Image colored in “Mandala Coloring Book Adults” app in the Google Play Store. Edited in Pic Collage.
I started this post yesterday but didn’t complete it due to medical reasons. So, today is a catch-up day
“Strive to be at peace.”
Work towards being a peaceful person. Someone who actively chooses actions that bring peace to the people and the world around you.
Not saying be a doormat or act nice in all situations. Not saying to allow bullying, harassment, and injustice to go unanswered. Simply saying to measure words and actions before speaking and doing to determine if they’re meant to bring peace and kindness.
Easier said than done. So, how?
Examine your internal motivations, thoughts, and emotions. Are you coming from a place of fear, hate, or judgment? If so, work on healing that part of yourself.
Image colored in “Mandala Coloring Book Adults” app in the Google Play Store. Edited in Pic Collage.
Yesterday’s post kind of ended on a depressing note. I am hoping today’s will end on a more positive one. However, I am figuring this out as I go and we will see where we end up.
I am part of a different kind of Christian faith community. We don’t do sermons and programs the way they are traditionally done in the US. We use a dialogical approach to teaching and learning about the bible and theology. No one preaches and tells us what to think or believe. We have a conversation and discussion. We ask questions. We wrestle with the text and talk about the difficulties within it.
Someone reads the scripture. We all sit in silence for several moments while we contemplate what was read. Then we identify things about the passage that stand out to us and that we have questions about. Our teaching elder goes through the room, writing down the questions and concerns the members of the congregation express. Then he gives context and background to the passage. He describes the culture and belief systems of the time in which the passage was written. He identifies the source or the author, if known, or who tradition says is the author and makes sure we know it may not have been that individual. He talks about the audience and who they were and what things they were going through as a society at the time. Then we discuss.
Last night we read Psalm 46. It talks about God being our strength and refuge when the world is raging and being torn apart. We had a lot of discussion about what it means for him to be that. We talked about co-regulation and grounding. The idea that when we’re feeling overwhelmed with fear and worry, we can turn to God and trust him to cope with the worry and fear we can’t. We also talked about God’s peace that passes all understanding. Somehow, even though we can’t make sense of things that are causing worry and fear, we can trust that God will carry us through these things and we don’t have to make sense of them.
I’ve personally experienced this kind of inner peace. It’s enabled me to move through and walk through traumatic events and to do the work to heal, grow, and recover from a lot of personal trauma. It’s helped me to stand face-to-face with a loud, angry, and abusive person and stop cowering and caving into his angry demands out of fear.
However, it doesn’t address the question of why isn’t God bringing peace to the world in the midst of all the violence and conflict I talked about in yesterday’s post.
I asked the question: How do we share a message of hope and faith in God and his peace in a world that is burning down around us and tell people that the all powerful, all loving God is bringing peace?
That question sparked more discussion about what it means to be people of a God of peace and love. We are to be the peacemakers and the peace bringers in the world around us, but doing so under the guidance and ability provided by him through his Spirit.
Get grounded in God’s peace and carry that into the world through our words and actions with each other and those in the world around us. I can’t solve the problems of the world, but I can bring some of God’s peace into the world around me.
I don’t know if that’s any more satisfactory an answer than I had yesterday. But, it’s the only one I have at the moment. I’ve experienced too much goodness, growth, and healing through my faith and belief in God and Jesus to deny that they exist. I don’t expect or ask anyone else to believe because I say so. Instead, I will do my best to share the gifts I’ve received and hope it brings goodness, growth, and healing to those around me. That’s the best I can do.
I volunteered to read one of the Advent readings in December with my faith community. The one I volunteered for was the one for Peace. The Teaching Elder has encouraged me to write one.
What have I done?
I’m struggling to fathom how peace will ever be possible. It feels like we are perpetually on the edge of World War III.
According to the Geneva Academy there are more than 110 armed conflicts happening throughout the world in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
Closer to home, in the US, mass shootings have climbed to 684 in 2023, according to Mass Shooting Tracker. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence presents stark and scary statistics about the reality of intimate partner violence. Hate crime statistics for 2022 as reported by The US Department of Justice show over 13,000 reported crimes and over 10,000 known offenders. Reported and known…how many are unreported and unknown?
It’s all so overwhelming to think about. It certainly doesn’t present a picture of hope for peace. It’s enough to cause one to question one’s faith in the Prince of Peace and the God of Love.
How do I reconcile my faith with what’s happening in the world around me?
All the references to peace I find with a cursory search are about experiencing a personal and internal sense of peace in the midst of stress and strife. The only references to a completely peaceful world happen after the second coming of Jesus when the world and all in it are made anew.
In the meantime, we’re called to peaceful action and to be in peaceful relationships, as far as we are able.
This isn’t satisfying for me. I have more work to do.
