The Priestess Is In

Spiraling toward Peace, llvl

Reply

Whether I’m writing or plotting a campaign, I find the way is never straightforward. Much of the time it takes to accomplish something is not the actual writing (or doing), it’s what’s needed to allow things to assemble themselves.

Really — aren’t brains remarkable? To think of little thought molecules flying apart and then reassembling while we wait (and — sometimes — wait and wait). Then there’s the need for that oh-so-important red pencil, because, really, just because one paragraph flows from the next doesn’t mean that you don’t have a detour on your hands.

And it doesn’t seem to matter how much attention I’ve put into things beforehand. I can travel around with a project on my heart for a week or so, and still find that nothing is straightforward… Ideas and projects seem to have minds of their own! And part of the realization is that the way is never straight, there’s no one direct line between here and there.

Maybe the process is simply one of making Peace with the slow and meandering nature of project-making, of allowing myself to be informed by the information I gather and the need that’s trying to express itself. I’m certainly grateful for the opportunity… but it does take time, which sometimes makes me grumpy.

And discipline… I never thought I’d be great at the discipline part, but I guess I simply didn’t have anything I cared about enough to hone a craft. But even daily and weekly repetition of the craft doesn’t eliminate or even dwindle the amount of time a project needs to become what you want it to be and what it wants to be. I find the words teach me. I may think I have a clear idea where a story’s going and then it picks up and moves. Then I have a lot of work to do to discern whether I’m getting closer or farther away from the heart of the matter.

The vision of a spiral does help, to consider on working downward and inward on ever tighter circles, coming constantly closer to the heart of the work is an image that sustains — but really… sometimes I long for work that I can just get out of the way. I guess I should take up ironing! I’m not sure how ironing will contribute to world Peace, however…

So I guess I’ll walk the Peace spiral, do the hard work, and be grateful. Not everyone has the possibility, the privilege, of waking up and doing what you love. I do. And I give thanks. Peace be with you on the crooked, meandering spiral of life.

LLVL49Dec6

Peace Encouragement, llvl

Reply

They’re here from all over the world. And people have come in from all over to encourage them. Gay and straight, men and women. More straight men are needed. Quite a few of them are young, young, young. A surprising amount of them are people of a certain age. They’ve been at this for years. And they can talk about the grit and the dreams and the computer apps with the best of them.

Sex ed, it’s not for the squeamish… But it is for the kind. There were sessions on the elderly, sessions on people with disabilities, sessions on sexting, sessions on how the hell we got in this predicament anyway. Some of them were simply informational, some were simply ho-hum, and some were simply inspirational. A conference like any other, but with a great goal. There were 650 people paying attention — a huge, do-gooding, optimistic, learning/learned community.

Bill, the man we came with, came to introduce Jane Fonda. Yeah, Jane Fonda, who now has dedicated her life and no inconsiderable amount of money to the children of Georgia. For 20 years, she’s been running a program entitled Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. Along with other efforts in the state, in that amount of time, the number of pregnant teens in Georgia has dropped by 50 percent. They’ve changed their name to Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential. you go, gurl!

What was really fun was that our kids from church were featured in a vid that introduced Jane’s book, “Being a Teen,” because they’d read it in our Our Whole Lives program. Our kids will be doing peer work in their schools, because they can, because they know, because they believe it’s important. And it’s not just about sex, it’s about image, ethics, self-awareness, decision-making. We’re all proud.

We’re all better educated.

And at least some of us are ready to leave a group of 650 enthusiastic folk and go back to sermon writing! But what a (one-time) privilege!

There are a lot of different ways to make Peace. Keeping kids safe, helping them become knowledgeable, helping them stay on course to get what they want in life, helping them dream beyond this very minute… these are great tools for Peace. Blessed are these particular Peacemakers. Blessed are they all.

LLVL49Dec5

Learning for Peace, llvl

Reply

Here at the National Sex Ed Conference. Although I am not a sex educator, sex education is certainly part of ministry… and the ability to talk about what’s good and what’s healthy and what is not is helpful. It’s also wildly important to be able to listen and to respond to people’s truths.

I’m filled with admiration for the people who are doing this work. Bless, bless, bless them for doing what is so often challenged, refused, excoriated. Bless them for supporting the people struggling to understand their lives and to heal from trauma. Sex is so central to who we are. sex and sexual and gender identity. So many strides are being made! Hurrah.

And I’m filled with delight because I’m here with colleagues. And not just any colleagues. One of the people is a father in the field. And he knows everyone. And he’s proud to introduce us. And we’ve met some MARVELOUS people. And Sara, my dear friend and colleague. I’m so proud of her and so grateful. She’s grabbing this and painting the most beautiful canvas of possibilities. Working with friends. gotta love it!

There’s a lot of Peace here. Some of it in the guise of uncomfortable truth. But darnit. No Hot tub… But there was swimming Peace, and you know how I am about that! At dawn as the sun begin to rise on the city. (THE City.)

LLVL49Dec4

Holy Daze Peace, llvl

Reply

It’s the problem, isn’t it, with the holidays. We spend so much time as automatons, doing this, doing that, getting this done, getting that done that we forget the whole holiness angle. It doesn’t matter what your tradition or belief, there is something mystical and magical about the Dark. Stars! Snow! Beauty! ahhhhhhhh.

Instead, we tend to think about it, hunched up in our coats against the cold as an inconvenience… one more inconvenience… as we truck along trying to check things off our list.

Let’s try and give the Mysterious a 50-50 shot this year, what do you think? Let’s notice how incredibly beautiful it is. How meaningful the celebrations. Let’s toss the damned to-do lists and invite people over for mulled wine, or hot chocolate or a simple cup of tea.

Or make a date and go for a walk in the cold dark night. Look at the stars of the softly falling snow. Let’s not call back the light until we’ve lingered in the dark…

And help me (and probably you) remember that I have not been unfairly singled out by the Universe because I HAVE to deal with the batteries in my smoke alarms’ running out. It’s just what happens in the course of life. Let us be like the ducks in Deb’s picture. Finding our Peace in the Winter… Oh, Deb, the things you see!

LLVL49Dec3

 

Housekeeping for Peace, llvl

Reply

Sometimes you have to clear up the clutter around you so that life runs as smoothly as possible. Even when you’re working on important work, someone has to manage the every day stuff. And it should probably be you.

It’s easier to get back to the “real work” when the work of your life is caught up. I’m off to a conference this week. Just a few days, but things needed to get done. And I’m one of those sloppy people who can’t bear to come home to a sloppy house. And you know, snow… In this weather, if you’re driving other people through the Poconos, best to have those snow tires on. And the car cleaned out. And yes, the holidays are coming…

Peace needs a steady platform. Whatever you do, you need one too. Even better you deserve one, so give yourself the gift of attention. Providing yourself what you need is sacred work as well.

LLVL48Dec2