Tag Archives: forgiveness

Rainy Day Peace

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I love watching it rain. I particularly love watching it rain on water. Plunk. Plink. Plunk.

If it’s warm or if my feet are dry, I love being out in it. Even drenching rains. (ok, if it’s warm, I’m likely to take my shoes off). It’s not so fun if you’re supposed to be all dressed up, but I have great raincoats, because … rain!

We all grumble about it, but it’s so needed. What it also is is useful! It’s also forgiving, erasing evidence of our past mistakes… hiding our tears when we go for a walk.

Rain falls, the saying goes, on the just and the unjust. We say, and need to mean, no justice, no peace (thank you Bob Marley), but for Peace to happen at some point there needs to be forgiveness. Rain reminds me that this is possible.

 

Sheldon for Peace. How About You?

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To be transparent, and why not be, I’ve never met Sheldon.

But I’ve met others of his ilk. Cheerful, enthusiastic, game for anything.

Sadly, most humans, myself included, cannot be described this way. We’re far more complicated. True, many of us are bears of slightly larger brains which can lead to wonderful things, but also to overthinking. And sometimes, overthinking seems to lead to paralysis. It can also lead to a lack of generosity.

Forgiveness isn’t easy for us. Festering, on the other hand, is.

Joyful participation isn’t automatic. Too often we feign boredom, which becomes actual boredom, rather than going along for the ride, or the walk, or the work.

And we’re all too busy to just be.

I really think Sheldon’s got something to teach us about Peace. I wonder if I am willing to learn it. I wonder if you are. I wonder if we’re willing to go along together on the walk toward Peace.

EverydayPeaceFriday25Jun17

Forgiveness on behalf of Peace

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I am a lousy student of history. There is so much I haven’t studied. It’s embarrassing to admit but i have only the most superficial understanding of Gandhi and his non-violence and peacemaking. So much for Peacemaking!

So last night was revelatory for me.

The speaker was great. He’s retired, but still involved and an exciting speaker.  He had tons of information, much of which I’d never heard, made me know I should know more, but spoke so movingly and convincingly about the ways forgiveness contributes to Peace…

The way it softens hearts…

And how it’s only softened hearts that allows us to move forward. Gandhi thought of himself as a failure because in the end, Peace was not perfected. But Peace is ongoing work. It is the best of us that moves toward forgiveness. It is the best of us that demands Peace. So it will always be a struggle… and yet…

Forgiveness. Peace. Oh, there is work to be done. And there are possibilities to be discerned.

HarvestMoonLunacySep30

My Father Won’t Attend My Wedding

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Dear Bartender and Priestess,

I am a successful, generally happy gay man. In a matter of a few weeks, I am going to marry the man of my dreams. My boyfriend and I have been together, lived together, for 10 years. Eventually we’re going to throw a huge party for all our friends and extended families, but we decided we want to keep our wedding day small. Immediate families, extremely close friends.

Unfortunately, my father has declared that he’s not coming to my wedding. Continue reading →

Fearing the Real Deal

When we skim along the top of life, never doing the work to engage our souls at some profound level, what do we miss?

I believe that Grace is abundant, as is Forgiveness. But I think they mark you when you encounter them, or allow yourself to encounter them. To become a vessel for that grace also marks and changes you. Having tasted them, I do not believe you turn back to “nice grace,” “nice forgiveness.”

I can’t help but believe that our lives could be richer and that Peace is far closer than we’d like to know… because knowing.. we’d start walking toward us. And radical Peace isn’t easy either. But it is Paradise.