Ponderings – Page 2 – Peacemaker Priestess

Depending on the Kindness of Strangers

In Tennessee Williams’s 1947 Play, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” a lead character, Blanch DuBois. says “I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers.” But, of course, these strangers were neither kind nor dependable.

What if kindness was what it’s supposed to be? Here are some of the big beautiful words used to define it: respect, benevolence; beneficence of action or manner. Kindness is generosity, an action from the heart. Tennessee Williams made clear the travesty of the use of that word in his play.

Kindness is not easy. To offer gifts from our heart, we must know what we can offer and give from that place. Done properly, being kind does not use us up, it fills us up. A sweet action of kindness can fill another as well. Kindness is an essential building block of Peacemaking.

Missing Places at the Table

Many years ago in Northern Europe, people celebrated only two seasons: Winter, which started on November 1^st; and Summer, which started on May 1^st. In many places in the world, both pre-Christian and Christian communities have celebrated the end of October and the beginning of November as a time to remember our beloved dead.

Once while in California, I was invited to a dinner where we brought place-settings and special foods to honor those we had lost. We ate in silence and candle light, communing with those no longer with us. There were tears — and oddly enough laughter — as we recognized the places that those who had gone before still occupied in our lives. We remembered — we reassembled those relationships. It was healing to remember the friends and family that we remember and the ancestors and mentors who helped us become the people we are today.

“No!” Is a Very Useful Word, But, It’s Not a Peace Word!”

Work on this blog post has gone on for weeks. It’s taken me that long to move from rant to Peace-blog — which is the purpose of my writing. What started the rant? The overuse of the word NO! in public and private discourse, often shouted. Ai, yai, yai!

Oh, I could go on, but it’s exhausting. And you know what else it is? Immature. This is not, as they say, “adulting.” These are the very important expressions of toddlers. This is differentiating. Me. Me, Me, Me! This is a toddler learning boundaries: I’m me. This is mine. I can do this (myself)! As parent, caregiver, and friend, these phrases feel incredibly personal — and very frustrating, however, they are simply moments of discovering the edges of the toddler’s reach, a stage of exerting independence by testing: “No, I’m not going to bed.” “My toy!”

The Peacemaking Tables of Autumn

Peacemakers celebrate the turning of each season. Moving toward the Autumnal Equinox, warm days are shorter and nights, cooler and longer. Here in the Valley with its rich agricultural history, the seasons are punctuated by the foods we plan for, grow, harvest, and bring to the table. As the harvest is gathered in, we are invited to celebrate and to give thanks for the fertility of the land, the labors of those who work it, and our opportunity to share in the abundance.

Making Joy A Daily Peace Practice

Fellow Peacemakers shared this quote with me. Tom and AJ further clarified it this way: “Joy lives only in the now.”

“We encourage you to make the most of this moment, for it is only in this moment that joy is able to exist.”

Making Joy Your Daily Practice

“We encourage you to make the most of this moment,
for it is only in this moment that joy is able to exist.”
The Guides

For quite a while now, I have known two wonderful men who carry messages from Spirit Guides. Every week, I receive an email from them called Wisdom Wednesday. The quote above is what the guides imparted recently. Tom Workman and AJ Cavenaugh, who are the “listeners”, clarified it this way: “Joy lives only in the now.” If you want to know more about what the Guides have to say when speaking with Tom and AJ, find them at Speaking From Source. Tell them I sent you.

When was that last time you remember experiencing Unadulterated Joy? It happened to me today when I was preparing and then consuming a tomato sandwich. I’d made the herbed mayonnaise a few days ago. The salt and pepper stand always at the ready. The olive oil bread was a happy co-conspirator… slice bread, spread mayo, thickly slice a heirloom tomato, pile as much tomato on each bread slice as I can, salt and pepper… and ahhhh. Unadulterated Joy.

The Endless Work of Becoming (and “Un”becoming!)

Hopefully, as we age, we continue to work to improve ourselves. We understand that we are not one-and-done, but rather we step-by-step our way into healthier, saner, kinder versions of our younger selves. Becoming a Peacemaker is the work of my sixth and seventh decades.

It’s interesting to me that at the same time we are “un”becoming. Aging “offers” its input here. Physically, I am “un”becoming the person I was when I was younger: I am more fragile, less flexible, and less fleet of foot. I have aches and an occasional pain. My physical skin is thinner and more spotted. (My metaphorical skin is actually much thicker with age, Hallelujah!) If I am interested in becoming older, I therefore must work at becoming physically stronger. Emotionally, I am “un”becoming quite as worried as I was as a younger woman about what others think about me. As a woman possessing her wits, her wisdom, and with a goodly few number of years under my belt, I am dying my hair purple and wearing red glasses that are a perfect compliment to my many black dresses and suit me to a T. (tip o’ the hat to Jenny Joseph whose poem was originally named “Warning!”). Mentally, I am “un”becoming bothered by the shoulds and musts and instead making connections with desires I never allowed myself in my youth. Witness: my Peacemaker’s Tarot for the 21^st Century. Talk about things that have never been put in the same sentence, let alone title before!

“Peace, Peace, When there is no Peace!”*

A friend of mine works as a chaplain at a hospital in another river valley not that far from ours. She forwarded a heart-breaking blog post to me (https://rrayjr.blog), that concerned the racism a young, male Emergency doctor encountered in his residency there. It was, pointed, blatant and horrifying and the institution has not yet figured out how to acknowledge, let alone address, their issues.

In the meantime, they have lost a fine young doctor; forced him to work under hostile conditions — or lose his years of work in this school; shown themselves to be unwilling to foster the talents of all their students. All of this, in a time when there are already shortages of doctors.

Peace Is a Returning, a Trying Again.

As I’ve mentioned before: in Hebrew the word for sin means missing the mark. This is becoming a crucial, central concept in my understanding of building a world of Peace.

We’ve all missed the mark. The response to that is to analyze how that happened, what actions might bring you closer to the mark and try again — remembering of course that you might need to include an apology if someone has been wounded by your actions.

Let Us Fill ourselves with Possibilities of Peace!

There are so many words that define Peace. One of the things I’ve been pointing to throughout this series, is that Peace is a collage… maybe even a heady, glorious kaleidoscope of things.

We are so used to working within the parameters of the practical and the permitted. In contrast to this, Possibilities are endless. Let’s grant ourselves the permission to explore the many positive possibilities of Peace.