Imperfect Thoughts on Loving Well

Like the endless ocean God is infinite. So breathe, breathe in this infinite ocean air. Let it float around you like a bird on the breeze, let it land on your skin like silk and blow your hair around

May we become the people our younger self would run to for protection.

For me this means understanding we are becoming. We are growing, evolving human beings.

This means remembering, knowing and honoring our younger self with all our vulnerabilities.

This means owning the gifts of wisdom, strength and resilience we’ve received and honed.

This means leading with tenderness - offering compassion, care, guidance and a safe place to our vulnerable, younger self and that of others.

May we become the people our younger self would run to for protection.

Can we now take a page out of the book Sacred Romance, and remind ourselves that on a day-to-day basis we are witnessing only the small story?

My True Self knows my Glory and my Ruin

Daily she walks with these parts of me unafraid

She isn’t thrown by either vanity or shame

She is calm

She isn’t angry or disappointed

She has compassion

She refuses to judge and remains curious

And she gently nudges all of me to grow

In 2020 we laughed. We laughed a lot. We laughed, mostly because we couldn’t think of what else to do.

We laughed because at some point the pain became too great. We laughed because it felt hard to go on.

But underneath we were scared. We were scared of the many years of hatred come to roost in our house, in what was supposed to be the people’s house. We were scared of the fires that burned in our backyards and we were scared of the great sickness.

But most frightening of all, we grew scared of one another, in a deeper way, in a way that grabbed you by the stomach and refused to let go.

And so we worked at it. We tried kindness and loving our neighbors in new ways. We tried more meditation and exercise. We learned new skills. We developed our techie selves. We tried outrage and submission.

But we suffered.

We continue to suffer.

“…it is the way of malicious people, especially the malicious persecutors of Christ and Christianity, to condemn the same thing in those they hate, which they approve of and applaud in those they have a kindness for: the judgments of envy are made, not by things, but persons; not by reason, but prejudice.”

Matthew Henry

From Matthew Henry Bible Commentary

He didn’t wake that morning expecting to die, nor did all the other souls who have died in this way. He was helping, as he did day after day in his work, helping those who need protection, healing, a loving hand. He helped the vulnerable and weak.

And Jesus weeps. “ I didn’t rise this morning, wanting pain and violence for you. I’ve not created you for this. If this day, you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. If only you had put my face before you, but now I am hidden from you.