I wanted to write just a tiny bit before I go to sleep, given that I wrote the title hours ago and then got sidetracked. There’s so much going on in the world and some of it is so sad, so tragic, so painful and then there are these beautiful glimpses of light. I feel so strongly now that when we experience those moments of light that we cannot- must not- take them for granted, and that as we experience them we need to do all we can to magnify them, to amplify them and to share them. We cannot keep them to ourselves. Everyone needs hope right now.
I woke up this morning with the intention of doing my Course In Miracles workbook lesson before I did anything else, but somehow I fell right into temptation and looked at my phone first. The way the world is right now, I know better. But it didn’t stop me. And the first thing I saw was a beautiful but very sad post by Anne Lamott, reminding me of the havoc that is being wreaked upon the people of the United States by an uncaring and despotic government. How did this happen? Well, it happened and I am not even going to go down that road of wasting time asking how we got here- because here is where we are.
But is the world just a dark place? Not my world, and I hope that you too can see the patches of sunlight. Last night a dear friend took me to see Les Misérables in Greensboro. It was brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary and dynamic- absolutely wonderful in every way! Late this afternoon we watched a talk that one of the monks gave who is a part of the group of monks walking for peace right now from Fort Worth, TX to Washington, DC. Their goal is simple- to spread peace and compassion and that is a beautiful and glorious intention. Where people are doing good, where people are sharing their love and light, we need to bathe in it, to absorb it and to radiate it.
This brings to my mind a beautiful prayer I learned many years ago at the 1994 International Sound Colloquium. It is a silent prayer done with hand gestures but the meaning is this:
I offer you peace
I offer you friendship
I offer you love
I hear your needs
I see your beauty
I feel your feelings
My wisdom comes from a higher source.
I bow to that source within you.
Let us work and play together.
Anne Lamott’s piece finished with these words: “All the courage I’m seeing around me thrusts me into these deep days of winter, where I notice how the slant of light is exquisite.”
