Life Is Precious. Sabbath. Peace.

Oh, the weather is beautiful. Noisy in the neighborhood, however. Last night it was cackling with loads of college students; this morning the geese are running practice flights for their trip south.

It’s a wonderful time of year. At the beginning of every season, it seems, there’s a washing clean of the old… There’s a burst before the settling in. We’re having that right now. I always feel more alive during those passages. (I’ve always been a fan of the places in between!)

Today, I really want to hold on to that sense of being alive, to hold it up.

My friend, by no means a close friend, just a man I like, is alive. So easily things might have gone the other way. It’s always the little things that cause the accidents… says the woman who tripped over an acorn yesterday and went flying.

Life is precious. All life. My friend’s life. It’s too short, really to complain. But not too short to celebrate. Not too short to give thanks. Not too short to pack every single minute with joy and awareness of its abundance. We’re busy we think — we think until something makes us remember… right, show up, be present: now is the time.

My friends, about those Syrian refugees. They could use some support. Their lives are precious as well…

My last two decades have been shaped by deaths. This year, two years away from the last huge, significant death, I’m feeling a little steadier on my feet. I understand, all too well, that death happens. But it’s better when it doesn’t.

So look around your circle and celebrate. Life is here. That’s really what observing the Sabbath, keeping it holy, is all about — Life is right here. There is a wild and outrageous Peace in that. Celebrate fiercely. And let’s use that to fuel the work we have to do with others whose lives are not so lucky at the moment. Because we can.

Peace Must Be Made Where You Are

It’s always so easy to complain about the weather. And indeed. The weather right now is challenging. Hot and Muggy. And my church is having another yard sale. oh, boy.

But this is the day we have. We either make Peace today, Peace with today, or we say that Peace is less important than the weather.

Since at any given the moment, the weather could be less than the perfect, dry 70˚ weather everyone seems to favor, there are a lot of days that we need to be at ease with so that we can do what needs to be done.

Because Life is what it is. And Peace needs to be where we are. Love? it needs to be everywhere. Because Peace, Life, Love.

A Gift of Life and Peace

A guy who coaches kids’ baseball is going to give one of his players a kidney. Yesterday, woman I know raced to save a child from drowning.

We hear all these stories of humans being downright nasty to one another, and yet, and yet… so often we’re so much better than that. People are good people all the time. Everyday heroines. Everyday heroes.

When these things happen we need to stand up and cheer. We need to lift up the good stories and celebrate them. We’re so quick post negative and whiny stories on social media. And, although I know that a lot of us take joy in cute cat videos, those vids don’t encourage us to do what we can. And as the beloved June Jordan says, “More than that, what can anyone ask?”

This guy is a match and he’s willing to do it for a child he likes. And she will live to play ball another season. This woman was in the right place and saw what happened. Sometimes Peace is just as simple as that. Let’s give thanks. And let’s explore where we’re called to be everyday heroes and heroines. And let’s support each other as we do. Together, we can.

The Fullness of Peace

I’ve been exhausted. I was chalking it up to how incredibly busy I was and not really paying a lot of attention to what I was very busy doing — mostly because i was just so busy doing what needed to be done next.

This past month, I have been more deeply… more immediately… involved in people’s lives than normal, working to be present to people at the place where life begins and the place where it ends and some of the magnificent places in between. When it comes in a wave as it has recently, it’s demanding. When you’re needed, you show up. I lean on the Lady, others lead on the Lord, others just the great gift of Life. But you lean, because you’re never enough alone. (and yes, i lean on my community.)

And while it is tiring to be that present to people’s lives, it’s the most exhilarating thing in the world.

As a priestess, I think a lot about the prophetic claims of the job: the need to speak about the many ways life is denied by the institutions to those cast as outsiders and to the most vulnerable. It is a privilege.

But what brought me to this whole priestessing thing was ritual. I love the celebrations. I love being asked to attend at moments of great importance and to lend the reminder that Love and Life are what matters. I love the time spent talking to the people involved, conceiving what will respond to their needs, crafting the vessel and the words and performing the ritual.

I enjoy the weaving together of community. I am pleased when I can help their Joy emerge and grateful beyond belief when I can give voice to their sadness and sometimes comfort and Peace in the midst of their loss.

It is also wonderful when these periods end and you can sink into your favorite chair, or pool or a meal with some friends. Or as I got to do last night, walking the labyrinth and a ritual celebrating the Full Berry Moon… Part of this work is not just the leaning, it’s the privilege and the demand of pouring out of self. I am grateful. and today? I’m tired.

Luckily, the Joy and the Peace will slowly, slowly fill me back to the rim with Life and Love. I just need to give them a chance. And until there’s a little more of me, I’ll quietly give thanks. And as the very wise Jack Kornfield said, “After the ecstasy, the laundry.” or as Buddha’s mother said, “chop wood, carry water.” The first of many loads is churning in the washing machine and I’ve got a day full of little chores to make my little paradise lovely again. A little peace and quiet to recharge the batteries. Peace be with us all…

This and That Peace

I don’t know that what I’m working at has a lot to do with the Berry Moon, although if you saw it go down yesterday evening, you were thrilled. Jupiter was bright and beautiful and the tiny, tiny sliver of moon was orange… ahhhhhh.

But there’s a lot going on out here in the world, and much of what’s touching my life right now is sad. People are having a hard time, and my job, or at least part of my job, is showing up when life is hard for others.

And this kind of job is challenging because it seems that things come in waves. You boogie along and everything’s great and then all of sudden people need you to talk to them about hard things. Life and death things. Because that’s a big part of what ministers do. I’ve always done that with people, but now it’s official.

It’s an incredible privilege to be with people in the midst of their challenges. And it’s hard work. Presence is something to practice. And when they’re people you know, that you’re with on a regular basis, it can be very challenging.

And the day after a young woman died, my friend’s kids had a baby. The circle, the cycle, of Life is sweet. Life giveth and Life taketh away…

And we find a way to make Peace, not only with the journey but also with the beginnings and endings.

Acknowledge, Hope, (Wonder), Peace

How did we get so frozen?

We can’t accept things the way they are. We can’t forgive ourselves for our screw-ups and missteps… what hebrew calls “missing the mark,” even though religious traditions all call for that, but ah, right, most of us aren’t part of a religious community. And then, we have a hard time acknowledging the things that are right.

What have we done to ourselves? Everything gets so strapped down, no place for the wonder. Because it seems that might grow on acknowledgement of things that are going along the way they should. If we acknowledge what’s right, at the same time we accept and forgive, BOOM! there they are Possibilities — and aren’t they beautiful.

Right here, right now, in this holiday season… Life, Potential, Possibility, Peace, growing by leaps and bounds and we get to wonder at the Beauty. Let me just tell you how grateful I am for all the amazing things you have done. You’re really quite talented. (Now say thank you!)

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: life