Foggy Peace

Luckily for me (and for you if you’re following me!) the world is willing to remind me why we keep working for the good. There is so much in life that is challenging, desperate and sad… that serves as a reminder of the many ways we can we work to make life better.

At the same time, there is Beauty that reminds us to pay attention. No matter how cynical we get about the “system” there is beauty to pull us back. Whatever else we pray/acknowledge/express… Thank you should be our first prayer and our last of the day. Giving thanks for what is opens us to see more Beauty. Seeing the Beauty and drinking it in fuels us for the work to be done… If Gratitude is not one of the direct routes to Peace, it certainly smooths the path.

Every time I cross it, or watch it, or sense it, I’m grateful for this incredible river.

Back to Work Peace

I think of Fall as the season of thanksgiving. If you follow the Northern European Pagan calendar, Fall started August 1. I have a mixed relationship to that notion. I’m all about giving thanks and deep gratitude any time you want. The sun really does change, and that’s what guides those designation, and yet, and yet, and yet… it’s my favorite time of summer, dog days or no. Swimming pools, skinny dipping under August moons, corn on the cob and tomatoes until you cry for respite. (haven’t reached that point yet. hallelujah!) Easy enough to give thanks, but ask any farmer, these are deep summer activities. They don’t give way until the frost comes. So Fall is sort of a moving target.

But whether we like it or not, we’re back to work. When the Sun isn’t quite as hot as it’s been, when there is some pleasant shade, it’s time they tell us, to get back to work. Even in my grief, when I have long moments when nothing other than staring into space can grab my attention, there’s a place at the back clamoring for attention. I have a service and a sermon I’ve been waiting all summer to write. So what if my brain feels like one of those extra large pocket book that’s filled to the brim with miscellany? I know the stuff is in there. I’ll sort it out.

The world won’t wither for lack of my attention, but it is time. There are many things wrong. There is war. There is bullying. There is pollution and global warming. There are people doing without, whether that’s food, shelter, health care… or even simple kindness.

At the beginning of the year, we started dreaming dreams of peace. We cleared out the undergrowth in our lives, prepared the fields, sowed and tended those dreams. It’s now time to begin to reap the harvest and put it to work. Do you have a project to create? Take the sweet breath of these cool mornings and get to work. Are you simply going to be a kinder person? Get going. Are you picking up trash and enlisting others. bend and stoop. Let’s figure out how many bonus points on Weight Watchers you get for picking up trash…

There’s much to stand in the way of dreaming. I thought I had a pretty solid handle on where I would be building way stations of Peace. But grief is a miasma that clouds our minds. And yet I know I’m dreaming still. The moments of clarity I have can be used for more than washing blankets.

And this is my world. Your world. Our World. We have work to do… We have people to connect with. We have Peace to make. There is no one else. And while we simply gnash our teeth, little pieces of our world die… people, animals, ecosystems, great forests. So, upsadaisy! here we go. Peace, my sisters and brothers. It’s what we’re about.

Roots, Peace and a Sabbath

When the mornings start out misty, the root vegetables start coming… This time of year, they’re as tender as the mist, but infinitely more substantial… I’m sitting at my sister’s watching the sun turn the river fog pink and then gold and then ghostly white. Up here, it’s all blue sky.

Church and then brunch and then a nap, a swim and a visit with a bestie. And all along, cherished time with my sister. it doesn’t get sweeter… And now Debbie’s life, which is pretty damned ephemeral, is infinitely sweet for me, if challenging for her, for us all.

It’s the Sabbath… counting blessings, giving thanks for what is. Life in the very slow lane. With Beets. and Peace.

Sun-Gold Peace

Tomato season. It’s always been a favorite. When they were fresh from the garden, there was always a plate of them on the table. Daddy always grew both yellow (which were maybe really orange, but tastier than most of the orange ones I find recently) and red. Mom never dressed them, just sliced them and put them out.

We all always waited until the meal was over to dive in, er, pass the plate. It was one of the few times that gluttony was encouraged at our house!

To this day, my favorite dinner is corn on the cob with tomatoes sliced onto the buttery plate. It’s a delightful indulgence, throughout which I can be heard murmuring, “mmm, mmm, mmm.” It’s both grace and a paean of praise and gratitude. “Blessed be the Earth that grows the food!” And the hands that till the soil and the hands that serve it and the energy the food imparts to the work of the world.

I think tomatoes taste like life. They taste like the sun and the soil and the rain that grows them. And those little sun-gold varieties? oh, yeah! Rub off the dirt and go, giving thanks all the way!

Peach Peace

Every time we come to a new fruit or vegetable, I think, “there simply isn’t anything better than this…” whatever this may be… and so I’m stuck, obsessing about some particular piece of loveliness until Nature and agriculture’s next gift comes along.

