so sorry

"I'm so sorry this happened to you"

This is a well-intentioned comment we emit frequently when someone relays distressing news. We don't want to see anyone suffer, and yet we all suffer. We really want to believe that we have at least a smidgen of control over the hills and valleys of this process of living our lives but deep down we know we don't. And so we say we're sorry that it happened in an attempt to bring comfort and express our empathy. And it always leaves us feeling inadequate.

I found this Barbara Brown Taylor quote on FB today and was moved by the reality of the work of suffering in our lives:

"Terrible things happen, and you are not always to blame.

But don’t let that stop you from doing what you are doing.

That torn place your fear has opened up inside of you is a holy place.

Look around while you are there. Pay attention to what you feel.

It may hurt you to stay there and it may hurt you to see,

but it is not the kind of hurt that leads to death.

It is the kind that leads to life."

Barbara Brown Taylor, from "Life-Giving Fear, Christian Century 1998.

and so we pray:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves:

Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls,

that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body,

and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, Collect for 3rd Sunday in Lent

photo from here

Rogue Wave

"Every human interaction offers you the chance to make things better or to make things worse.  To decide to make things better can cost you bundles of self-interest.  To decide to make things worse generally feels a lot more powerful.  The only problem is that the power rolls away from you like a rogue wave, as the person you slammed into finds someone else to slam into, and so on, and so on.  The good news is that you can set off the same sort of chain reaction with unwarranted kindness.  Kindness is not a bad religion, no matter what name you use for God."

from An Altar in the World
by Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 114-115.

wisdom must be practiced

"Wisdom is not gained by

knowing what is right.
Wisdom is gained by practicing

what is right, and noticing what happens when that practice succeeds

and when it fails."

Barbara Brown Taylor,
An Altar in the World, p. 14

This amazing artwork "Akoma Sankofa" is from here. The artist is Julie Jalil & she writes that "Akoma Sankofa takes its name from West African Adinkra Wisdom symbols. The word "akoma" symbolizes patience and tolerance, while "sankofa" symbolizes learning from the past. Those two words seemed to sum up the calm wisdom emanating from the figure."