This morning, I am speaking from a rested heart, not untouched by the world but balanced enough to tell the truth about what so many of us are feeling. There is a wave of grief moving through our country and our world right now. It is a sense of tearing, as if something in the very fabric of our lives is being pulled apart. I cannot pretend it does not hurt.
Some of us are trying desperately to understand what to us is not comprehensible. You process and process in your own mind how others, friends, family can see things so differently and it hurts.
Then I remember that I must protect my own inner peace at all costs. I must put my own righteousness and judgment aside and be a demonstration of the Love that God is when in human form.
Across generations and across traditions, the Divine has sent luminous ones to walk among us. There was Krishna, Lao Tzu, the Buddha, Jesus, St. Francis, and so many others. They came not to be worshipped from a distance, but to show us what Love looks like in human form. They lived certain attributes and principles: compassion, clarity, courage, forgiveness, and a fierce commitment to peace.
Today, in our own time of division and sorrow, there are still Peacemakers and Faithkeepers who choose to live from that same center. People who feel the pain of the world but refuse to add to the pain and anger. I think there must be people who hold a thread of Love steady while the fabric around us strains.
I am one of those people. And I know I am not alone.
We are told in scripture, “Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is not passivity. It is spiritual activism. It is the choice to walk the talk, to live the teachings of Love in our tone, our choices, our relationships.
When confused or overwhelmed in my human misunderstandings, I pray that God will illumine my thoughts and my choices. God, in this moment, may I be an instrument of your peace and love. May peace begin with me. Amen.