Tag: hope

Listening to One Another

I’m honored to be in a virtual choir for this video by my friends at Rising Violets (Marie McGilvrey and Jenn Franklin).

Marie wrote the song a few elections back after being saddened by the growing division in this country; at the same time, she began receiving daily visits from a Mockingbird pecking on her backdoor window. Mockingbirds have a beautiful birdsong but are known for singing the songs of other birds. This inspired the song about truly listening to one another, seeing the beauty in diversity and the ultimate oneness we all share.

I hope you’ll watch the video and share it with others who might need these words of hope these days.

Blessings,
Beth

Love Is Our Hope

There is this part of me
That, if it were not
For the singing of the Wood Thrush,
Would feel so hopeless.

There is this part of me
That, if it were not
For the beauty of the yellow butterfly,
Would find no joy.

There is this part of me
That, if it were not for
The wild abandon of a puppy’s play,
Would sink deep into despair.

In this long, hard season
Of sickness
Of death
Of isolation
Of injustice and fear …
Where is our hope?
Where is our joy, our purpose, our anchor?

Our hope comes from each other.
Though we are apart,
We are woven together in the fabric of love.

Our hope comes from within,
From the heart of courage
That beats inside each living being.
From the essence of the Holy One, Knit into our spirits
Before we were imagined.

Our hope comes from the One
Who said that nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing in all creation
Can separate us from Love.

Love.
Love is our joy,
Our purpose,
Our anchor.

Love.
Love is our hope.

Days Run Together

IMG_8664Days run together
And soon I don’t know …
Is it Wednesday or Saturday?
We step through this disorienting, timelessness
of social distancing, quarantine, isolation.

I watch the news, increasingly grim,
And realize that we all will know someone
touched by a COVID-19 death.

And this grief overwhelms me,
Knowing that things will never be the same.
There will be suffering.

There is suffering. Right now.

Can we trust that humanity will get through this?
Like we got through the Black Death?
Like we got through the Great Wars?
Like we got through unimaginable disasters?

Tenacious human spirits hang on.
We adapt, we hope, we move, always, towards healing.

#pandemic

All Shall Be Well

When you wake up in a fog,
The clouds hiding the sun,
Hiding the hope and the confidence
You used to have.

When the place you are standing
Feels like it tilts at random moments
And you risk sliding into the abyss.

When you are floating
In a pool of wet darkness,
Your foot tethered to a boulder
That pulls you under.

May the bright sun of the universe
Cut through the clouds
And cover you in warmth and light.

May the healer of the heavens and the earth
Wrap you in safety and confidence,
Stand firm beneath your feet,
Hold you up when you feel you are sinking.

May the creator of hope
Tap you on the shoulder
And whisper,
“I’m right here.
And all shall be well.

“You are not alone.
And all shall be well.

“You are mine.
And all shall be well.”

Resilient

I sit down to write
And no words come.

I am tired,
Discouraged,
Overwhelmed by the never-ending
Reports of disasters and tragedies.
Weighed down
By too-much bad news.

Make me resilient
Like the grass whose seeds
Sprout and put down roots
In ancient stones.

Take heart.
Take root.
Love.
Live.
Trust.

I took this photo in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. This grass grew in the ruins of St. Mary’s Church. Built in the 10th century, this was the place of worship for the nuns of the monastic settlement which grew up around Kevin of Glendalough.

The Long View

When I feel despair about
The way things are
Or hopeless about
What is to come.

When I feel lost,
No longer sure of the paths
I am to follow.

When I have worn myself out
In anger or in worry.

I catch a glimpse
Of the blip of time
In which I live.

A fungus on a stump.
A stream of water carving a path through a boulder.
Prophets preaching in the wilderness
Or bearing witness on the street corner.

Let me not give up.
But, instead, hold on to
The long view.

Believing that the arc of history
Moves towards love,
Towards justice,
Towards life.

Show me my part
In this long journey.

A Message from the Trees

img_5872

I walk outside
And look up at the tree
In my front yard.

Its branches, bare.
Leaves, long shed,
Were raked and carried
To the backyard months ago.

But I see buds growing in the branches,
Promising life that will return
In its season.

What message for me, for us,
In these months of fear and challenge?

That though we have lost
Hopes and dreams …
That though our plans,
Swept up,
Now lie in the bottom of dust bins …

We are alive, growing,
Dormant, but still grounded in earthy hope.

Step outside and look toward the sky.
Life and hope and promise
Are growing in hidden places,
Preparing to break forth
In beauty and strength.

Seeds of Hope

img_5341

It’s not fair of me
To tell you (or anyone)
How to feel.
We all must find our own ways
Through these days.

But let me share that
This morning,
Seeds of hope were planted in me.

In The Upper Room chapel
Where a Shawnee man
(Talk about the long view)
Called me back to the Circle
That begins and ends with the Creator.
The Circle that always contains hope.

In a reception with six people
From a L’Arche community
Where I witnessed selfless love,
Where I sensed a larger perspective
Than the tunnel vision in my brain,
And where I saw God’s beloved gifts.
There I met one who told me
What day of the week I was born on
When I shared with him my date of birth.

May these seeds of hope be nurtured,
Taking hold, sprouting, and growing.

Shawnee Traveling Song

I am walking upon the earth
with people who love me
on the circle of Creator
I will always be home
I will always be loved.
I will be with Creator.

– Fred A. Shaw / Neeake
© 1987 Fred Shaw / Neeake, Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band

Hold on to Hope

Processed with Snapseed.
 
I saw the moon setting
As I drove to work
Early this morning.

It hung over the horizon,
Round and orange,
Its beauty suspended
Over the blackness of trees
The shadows of houses.

The full moon
Reminds me that life goes on
Even in the midst
Of chaos, of grief,
Of confusion or hopelessness.

Hold on to hope, to beauty,
To love, to the assurance
That no matter what we face,
God is there beside us, saying,
“You are my beloved.”

 
Find more of my blessings in my book Christ Beside Me, Christ Before Me: Celtic Blessings. Subscribe to my video channel at YouTube.