Here are a few pictures from last weekend. It was warm enough to get outside on Sunday. Kristen, Charlie, Max, Teddy, and Ruth were here to visit and help us. Charlie put up grab bars, we all took the tree down and got the TV situated in the living room. I was inspired to take down some of the decorations on the table outside and the wreaths that were turning brown on the windows out front. Kristen and I were able to take a long, vigorous walk, Teddy and Max helped Charlie with the grab bars, and Ruthie watched a movie with her Papa.
I continue to meditate, write in my journal and turn my attention to the ways I can be of service in the world. While I meditated today, my mind sometimes turned to a monologue I wanted to write on FB to explain why I am not on FB very much anymore. In order to love, I can't be in fear and anxiety about what may or may not happen. Perfect love casts out fear (and anxiety). FB causes anxiety, fear, and hatred to rise up in me. On the other hand, there are many things that are good and so I look at FB intentionally, maybe once a week to see the wonderful things going on in the lives of those I love. I am also digesting the news in much the same way. Trying to be intentional regarding the stories I read. Thinking in terms of "Is this news or is this opinion?" Much of what tries to pass for news involves prognostication about what the particular piece of actual news will cause. Sometimes this is by very well meaning people, and sometimes it is written by trolls. Either way it causes fear, anxiety, and hatred. So I skip that part. I believe we each have a part to play in this world and in this country, and we have to figure out what part that is.
I talked to Kristen on our long walk about the one time in my life when I felt that my deepest desire met the world's need, when I worked for St. Mary's and St. Anthony's/Josephs's in Lockport. About the people I invited in to the Church, about the people I was hospitable to and included. I am looking for a way to do that again. To invite the univitable, to love those that others throw away, to even go so far as to understand and invite to the table those that want DEI to end and immigrants to be deported and Trans people or people with a different orientation sexually to be excluded, punished, or whatever. Those that want a Christian Nationalist government are terrified. All of these things I have mentioned are points of fear and anger for a good bit of our country. Some people, perhaps because of their emotional makeup or emotional trauma are rigid in their thinking and fearful in their approach to life.
As Lowell Grisham at St. Paul's in Fayetteville, Arkansas used to say we rarely change someone's opinion through words. We just don't get people to see it "our way". We can find a different direction if we build relationships by inviting in everyone and moving beyond the things we disagree on and move towards what we all want: compassion, love, being accepted and valued.
They are gone now my Kristen and her family. Their presence here went well beyond what they did to physically help us. We connected on a heart level. We felt heard and valued and included. I am grateful for that, not everyone has that with their families.
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