Right now, it’s peaches. Oh, so good. Not those cue balls they sell in grocery stores, but the juicy, run-down-your face things you buy at your local farm stand. Sweet. and weirdly fuzzy. Why did that evolve, do you suppose? Certainly not just to entrance those of us who devour them! And of course the camp is divided between the entranced and those who just can’t stand the feel of the fuzz on their lips.

They are, for me, the quintessential August fruit. You can’t eat them elegantly, they’re juicy when ripe. You delight in them and their stickiness. And what more is asked of us than that we delight in creation. Give thanks, say grace and eat a peach. And then consider how your being in the world might offer people delight… even Peace. Be a peach for Peace, how about it?

Departing in Peace

As we ended the cruising portion of the Alaska trip, I was a bit startled by the affection I felt for some of the people there. There was no sense that I might see them again, although some I’d be delighted to. There was simply a sense of having shared something spectacular. Something momentous. And everyone was aware, both of the beauty and of the privilege. And of the Peace. There’s something very calming and as I’ve said, elemental about steaming through that landscape. It’s not often that you get to be in Nature so vast that it overpowers the presence of cruise ships. Earth, Air, Water, in that place seemed empty of its inhabitants and its few observers.

The cruise ship had been large enough that you never had to interact with people, unless you chose to. You were not likely to meet folks again, unless you worked at it. But everyone gasped in wonder at Nature’s Beauty and shared that with whoever was standing by, whether you spoke their language or not.

The UUs sing: Go now in Peace, Go now in Peace, May the Spirit of Love surround you, everywhere, everywhere, you may go…That Peace, that Beauty and that Spirit of Love was something we had beheld together. What a marvelous experience. And for me, it was sweeter because I was with my sisty, Deb. Life really IS this wonderful. I give thanks for all I have seen and done.

Resting Sabbath

At some point, we’ll gather and wonder what comes next. But not not yet. Today’s for the telling of stories, the reveling in new connections and the exalting in work well done. The UUCSV and its friends got on a bus, came to Staten Island with some elbow grease and more food than anyone could imagine and made Peace. We were taken on a tour of the affected areas. The need we encountered was staggering. The ongoing problems daunting. We didn’t change the world, but: There’s a little less mold and a lot more shelves. A kitchen remodeling moved along. Data entered. Calls made. Parties set up and carried out! Friends made, Heroes encountered. Labyrinths walked, Maypoles danced, Songs played and sung. And then they got back on the bus exhausted and happy.

Today, we’ll rest and reminisce. Thanks to everyone who participated. Thanks to everyone who gave. (it’s still not to late, go to Love Flows if you’re able to share some resources with people so hard hit by a storm.) Three of us will provide the service for our host church as one more chance for people to sit back and put their feet up. What happened, happened because you participated.

Thank you. I’m sure I’ll be finding new things to give thanks for about this trip for a long time.

But you know what? I’m a tired girl… and other people were doing great things in the world while we were working on this little one. So sit back, put your feet up and relax. Enjoy the Sabbath. Yesterday was all about the hard work. Now, we could all use a little Peace and quiet.

Peace-abilities, Peace-ibilities

Is that too corny for words? I can’t tell you… I’m probably not the first person to consider these things — just because i haven’t seen it before, doesn’t mean it’s not out there. I did find I couldn’t decide between a word that meant I was capable and a word that meant things were possible.

But imagine: we could even have a PQ Peace-ability Quotient that we could improve, or classes in increasing the number of Peace-ibilities we can envision. I’d better stop, I’m beginning to build a Peace-ibility Empire! (and why not?) Whatever it is, we should give thanks and get to work!

(ps… i looked and there is some stuff… so, no empire, just a post!)

Peace of a Pacific Sunset

It’s sort of a ridiculous assignment, to try and describe a sunset in ten lines. But ten lines are the rule. I made the rule. It’s an interesting task to try and tell a story in ten lines. Sometimes it works better than others. When I finished this poem, I thought wait! I didn’t mention that sometimes the air will seam to turn roseate before it fades to black and white. And there was certainly no time to mention that sometimes the dolphins dance in the waves or that the pelicans sail majestically by in freight train formation…

So what does a poem mean to a dream? I guess that both are always unfinished… or maybe just incomplete. Maybe it’s the good reminder that we are called to say what we see and that what we see isn’t in conflict. When we add one vision to another, we get a more complete, but never perfect vision. I see things differently than you so the overlap will never be precise.

As we begin to develop our dreams, there will be times when we realize there were pieces we didn’t include. Then we’ll have to decide, do we simply need to be aware of that? Do we need to find someone who is working on an allied dream? Or do we have enough to deal with in the dream we’ve created, imperfectly perfect as it is?

So, I guess I’ll just keep asking myself… What kind of peacemaker am I? How will that change this year? And how will I embrace the places where I miss the mark or simply don’t have the capabilities? And equally important, will I keep being open to the startling beauty of a sunset that is not like “mine” and allow it to stretch and modify my notion of beauty… and Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: giving thanks