January 15, 2013...

January 15, 2013.  Well we made it through 2012 and look around... I don’t see any peace on earth.  The wars are just as bad, the murders are still happening, and, Oh, the weather...  The snowstorms are getting bad enough that the weather channel is naming them like we humans have named the hurricanes for how long now?  The weather is crazy...  See this new age was all a bunch of baloney...
Are you thinking this way?  Have you ever planted seeds... Crops, flowers, vegetables?
After you worked the ground, dug the hole, planted the seeds, tapped the dirt over them and watered them... Did you go out the next morning and expect to see your crops, a flower, a vegetable ready for the dinner table?  No, of course not.  After you have prepared the ground and planted the seeds it takes time for the plants to grow, and even then you have to protect the plants, keep them watered, tended them to keep the weeds from taking over.
Just because you don’t see the wondrous world without war, the golden age of healing, doesn’t mean it’s not there.   It is there being birthed, being grown, being nurtured .  Be of good heart... know the new world is coming... closer and closer then ever...  Keep on keeping on....

A Beautiful Gesture of Hope and Unity...

I have written before in this space how we cannot let fear take hold of us during this time.   It is a momentous time of great changes that, just as a child being born, can produce great fear and pain.   Amidst all the glaring headlines about wildfire and flood, politicians at war with each other over cultural differences and saying things we aren’t sure if we can believe or not, we may have missed a headline about another historical occasion.  On June 27, two days ago, the queen of England made peace with a long standing former commander of the Irish Republican Army.   A man who was responsible for a great deal of violence and death and possibly even the death of the queen’s own cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1979.  In 2005 the IRA disbanded and gave up the violence.  Two years later Martin McGuinness, this once commander of the IRA, became  the senior Catholic politician in a new unity government in Ireland.  On Wed. June 27, 2012, in a visit to Ireland, Mr McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth shook hands making a show of unity and the continued peaceful search for ways to end conflict. 
Amidst all of the changes taking place, some of them not so pleasant, let us not miss this highly symbolic gesture of Unity and Hope.    If you wish to know more about this occasion simply google ‘queen shakes hand’.  It is a beautiful and hopeful story.  

The Dawn of a New Day....

The night is dark and punctuated with wind and storms that blow through with heavy rain and hail.   You keep going because you have to.  There are others also on the road trying to find their way.  Sometimes it is so dark you can’t even see the road.  Someone takes your hand and you hear them say.... “This way”.  You have reached back and done the same for another.  The incline gets steeper but that is an indication to you that you are getting close to your destination.   And yes, you can see a dim light low to the horizon, in front of you.  You top the crest of the hill and the light is brighter.  Stumbling, you pull yourself up and see a stretch of road in front of you, only this road is wide and smooth.  Others are scrambling up around you and behind and are seeing the same thing.  You hear someone call out, “look there are people coming toward us.” and yes, you see them.   The dawn is brighter behind them but you can see that they come toward you with open arms, welcoming. One in particular seems to be coming directly to you... and that person is calling your name.   Then you are in their arms, in an embrace and they are whispering in your ear, “Welcome, I am so proud of you, You made it.”  You realize you have been met by your future self.   “Come with me”, your future self says, taking your hand.  “ Your future is bright and there are many wonderful things in store for you.”  Together you and your future self walk into the light of the new dawn. 
This new dawn is waiting for you.  It will take some time but there is a beautiful, peaceful future ahead for us and those we leave behind.  Take the hand of your future self and march unafraid into the dawn of a new day.