It’s been quite awhile since I last wrote. I’m not sure why I haven’t … it’s not that I’ve been sitting around, twiddling my thumbs. In fact, the opposite has been true. Things have been flowing spiritually and creatively and it’s felt a bit like I’ve jumped into a fast-moving current of water that has been swirling all around in and through me. Refreshing, exhilarating Living Water! I’ve felt like Jesus and I have been in-tune lately and it’s been so rewarding. I’ve been involved in a variety of activities including recently leading several quilt workshops with Central American church leaders before and after a learning tour to Guatemala and El Salvador, led by my husband along with 8 other friends. Each activity went well and has been very meaningful, yet, for some reason, I haven’t written about any of them. I like to think that I’ve just not been inspired to write, I’ve been “too busy” … but the greater truth is that I haven’t taken the time to adequately reflect on what all has been happening. I’ve jumped from one activity to another without doing the inner work that is necessary to stay centered. As a friend wondered this morning, “What is mine to do? Who am I called to be?” Two essential questions to remain true to my most authentic self, my deepest call.
Staying centered is always important yet with the grief I feel over the election, staying centered is even more crucial. I want to rant and rave, to strike out and in disgust, give up. Yet, that is not my deepest self, my most authentic self. That person is centered on the life-giving and life-affirming stream of love that comes from living Jesus on a daily basis. For all of humanity. For all time. We need each other — those I agree with and those I don’t. Those who look like me and all those who don’t. Those who live here in the U.S. and those who live in other parts of the world. Young, old, middle aged, youth, children, healthy and sick. Everyone. I have to be centered in my faith to be able to channel the kind of love this sort of inclusion requires. It certainly doesn’t come naturally to me.
Another friend shared this poem by Venice Williams. I pass it on to you in the hopes of it helping you as well:
You are awakening to the
same country you fell asleep to.
The very same country.
Pull yourself together.
And,
when you see me,
do not ask me
“What do we do now?
How do we get through the next four years?”
Some of my Ancestors dealt with
at least 400 years of this
under worse conditions.
Continue to do the good work.
Continue to build bridges not walls.
Continue to lead with compassion.
Continue the demanding work
of liberation for all.
Continue to dismantle broken systems,
large and small.
Continue to set the best example
for the children.
Continue to be a vessel of nourishing joy.
Continue right where you are.
Right where you live into your days.
Do so in the name of
The Creator who expects
nothing less from each of us.
And if you are not “continuing”
ALL of the above,
in community, partnership, collaboration,
What is it you have been doing?
What is it you are waiting for?
Venice Williams, Facebook post, 11/6/24
Amen.
~Terri
Pictures: Rock in river, publicdomainpictures.net
Children at Metapan Iglesia Menonita, El Salvador (Charles Geiser)
Learning Tour riding in truck, Guatemala (Charles Geiser)
