Snapshots of Local Peace, LLVL

I know it’s not enough. There are much bigger issues to work on. but sometimes the Peace you work on has to be tailored to where your heart is. You also have to trust that your friends will do the big work while you’re doing the heart work.

What startles me into pleasure about the village is how caring and concerned it is. Caveats? you betcha. You’ve got to work your way into this village. But I’m here right now and it feels damned good.

Soon enough I’ll turn my face to the Peace and Justice trail. Right now, there are broken hearts, my own among them, as we mourn a woman who laughed and stitched and fed a community of people and of cats. Jean Weston, we’ll miss you. Saturday, we’re going to do our best to celebrate the joy you brought into our lives. In the meantime. we’ll be seeing you in all those old familiar places… and take up the task of creating family and creating community on your behalf.

And just a note, we were all confused at exactly how MANY cats were going to be meeting you at the rainbow bridge!

Fields & Streets of Peace, LLVL

Right here, right now, outside your door (and inside too!) life is astonishing.

Too often in the cold and grey we fail to notice nature’s Beauty. Winter has its own Beauty, it’s different from any other season. And we wish it away.

I lived in the Bay Area long enough to appreciate the subtlety of its seasons. and they’re gorgeous. Except for the riot of Spring green, they’re softer. Spring comes one by one and not in a blaze of glory. Fall has muted but beautiful color. I always had to work for the sweetness of the summer browns.

But back here I love the slowly marching progression of seasons. Moving toward the deep of winter and slowly backing away. The patchwork fields are glorious. The river is alternately icy and misty. The pavement shines. Is it dangerous. Yes the weather has dangers in it. And here they’re obvious. Walk carefully. Wear enough clothes. Be part of weather. And take a drive out into the country where the winter wheat is starting.

And if you can’t do that, take a walk around the block or simply stand still and be present to the moment. Weather. it is what it is, and it’s glorious, right here where you live la vida local.

Clouds for Peace, LLVL

Today’s clouds are more cotton batting and last night’s fog is today’s ice slick, so please be careful. That’ll teach us to be so disdainful of dry, frigid weather!

But clouds… wonderful, wonderful clouds. Mystery, grandeur, fun… they have it all going on. I live in a river valley, so there are hills (we call them mountains, they’re very old mountains, so let’s not hurt their feelings by pointing out that their majesty does not come from their height.) that the clouds can amass against. Our climate is right for thunderstorms so clouds can build and build and build. And some days it’s so clear that the contrails of planes are all you see, as they turn the sky into a windowpane print.

Clouds are great for metaphor, and they’re lovely just as is, without any import at all. Clouds, with or without meaning sauce. My mom painted clouds a lot. She also painted their shadows. I think, I’ve said, it took her paintings to teach me about cloud shadows. And, of course, my father the scientist would be explaining about the cold air meeting the warm air as he was exclaiming about the beauty and the bounty!

But there’s something about the grandeur of the sky that captures our attention and soothes our souls. Each locale has their own clouds as true to the area as our terrain. Local beauties!

But these particular clouds, drifting across a Pennsylvania field remind me of Love peeping out and Peace overflowing. I like the science of clouds and I’m happy to have it exist right alongside their lovely metaphors. Let’s hear it for Mother Nature! Watch where you’re walking, but don’t neglect to look up, the Divine might be smiling at you… Here’s looking at you, kid!

Waiting in Peace, LLVL

I’m sitting in another waiting room, grabbing another hospital’s wi-fi, since there’s none at home. Brought a friend in to the doc. Turns out this is the waiting room where I waited with my sister so many times. So weird, used to sitting here waiting for her, find myself turning to look…

One more place where people wait separately together. “What’s your story?” is the question on everyone’s lips. Everyone wondering if someone has a story of hope to share or a tip on curing nausea.

It’s easy to shut down here. You want so much for the answers to be the ones you wanted. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re not. But here you all are. And you’re really not alone.

Nothing more immediate and real then this place, that’s for damn sure. Even though my friend’s here for something else, this is Cancerland for me. That’s a locale where I lived a lot of life last year. This is a place where I bore witness and tried to keep my hands and heart open. I have tears to offer. I hope I have smiles as well. for the hardworking staff, for the hopeful waiters. I can be present, to my own sadness and to others’ hopes. I can pray for the wellbeing of the sojourners and the companions.

We’re all just looking for Peace (big and small p) in waiting rooms like this…

Peace Weather, LLVL

What is it about the weather that causes us to shake our heads and wax eloquent? Nothing like a long-term forecast to really get the head-wagging going.

If you’re going to live around here (my here and wherever your here is), you’re going to have to dress for it And then go on about your day.

It’s a good idea to stop the tire-burners and not to saw down a forest. So sign your petitions, donate, act respectfully. Those are long term support you can offer the weather and the people needing to live in Peace in their here. You can lobby for food for families and for some fuel oil relief as well. We have work to do on weather’s behalf, that’s for sure.

But pretty much on a day-to-day basis, you just have to dress for it. It’s Winter. There’s a whole category of appropriate clothing in the catalogs and stores.

