The Tools of Peace

I am not a hand tool person (well, unless you count a laptop!). I don’t have great hand eye coordination… but still i understand the importance of the right tools.

Peace needs the right tools too… You have to be observant to figure out what the right tools are. And then you need to slowly apply them. And then you get better and you adapt the tools, or learn better ones.

When there’s a job to be done, and Peace is nothing if not a job, then you need good tools and always to be making them better and better. Peace. Let’s work on figuring out the right tools for the problems in front of us. Let’s get the job done.

The Peace of Friends

I had a lovely visit with my friend Faye Wilson this winter. She is many wonderful things, but among them, she is a stellar friend. It’s not just that she’s my stellar friend, although she is, but it’s that she knows how to be a very good friend and enjoys that richness in her life.

Friendship is one of the bedrocks of my life. I learned this, I think from my Mom. She had good friends and kept them throughout her life. She tended those friendships. She taught us that.

I am lucky in my friendships. This week, I’m enjoying a lovely intersection of fabulous friends. It would be a richness in and of itself, but with so much of my family gone, these particular friends, although there are many other ones, know how to take places at the table.

Faye and I thought that perhaps, not that I can imagine every creating another CV, that friendship ought to be listed. It’s time to change what’s important in our lives and to remember how friendships define, inform and transform us.

Such rich Peace, these friends of mine. I hope yours are that for you. Having friends, deepening friendships, building new ones are, I believe, building blocks of Peace in the world. You learn the value of another human being; you learn how your life can expance when you treasure your friendships. You want more. And that’s a lovely thing. Friend Peace; I’ll raise a glass to that!

Fishing for Peace

Fishing is such a hard life; but those who do it love it.

There’s so much to contend with, long hours and weather, as well as the danger of the work.

Recently (if you use that word with a bit of a long view), they’ve had to contend with over fishing and new styles of fishing so as not to over fish or to take fish they’re not fishing for. For years fishing hauled in huge catches of the wrong fish along with the right ones. and for years the way we fished was damaging to the stocks of fish. And for years, waterfolk have had to sit out the seasons because the stocks were so decimated. But finally the fish are coming back and new fishing styles are improving the way we fish.

This has caused hardship and expense for those who make their living on the water.

You wonder what makes folk return to the sea.

Well, for some, it’s probably all they’ve ever known. But for the others it’s the water that draws them back again and again.

I’ve been immersed in Blue Mind: The Surprising Science that Shows How Being Neear, In, On or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, more Connected, and Better at What You Do by Wallace J. Nichols. It’s a fascinating read.

Bottom line, even if they love their work, it’s hard work with sometimes disappointing results. If you eat fish, you owe them deep gratitude for the work they do. I love fish and I give thanks for their work on the water. Peace to the fisherfolk and to those who enjoy the fruits of their labor.

If You Want to Make Peace on Labor Day

Read some history — find out what working conditions were. do what you can to change that.

Read something about poverty and what perpetuates it.

Confront some of your (oh, our!) misconceptions about the choices people living in poverty make.

Work to raise the minimum wage.

Support labor movements particularly in the service industries.

Bring back the union labels.

Thank the people who work to save your lives and stand with them.

Stand up. Make Peace.

Behold the Day! A Day for Peace!

It is such a gorgeous day. Sunny and lovely. It’s the last day of the pool, alas, alack. It’s hard to let it go, but I’ve had such a wonderful summer. So great. How can I be anything other than thrilled? OK, a little mournful, but the end of summer play means a year of meaningful work.

For me this is a day of back to work and picnics and friends.

A day to savor everything we have and live in happy expectation of what’s ahead. Good times, good friends, good work! And because I’ll be at my husband’s family for a picnic, Sweet love, sweet family and sweet music. (and great food! Picnics!)

This is a day for Peace in the heart and to make Peace in the world.

So let’s do that thing. Have a great day. Enjoy some Peace. Make some more!

A Jumble of Peace

I am not a fan of yard sales, except of course, that I sort of am.

I wouldn’t stop into one in my neighborhood, because really, there is nothing that I need. And most the stuff I want I don’t need and probably can’t afford. I’m unlikely to find that at yard sales.

But my faith community has two of these a year. They bracket my sabbatical/vacation. They are huge and chaotic. I’m sort of chaotic myself, so I find them incredibly distracting. I dropped in the other day when people were working. The only things I could see were the things of my sister’s that I’d given away. I didn’t have a lot of interest in seeing them.

But we have them and they do a jumble of things. They let people let go of things. People like me take stuff that we’ve held onto from our dearly beloved and release it. People who need things but can’t afford them can sometimes get incredible bargains. Or they can get some little luxury that they didn’t imagine they could afford, but there it is with a $2 price tag on it. And people with collections find that one thing they’ve been searching for. And other people, well, they just can’t resist a bargain. And they shop. And in the meantime, the people from our community get to know one another. We do physical work that makes our community stronger as it strengthens our connections. And we make money that helps our community meet our obligations. We can even make plans with some of this money. That’s pretty exciting.

It really is a jumble of things that come from this huge jumble of things. It’s probably well worth a bit of pastoral confusion. After all, it’s never just my Peace at stake, is it?

But, oh, my goodness, what a lot of mayhem — but oh, such great food!

Ponds of Peace

My brother is a deliberate man. He, unlike his speed demon sister(s), studies things, thinks about them, and gradually goes about working his way through whatever he’s doing.

So he is with ponds. He decided he wanted to build a pond up on the mountain. So for a year he read about it. And he built one. And then he built a second one. Cindy and he got crazy with this one. They’ve filled it up with native fish and other nibbling things. They put the right plants (including the oh, my goodness, mountain cranberries) in and around the pond. It looks sort of murky, but when you cup your hands and bring the water up it’s crystal clear. It’s a living pond. It’s gorgeous.

And it’s oh, so swimable, if you don’t mind those nibbly moments in your close encounters of the fishy kind.

The water is silky and smooth and it was perfect for swimming… or, well, floating. Tom and I both got a little weepy thinking about how much the parents and debbie’s family would have love the pond. And all of them and then eventually most of us, will wind up in the blueberry patch that overlooks the pond, good ash making the soil just a bit more fertile.

The night before, a mama deer and her fawn had bedded down where we’ll end up. Cindy’s a hunter, but she has a big safe space around the house and a woods that mama lives in where no one hunts and few even walk. Mother Earth at her most grand.

Nature, getting back to itself. There is so much Peace in this land. So much Peace in that pond… just a really sweet balance in life on earth… I gave thanks and reveled in Peace, Love and all the bounty of their garden. Late summer. It’s an amazing thing. And, oh, my goodness, somehow summer has drifted into September… Peace.

The Peace of Water

I’m currently reading Blue Mind, by Wallace J. Nichols. Now I know why I love the water. Now I also know why I have a short attention span… oh, electronics, you danger…

Being by, in, or under water does wonders for us. Baths may literally be saving my sanity!

And apart from all that, or maybe because of all that, water is beautiful.

This guy is happy about the water he’s giving the world, it’s in every line…

Turns out it’s a great thing to have water features at schools and universities. it calms folks down and helps them center.

And here we all are… wasting water, not protecting it.

There’s Peace in Water and everyone’s need for water demands that we make Peace for Water. 80 Indian nations are at Standing Rock protesting a pipeline for the sake of water. 80 nations may be more nations than have ever gathered before… ancient enemies have united for the sake of water.

Let us Peace in the name of Water, which brings Peace in and of itself.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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