of her life and her love.

The wheel of the year continues to roll. Let us gather in, enjoy, preserve, and share the Peace just as we gather in, enjoy, preserve and share the Bounty of the season. Blessed be.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In