I’m not sure why it makes me so grumpy, but, really, people spend a lot of time grumbling about a daily given. It’s just weather. Wear your raincoat. Or your boot and mittens. Winter cold serves a purpose. So does summer heat. (oh, and springing flowers and falling leaves.) You live here. Enjoy it. Weather’s fine. C’mon out and live la vida local. Feelin’ darn Peaceful out here. Have a lovely day.

Balancing Sabbath Peace, LLVL

Another mysterious Sabbath morning. Foggy. Here in the Valley, we’ve gone from bitter cold to flood warnings. Winter is harsh, even when beautiful.

I’m working once again with balance. A friend wrote last week after one of my musings about the difficulty of being perceived as capable, the curse of the competent as someone has said. Here, you’re competent do it all.

But doing it all doesn’t nurture community. It makes a martyr out of you and it’s hubris to think you can or should do it all. So those who are competent need to speak up. We also need to lower the bar on what people do. If someone else does something they don’t need to do it to our standards, they need to do it to their own. Part of being an elder (OMG, ME????? sigh, yes.) is handing over the wisdom, so you can concentrate on those things you’re good at. It’s not about doing everything, it’s about being you.

Those who are willing to let others shoulder the work. sorry. Your turn. Your community. Your turn. and your benefit as things become yours…

Balance. on a sweet Sabbath. Figuring it out. Getting it right. Getting it wrong. Trying again. All for the sake of community, Love and Peace.

Meeting Peace, Jauntily, LLVL

As I search, I am seen. So take that precious moment of self-reflection before you go. Love your mirror and let it love you.

But the search is delightful. Even when the truth and the Peace are disarming or dismaying.

Begin as you mean to go on, “they” always say. And “they” are not always wrong.

So grab your coat and grab your hat. No sense carrying your troubles, they’ll keep pace if they need to. But look for hope. And smile, smile, smile. You have a date with Peace. (and I seem to have show tunes stuck in my head. ah well, less fattening than sugar plums!)

Insistent Peace, LLVL

So, here’s the deal with this living la vida local, it’s not all sweetness and life.

Even in my beautiful little river valley, things are wrong. I may not be responsible for fixing everything, although I would judge that I’m responsible for fixing what I can and for thinking about fixing. (Because there’s certainly no Peace if people are hungry.) But I am responsible for calling out what I see — both the Beauty and the warts, the privilege and the lack of it. Here we are, in it.

I haven’t had a lot of writing assignments this week, although I haven’t written for the paper lately… sigh. so I’d written ahead a bit on my dailies, feeling pretty satisfied. But that lil angel had other ideas. I hope she’s going to show up occasionally… (notice she’s a she today? wonder how that will keep changing…)

This poem fell out of a lunch with the guy who’s been my biggest co-conspirator on the Love Flows. He’s the logistics end of the dreaming. So when I said, flood relief, he said here’s how. When we started thinking food, he’s now thinking BOLD and LARGE and occasionally I think about logistics. While we’re thinking about about what we do next, no reason not to throw some money in the pot if you have some. We’re building up resources for the next assault against hunger. Hopefully we’ll get to work on the website next week. Living la vida local is loco… lots of demands on a priestess’s time… but the donate button works. Or donate where you are. And stay tuned. Priestesses reflect, but it’s not all they do.

Lliving in the neighborhood, dancing around the village helps you see, and seeing confers the need to speak, and speaking pushes one to gather others around to make a difference. It’s a Peace Dance, and we’re all invited. And for the moment I’m not going to worry about the fact that I’m channeling info from a stone angel.

Ear Inclined toward Peace, LLVL

So, what do I think about angels, you ask me? I don’t know. I don’t actually think about them. I know when I heard a Catholic Priest tell a woman who’s husband had just died, a husband I’d heard screaming at her just the night before in their hospital room, that now her husband was one and she could pray through him, I pretty much rejected him.

I can tell you I write about them occasionally, stories of beings of great power, but I never spend a lot of time on them.

But here’s this little stone putti-guy who (I’ve decided) is listening, and I allow him to remind me: listen. And then I find myself in a place where listening is required. Did he just go from angel to Angel?

Just another Angel, agitating for Peace, for Love, for space in the world for aching hearts to begin to heal. Hark the Herald Angel is singing, even now, even in January. Will I listen better now than I did before? I hope so. And isn’t that more likely, if there are angels, are they watching us, or are they herding us toward Peace? In that case, they probably have bigger things in store for us than we’re likely to be comfortable with. Oh, now there’s a surprise.

I knew that little guy had to be distracted with something important if he didn’t notice the snow…

Listen! Peace. LLVL

What would we hear I wondered? What was the angel listening to?

For me this morning, she was listening to the sound of my friend Jean, whose life was ending. She heard her distress. And I was asked to listen as well.

To her family. To her friends. I got there too late to listen to Jean.

And I was able to share everything she’d told me about her wishes for a service, giving her family some comfort and structure.

And I could tell her stories. And take in the ones being told. I could savor them and consider how to use them.

Sweet to have an angel to remind me to incline an ear. Peace has many faces. Sometimes the face is covered with tears. Oh, Jean. Your community will miss you. So will I. I loved you. We all loved you. But there you are with everyone we know. who knows what living la vida local is like in heaven… I’ll bet it’s fun. I’ll bet it’s beautiful. and I know it’s filled with Peace. Say hi to my family, will you?

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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