I’ve decided I’m going to attempt a writing challenge, to “prime the pump.” My creativity and inspiration have lain dormant for awhile. They’re sputtering. A poem or three, a bit of journaling here and there, or . . . nada, nothing. One of my consciously unconscious thinking errors is that I need to be inspired in order to write. Another, is my perfectionistic mindset: everything I write must be well thought out, structured, and formed – relatively error free – the first time I share it. Neither of these are true. However, for me, it’s like exercise: If I can’t go all out each and every time I do it and do it almost daily, then what’s the point? (A MAJOR thinking error.) That’s why I keep getting injured and continue to regain lost weight . . . losing all momentum. Time to challenge that thinking. Ergo, writing challenge.
Today’s prompt: What are you most thankful for?
So many things to be thankful for:
People, places, and events galore,
Too much focus on what came before,
Left me discontent and craving more.
Suffering from all the trauma and pain,
Distorted, shaped, and wired my brain
In ways that made me seem insane.
I believed there was naught to gain.
All my life, I fought like hell,
My mythos becoming a spell
Despairing and despondent I fell,
In sorrowful darkness I came to dwell.
Thinking I had nothing left to lose,
Bitter helplessness did suffuse.
Yet, I still sought the good news,
Slowly changing my views.
In me grew a yearning
To believe what I’m learning.
From melancholy I’m turning.
Hope and faith I’m discerning.
The thing I’m most thankful of
Gives peace like a dove;
Falls like a gift from above;
Is the greatest love.
It struck me with its profundity. It seemed quite biblical.
I can’t see the end of this journey I’m on. I see the transformation pictures of other women who started out my weight and judgy, cynical, self-defeating thoughts start popping in my brain like popcorn. Thoughts like:
How skinny is skinny enough?!?
I could never get THAT small.
That’s just too thin.
The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t matter what their size is and it’s not mandated that I get that small and have my body look like theirs. Their journey is different than mine. Their whys are probably different than mine. They are different from me. We are all unique and special in our own way. So are our journeys.
We do have something in common, though, other than our need/desire to lose weight.
Learning how to care for ourselves well is key to making it through to the end of this stage of our life’s journey AND not having to go through this stage again.
Ultimately, many self-care habits and routines are going to vary as much as those of us on this journey do. However, the basics are all the same:
Nutrition
Activity
Rest
Relaxation
Passionate purpose
There are some internal prerequisites to achieve those basics. The first of which is deciding that you have value, that your life matters, and your needs are as important as anyone else’s needs.
That belief in one’s own value leads to the second prerequisite: boundaries. What are those?
The ability to say, “No,” to unreasonable demands and requests, is a key boundary.
The ability to decide how to deal with and whether to take the criticisms, snide & snarky remarks, manipulation, and verbal abusiveness, all of which are so prevalent in our lives.
The ability to stand up for one’s self and assert the right to exist, breathe, and occupy the space you’re in, unapologetically.
These are the foundation of this journey of healing, recovery, and growth we’re all on. Once those things are in place, as much is possible, then, self-care is possible. Once caring for and about oneself is primary, then, belief in our own abilities comes next and we become unstoppable…even if we can’t see the end from the beginning, at first.
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The sky turned darker and darker as she walked toward the beach. “This can’t be a good sign,” she thought to herself as she watched the flotsam and jetsam of the tideline being washed back into the ocean. Crest ravaged crest as the waves rose higher and higher, each one violently crashing into the next.
Conscious of the increasing danger in the charged atmosphere, still she persisted in wading through the lacy, white edges of the ocean’s skirt where it brushed the sandy shore. Inhaling deeply, she felt calmer, even as the storm heightened around her.
Turning to face the vast, explosive power of the swelling tide, with hair blowing in the gusting wind, her eyes closed against the mist, she threw her hands in the air, and let out a howling scream, venting her ire and frustration about the painful events and circumstances she’d been experiencing, which were out of her control. It felt as though the elements were speaking through her, for her.
Finally, as the skies opened and heaven poured out it’s laments, she turned and slowly made her way back to the gray and brown weathered beach house. Step by weary step, she steadily paced herself as she sought refuge from both the actual storm and the storm her life had become.
As she closed the door behind her, she was filled with a calm resolve. She felt centered and at peace with vagaries of her life. With the storm raging around her, she slept soundly, for the first time in what felt like decades.
Upon waking, she saw the morning light coming through the window and meandered outside to the porch. Feeling the warmth of the sun contrasting with the cooling breeze, she finally felt content and knew the course she would take upon returning home.
After packing the car and leaving the house key in the lockbox, she cast a final glance towards the calm ocean, whispered a prayer of gratitude, and drove away.
Let’s close out 2013 and bring in 2014 by having a Smorgasboard Party for Peace!
The theme for the final Monthly Peace Challenge by Kozo at Everyday Gurus is: Party On, Garth! We were challenged to plan a party that would promote peace throughout the world. Who would we invite? What music would we play? Who would we want for entertainment?
I’m not a party person. The thought of parties kind of leaves me in a cold sweat of anxious panic. I don’t do well in crowds. I get overwhelmed by the contrasting and conflicting cacophony of sound, sight, and smell. I like low-key events where there is space to move, room to breathe, and an openess of thought and mind for people of differing backgrounds to come together and explore each other’s ideas and experiences. I enjoy exploring the environment of the host: seeing the pictures, art, furnishings, and memorabilia the host has around. I also enjoy seeing and learning about the mundanities of the host’s life and experiences.
