Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
Quote: Pema Chödrön
Justice and Peace meet at the café,
sit together,
hands folded around steaming cups,
heads bent over the paper.
They are not taking in
the news of the world
with sorrowing eyes
and the clucking of tongues.
They are instead planning their itinerary,
plotting their map,
looking for the places where
they might slip in.
Their fingers touch, release,
touch again as they read,
moving with the half-aware habits
that come only with long living alongside.
They have met, parted,
met again on countless mornings
like this one, torn and taken
by turns.
They put the paper aside.
They brush away the crumbs.
They talk quietly.
They know there is work to do.
But they order one more cup:
there is savoring they must do before
the saving begins.
They lean in,
barely touching
across the table for
a kiss that makes a way,
a world.
—Jan Richardson
Image: “Meeting” © janrichardsonimages.com
(Blessing inspired by Psalm 85, NRSV—“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”)
This is a season like no other for emotions to rise both joyful and sad. I share this in gratitude for the recognition of both.
Thank you, David Kanigan
I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter; it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong.
Laughter can renew like a short nap in the afternoon or a refreshing journey outside after a long day.
My mother and I have always had a way of sharing a burst of laughter that might touch us so deeply it can bring soul-washing tears. Under stress, feeling pain or the burden of grief, we can find ourselves noticing something silly one of us may have said. In a snap, we are moved into Grace-filled and stress-releasing laughter. And in those moments, we know laughter’s divine gift.
No one can plan this type of laughter. It is spontaneous and comes from a deep place in each of us. It is healing and brings people together.
At this time in our world, I pray we share much of this type of laughter- amongst ourselves and beyond our neighborhoods.
We are in need of its healing and its ability to unite.
Quote: W.E.B. Du Bois
PHOTO: Eye for Ebony
found in Gratefulness.org
We must continually choose love in order to nourish our souls and drive away fear,
just as we eat to nourish our bodies and drive away hunger.
Quote: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler
Photo: Michael Fenton
from Gratefulness.org
Carrie's Bench 
You must be logged in to post a comment.