It seems I have shifted from feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities next week might bring, to feeling focused on what good I can do. Even if it is a little bit, I’m going to keep doing what I can. Besides, I was exhausting myself. I’ve been buoyed by beautiful words from others this week, which I’m happy to share with you here.
From Buddhist teacher Tara Brach: “Dear Friends– For anyone who follows the news, this political season is filled with the animosity of war. And yet it’s possible for each of us to hold our participation as citizens in a different light. As Reverend Warnock said, we can consider our vote as a kind of prayer, and our encouragement of others to vote in the same spirit. When I voted early, it felt like the most poignant and important vote of my lifetime. I brought my palms together after sealing the envelope and whispered a prayer. It was a prayer to protect our imperfect democracy, a prayer to protect the most vulnerable among us, a prayer to heal the divides, a prayer for our earth and all living beings. Far from being separate from spirituality, voting was a very real and direct expression of heart.”
And from Clarissa Pinkola Estes: “In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that… We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear.. Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”
Let us remember all the convictions which guide and steady us, and let us be grounded in them now. May we be what the world needs, in whatever ways we can. See you Sunday!