I suspect that if more people took the time to get to know these things about others in the world, instead of pushing personal agendas of accomplishment and aspiration, we might co-exist a bit more peacefully.
I once heard of a kind of travelling party where various people within a community hosted an open-house style of party on the same night or succeeding nights. The premise was that people attending could spend time visiting each location, getting a bit more familiar with the hosts and those in attendance at the same time. It kind of reminds me of attending a school’s open house where the students do special projects and put together special portfolios in each of their classes. Then, their families visit each classroom and view, not only their student’s contributions, but get to see the contributions of their classmates, become familiar with the teacher and the subject at the same time.
I recently remembered something which happened in early elementary school. I’m pretty sure it was a social studies unit. We were studying our family tree and learning about the countries and cultures in our family origins. At the end of the unit, we had a potluck smorgasboard with each student bringing a dish which came from a country our ancestors had originated from.
This past Summer, I joined in with others from my church community, in partnership with another church community to bless and serve the local public high school and the community of students and families which are connected to it. Some of us provided supervision and activities for the children, some of us prepared food, some obtained donations, while many others took on the various down and dirty tasks of garbage pick up, painting, weeding, cleaning, and making repairs around the school and its grounds.
Yesterday, I saw a posting about what one person did, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox, to provide relief efforts to the Phillipines after it was hit by a typhoon, instead of a movie trailer.
So, here’s my concept for a party to promote peace:
Have a person, family, or organization host an open-house party where they share the artifacts and memorabilia of what it means to be from their culture/country. They could play a mix of the cultural variants and styles of music which represent the fullness of their experience. They would serve a tapas-style variety of foods which express the full-spectrum of gastronomic experience, including historic and cultural stories which may underly the development and creation of the music and food. The decor would reflect the culturally significant art – folk, functional, and fine. Each one would also show, through all of these things and whatever else they could think of, historical and current areas where their culture was not at peace and where peace has had an impact. Finally, a service opportunity for the attendees to participate in peace efforts would be provided.
If I were to do this in my community, I might host it at The Portland Art Museum. In each different room or section, I would invite leaders, musicians, artisans, and residents of the different segments of Portland to create a representation of their subculture in each room: LGBTQ, Street Youth, Homeless families and individuals, representatives from the various ethnic and cultural communities, immigrant and non-immigrant.
I would like to see someone else host and ecumenical open house party hosting the various faiths and spiritual paths. The various denominations and sects of Christianity, Islam, and Jundaism would be represented, as well as other world faiths, such as Buddhism and Hinduism. Practitioners of alternative spirtual paths commonly identified, accurately or not, as Pagan, New-Age, Wiccan would also be represented.
An ideological open house would be interesting. Representatives from the different schools of thought and philosophies where readings from different teachers and philosophers would be recited and discussed, would be enlightening.
The only way we stop being enemies to ourselves and each other is to explore and understand the histories, roots, origins, beliefs, and passions which make each individual and collective what it is and learn to embrace the differences as necessary to the functionality of us all. Celebrating each individuating experience of the collective is what will create unity and enable peace.
Back in October, my life: mind, body, spirit, environment, relationships, was anything but peaceful.
I visited the Monthly Peace Challenge for the month of October, posted by Kozo on Everyday Gurus, but I could not wrap any part of myself into visualizing what peace looks like or could look like in my day to day life, much less in the larger world. Here’s my vision for World Peace 2014:
Reverse the organizational pyramids~ Individual people in positions of power and leadership: economic, political, familial, spiritual would stop seeking more power in order to assert their self-interested agendas. Instead, they would commit to humbling themselves in service to the betterment of those whom they have authority over. “Ask not what the people can do for you, but what you can do for the people.”
Return to interdependence ~ Each individual will come to recognize and honor all other individuals as members of the same human body.
“Many Gifts but One Body
3 For by the grace(G) given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think.(H) Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith(I) to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body,(J) and all the parts do not have the same function,”
I know this passage is a bit out of context, since it is speaking to a first century sect of Judaism, which we now call Christianity. However, I believe that all of humanity is a creation of God, whatever name or understanding any human may have of that. That belief falls within the belief that the God which was, is, and shall be pre-existed all of creation and all of creation was formed from God’s own essence and returns to God when it ceases to be. Therefore, in my understanding, even if we are divided in our spiritual/religious beliefs, we are still living, breathing, walking, talking pieces of God, with function, worth, and purpose, whether we believe it or not, regardless of our own awareness or cognizance of our connection to one another or God. Just as the human body has many parts with many functions, some deemed desirable and good, others deemed undesirable and offensive, all are necessary to the continued functioning of the body. Independence, superiority, and dominance are false constructs obscuring the reality that all people are reliant and interdependent on all other people in existence. “Humanity divided against itself, cannot stand. Humanity united and functionally interdependent, will get back up and keep going.”
I fully believe that if we, as a species, can internalize these truths, that peace is possible on a world-wide scale. That being said, it starts with me, in my home, in my relationships, in my life today.
Human In Recovery 