Peacemaker Priestess

Haunted by a Hit to the Heart (and what it means)

On January 2, 2023, in a Buffalo Bills/Cincinnati Bengals game, Buffalo Bill Damar Hamlin tackled Tee Higgens. Mr. Higgens, running full-speed hit Mr. Hamlin in the chest and head area. In a weird, horrific accident, that hit caused Mr. Hamlin’s heart to short-circuit and stop. Damar Hamlin is now out of the hospital and back home in Buffalo. I have no idea what impact this will have on his career. I wonder what impact it will have on Tee Higgens?

This was a powerful moment to share.

I have been haunted by the fact that when struck just right/wrong, a heart, thought to be safe within its bony cavity can stop. Can break. Evolution has done what it can to keep us safe. But there are always ways around evolution, aren’t there?

Prepare for Peace in 2023

Becoming a Peacemaker requires us to make fundamental changes in how we comprehend the world. Only when we actually begin to consider Peacemaking as a way of life, do we realize how much work it is. Not to be discouraging, but let’s be realistic.

Because our conflict torn world has taught us to think of Peace as pie in the sky, we think of it as magic. Magic that we see, not that we do. Because anyone who does magic can tell you that magic is very hard work. It requires one to master many small steps that then must be folded into one smooth action. Wow! “Presto Change-o!” The Magician says that, but they know that they’ve performed steps A-Z to get there.

Peace entails mastering the small steps which then tumble into a gorgeous pathway. We are impatient about mastering the beginning steps and instead want to start with a major accomplishment, “Presto!” Peacemaking is the sum of all the small steps that only in retrospect look like a complete shift.

Throngs of Angels Singing and Bells Wildly Ringing

As a child, I cherished memories of candle-lit churches smelling of greens, filled with choirs and organ music and the pealing of the bells.

It’s odd, reflecting back, that so many beloved memories are of celebrations of sound that paid homage to the story. As soon as days become shorter and nights grow colder, my heart opens, waiting, waiting, waiting for proclamations and celebrations of Peace on Earth.

The Animals at Midwinter

Many traditions tell stories about how, in the deep of MidWinter, if we listen closely, we can hear the animals talking.

As a child, when I heard about this, I believed, hoping against hope, they would say something special to me — just me. Ah, the self-centeredness of childhood and the deep trusting faith. I believed, because I wanted to, that there was only one special night when they would call our names, rather than there being only one special night when we would deign to listen.

“The Dark, Sacred Night”*

On the first of December, in my little town, we celebrated the December sky and the encroaching Dark. Working with Fact, Story, and Music, we discovered stars, watched a grandfather assume the responsibility of being a revolving earth while a little one embodied the Sun with so much dignity and finesse. We learned how to find the North Star and wondered if it would help us find our way home. We heard the Gong whisper the night sounds of winter as together, we formed a tree and became a connected living entity that slowly transformed into a festival of lights.

The glittering sky was, in that moment, all the holiday we needed and everyone was invited.

Kerfluffles Are Not the Way of Peace

Kerfluffles are not the way of Peace.This has been a hard but useful lesson for me. What’s a kerfluffle you ask? According to Google, it is “a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views.” Think of it as indirect or inappropriately directed complaints that cause an upset, but do to solve a problem. I am somewhat conflict avoidant, which might surprise people who don’t know me well. I easily speak up on behalf of someone else, but I have been known to complain indirectly, to the wrong people, about something with which they have nothing to do and no power to make a difference. Which, in essence, is whining and gossiping — kerfluffling. Ew.

Complaining and making a fuss are not Peacemaking activities. They are, however, very easily engaged in, human activities. How do you respond when you observe these behaviors in others? My reaction is to get huffy, most likely because they offer me an opportunity to gaze into a mirror at my own unlovely, kerfluffling expression.

Peace Outside My Door

Last week, a friend brought me, and helped me install the most wonderful present I could ever receive. A Peace pole. How well he knows and loves me!

Look at this — and look how happy I was the night my friend gifted me with beautiful, colorful Peace on stick!

It’s planted right outside my door. When I posted this on Facebook, someone suggested what a wonderful reminder it would prove as I left my house to take Peace with me. Indeed. I try to keep Peace on my heart and in the forefront of my mind, but you know, we all encounter that rude driver with whom we feel inclined to share exactly how we feel about their driving — which is rarely Peaceful. So, Hello, Peace Pole. May I always take your message with me as I set out in the world.

Success! I Found the Joy!

It was not my intention to write this week’s blog as a follow up to last week’s. But then there were those November Days — which were late Summer/early Autumn days — completely out of season in which I braved the chilly waters of the lake at Half Way Dam and water walked. Twice. Such Joy, even as I had to dance around in order to catch the Sun and not become too chilly as the Sun sets earlier in the mountains and casts a shadow on the lake.

Later that evening, a full Moon rose in a clear, still light sky. I walked past a couple sitting outside a restaurant and laughed with them in recognition that they’d gotten the Moonside table. They’d had no idea it was a Full Moon that night. It will probably be the last night they’ll sit outside to eat until the other side of Winter. They’d even put their phones down to observe and appreciate this month’s celestial spectacle!

Find Your Joy, No Really, Find it!

The reason I capitalize Joy when I’m writing about Peace is because I’m writing about something larger than small joys.

Some reading helped me to discern how real that distinction might be. In particular, I was wondering if people with depression can experience Joy. Although depression means a lessening of possibility to experience Joy/joys, there can still be a place for it.

In particular, I’m referring to a focus on those things that make me feel particularly alive. For me, that is being in what scriptures refer to as Living Water. It’s a challenge for me right now that the temperatures have dropped and I am not walking in the water. I haven’t replaced that yet, neither the exercise nor the experience.

Believing in Peace, and by Extension, Myself

Peace is possibility. Endless possibility. This was the conclusion a friend and I drew at the end of a long conversation.

Possibility exists, but it’s not necessarily easy, any more than Peace is easy. But both are so worth the labor!

There are probably two challenges I struggle with most when working on Peace and Peacemaking. The first is keeping Peace grounded. It’s easy for people to talk about Peace as something ephemeral… which very quickly becomes not real; not possible. Peace is Possible. Peacemaking can be an act as small as extending a supportive hand. In fact hand offered to hand — offered to another hand — and on, and on — is probably the most concrete building block in Peace. Seeing people. Acknowledging their need. Extending a hand that may help or comfort is a foundational to Peacemaking. That extended hand helps people realize that not only can they survive, but they also now have the ability to thrive. There’s nothing ephemeral about surviving and thriving.