Meetings and Sabbath Peace, llvl

It is perhaps an odd notion that meetings can be on a sabbath occupation and there will still be room for sabbath to get some attention… But small organizations fit their meetings in where they can. And weekends are often what we have.

But small organizations are run on human hearts and human ingenuity. Things need to be done and so you do them. Here’s to all the folks who take the time. Because small organizations are the engines for much of life that matters… they get things done and they plan for the future. This is as true whether you live in a large metropolitan area as it is in small rural regions.

There’s something wonderful about being part of the engine, of contributing your gifts and making something you care deeply about work. It’s probably even more true because none of us, or at least few of us, love committees and boards. But they do the work. And we’re grateful for the investment of time and love. This is doing good to make your community (and your world) better.

So go to your meeting and then take the time off to enjoy the day some other way… Happy Sabbath, you wonderful Peacemakers!

Spring Peace Cusp, LLVL

I wrote today’s musing knowing that I was starting on the Spring side of the Cusp and would soon be reverting to the Winter Side. Now that we’re back, it’s hard to remember yesterday.

But that’s what life’s like on the cusp… and it’s what it’s like when you’re being present to you local reality. La vida is what it is. Tomorrow doesn’t really matter, although it can be prepared for. Yesterday is a blessing to be counted and a lesson to be learned from. Today is where life is happening. Live into the possibilities! Make Peace with Now.

Yesterday life was open and expansive. Today it’s inward and focused. And we have to be where we are. That’s life. That’s Peace. Right here right now, in la vida local. And aren’t we lucky. (even if a touch cold! Where did I put those wrist warmers?)

Staying Local for Peace and Life

You know it happens, so you shouldn’t be so surprised. But when the people on the shore behind you in Florida come from 6 miles away from your home in Pennsylvania… and you know someone in common… that’s a sweet coincidence. And ok, sorta weird.

And that’s life.

In addition to the wonderful weather, there’s wonderful family here. When you don’t see each other all the time, you work hard to create the family and then you reap the sweetness. And that’s life.

It’s hard to keep up with everyone you love. It’s hard to stay connected. It takes hard work.. But the effort makes all the difference. Then once in a while there are chance encounters that make you laugh out loud. Stay present to the moment. Count your blessings and just be overwhelmed with the sweetness. Make memories where and when you can. From such things Peace grows. And alongside it the realization that every bit of life is local. It’s all about your showing up!

Fear and Peace

Yesterday I climbed a lighthouse. It was one of those metal circular staircases.

Although I didn’t run all the way to the top, I made it. I was so glad I’d made the effort when I got there. And then I remembered. I have to go back down. Aside from the fact that I’m out of shape, steps frighten me.

Some of that is structural. Apparently I carry more weight on one side of my body than the other, I have a small scoliosis. I have anxiety; such steps are white-knucklers for me.

I so wanted to look out. And it’s a glorious view of two rivers and the intercoastal meeting the Atlantic. Our guides were filled with information about the First Nation Peoples who had lived there from incredibly ancient times until today. They didn’t spare the ugliness of that history either. The lives white settlers carved out were not glamorous; while it was beautiful yesterday, it gets scorching hot and water required some ingenuity to keep constantly available. And the lighthouse itself was a marvel. It was built before the War Between the States, by George Meade, who became the commander at Gettysburg. The South hid the works for 5 years and then it was re-established. They started carrying huge vats of melted lard up the steps to fuel the lighthouse… it’s now solar. (really? huge vats of melted lard? eek.) Several times a night the lighthouse-keeper would make that trek up the steps to fill the reservoir.

But I walked up. I looked around. And then hand in hand with my fear, my friend in front of me, I walked down. It’s not the first time I’ve faced this fear. If I want to do some things, it won’t be the last. It’s not a one and done fear. Every step i take I feel as if I will catapult into space. I know I won’t and keep telling myself. But wherever it is in my body that fear lives “knows” I will fall. So one step at a time; an ongoing requirement of being present to what is real. Fear. Peace. Fear. Peace.

Beauty at the top. Cool relaxation under the banyan tree at the bottom. Fear in-between. But the two destinations were worth the journey. Peace is worth the journey. No matter how big the fear.

Rest. Peace. LLVL

I never realize how important it is to have time off until i finally take it. Too often my time off is doing “things.” Hanging with friends, shopping, getting those chores done — in-house and out. But sloth, slow and beautiful, it’s not often we allow ourselves that.

And it changes you. After a day of not moving it charges your batteries and gets you going. What could be more lovely than an entire day of being present to who and where you are. A day of prayer and quiet.

We must pay attention to the rhythms of our bodies and our mind. And every once in a while shut the systems down for a day for repairs. And then?

Back to work. Back to Peacemaking. There’s a world of choices for ways to use your talents… Hello, I must be going! Enjoy your day.

Frozen Tears Need Peace Sabbath, llvl

It seems we need to find new ways of observing and respecting one another’s boundaries. Perhaps the pendulum has swung as far as it might in this one direction so that we can begin to establish new rules of engagement of the most personal nature.

A new civilization… one with awareness, one with respect, one with deliberately slow Sabbaths..

I believe always in our good intentions. But perhaps we need a little more formality than we’re used to?

It’s something to ruminate on, this chilly morning, ways to let the tears soften and flow and for us to hold our seat. I also wish those struggling with their challenges glimpses of normalcy in their lives, long moments to remember who they are apart from whatever threatens…

Sabbath Peace… and please be careful, I’ve heard it’s very icy this morning.

The Peace of Boundaries, llvl

We all talk blithely about healthy boundaries. Most of us are pretty lousy at them.

We’re a very informal society these days. In many ways that’s a good thing. But in other ways it makes the notion of formality a bad thing. As with so many reactions, perhaps the push back has been too hard and there’s sacred middle ground to be negotiated. Here’s one friend who’s got me thinking about this:

I had a long catch-up conversation with a friend who’s going through a divorce. Her not-so-young-but-still-tender-aged children are reeling in the midst of a family break-up. She’s a lawyer and a case she’s been working on for years is at a crucial point. She needs to be sane for this case and she can’t merely chuck the case because working gives her life some semblance of order and her need to earn a living is now more important than ever.

She lives in a small city, but she and her ex are well-known. However “amicable” her divorce, she’s profoundly sad and off her center. She’s struggling.

What she needs from her friends right now is sometimes to be able to say how sad she is and other times to be completely distracted. She needs to lead the conversations. If she wants to know about your divorce, she’ll ask you, but her divorce is special to her… some day she may be able to hear that this break-up is just like everyone else’s break-up, but this one, in all its raw ugliness is hers. She’s never felt so alone in her life. At this moment that is true for her.

So friends need to traipse carefully. And strangers or acquaintances need to talk about the weather or a great book they just read that has nothing to do with divorce. Outside the tight circle that’s holding her heart together, it’s helpful for her if life isn’t focused on her and her problems. It’s important to her that people are discrete, unless she asks for support.

That’s the deal — to let her lead. It’s a delicate dance, but it’s life. And I realize I’ve got a delicate dance to understand this, and then to find words… Perhaps always the questions are what what is yours, what is mine and what is ours in this life dance. Having our own isn’t a wrong thing, it’s a true thing. Negotiating this stuff is the Dance of Peace… I’ll keep thinking… you think too, ok?

Local Peace Possibilities, llvl

I’m beginning to believe that Peace Dreams become more possible as you immerse yourself in your community. Partially, that may be because you begin to attune your dreams to what’s needed in your neighborhood. Partially, it’s because as you deepen friendships, you develop allies and a better instinct for who might be interested in what.

You not only get better instincts about who might clap for Tinkerbelle, but also who might run out and get her a power drink and who might work on the long-term problems that tend to make her fade away.

Comrades not in arms but in Love, in Peace.

Which is a good thing, because the journey to Peace is long, but it’s so much more possible in the company of our friends. And the Possibilities are endless as people add their thoughts and dreams. And so the Dream gets bigger. People step up. The hard work gets shared. and we’re off. Watch out Peace, the village is coming to play. Ah la vida local. What a sweet thing to live!

A Neighborly Sabbath Peace, LLVL

It was going to happen sometime. Someone I knew who lived alone was going to get hurt or sick and we’d have to figure things out.

When a friend of mine in California got sick, her community, from all over the country rallied around. Her husband suddenly died about a month before she did and friends started flying in, a week at a time. People showed up. She was that kind of friend. You did that. She was part of a culture that moved about for business. Luckily for everyone, she was part of a culture that made enough money that people could fly about.

But this accident happened in the village. You step outside to snap a rug and that quickly you’re on the ground with your foot going the wrong way. Our friend somehow managed to get back inside to call 911 but then she called a friend, and they came to take care of the dogs and to remind her how very loved she was.

By the time I found out the next morning, there was a place for her (and her little dogs, too!) to stay when she got out of the hospital. One little dog got sick and it turned out Wilma needed an operation too. That was being handled. Friends, on the job. The interwebs were alight with news. If you ever wondered whether FB has value, wonder no longer. Email would have connected a few of us. FB connected many more.

It’s a nice thought to savor on a frosty Winter Sabbath morn. Yes, the ice is treacherous; but hearts are sweet and warm. If you’re present to life, there are so many ways for that to be true.

If you move off the couch today, you might want to call a friend and weave the web tighter. You might want to thank a couple friends for being so important to you. You might just sit, gratefully appreciating how sweet life can be, how grace-filled, even in the moments that just seem scarey. But when you make a life where you are, live la vida local, people can respond.

Peace is in the cracks of life… what is it Cohen says, they let the light in — and the Peace, they let in Peace.

Me and Thee and Peace, llvl

Do I know you well enough to think of you as sacred? Do I know myself well enough to think of myself as sacred. Can there be sacred other without sacred self? Am I sacred because I am also part of other? or Other?

A Friend (Quaker) and a Friend of my Heart wrote this in response to today’s musing: “Back in the day (1600’s) Quakers began using the terms “thee” and “thou” because they were the familiar/informal form of address. They refused to use the honorific/formal forms as a testimony to their belief that everyone is equal and certain people/classes do not deserve “higher” honor or formality when being addressed. They actually go thrown in jail for addressing hoity-toity people as “thee” and “thou.” (They wouldn’t bow to them either – gasp!). Even today, many Friends avoid using the terms “sir” and “maam”, and will instead simply use the term f/Friend instead.” (Thanks, Therese Miller).

Interesting that today if you’re not a King or Queen, sir and ma’am are simply sweet honorific caresses, acknowledgements of age… which of course seem like swear words to those of us, Us, who know that we’re really cook cats and nothing as stodgy as a person who might need an arm up!

Today for us to reclaim the second person familiar is to reclaim the intimate. Television and internet have seemingly eradicated the levels between us — and we ignore the status that privilege and wealth confer, pretending we’re going to get there soon. any day now, really, things will turn around.

But what if I see thee as my intimate, even if i don’t know thee? Am I not forced to care for thee, because i have said I know thee. What if we replaced the wink-wink-nudge-nudge of carnal knowingness with the dangerous, searing soulful knowledge of other. If I open myself to thee… I welcome thee and I dare thee to welcome me. I say Namaste.

In that intimacy, the seeds of Peace are sown. It’s precarious, but real. Peace. Namaste. I welcome thee to my heart.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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