Quote of the day: In Richard Hedrick’s recent poem, Lockdown, we hear the contemplative voice emerge out of the pandemic of fear and chaos:
Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation.Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness. Yes there is even death.
But, they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise, you can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet, the sky is no longer thick with fumes, but blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi, people are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open so that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family around them…. All over the world, people are slowing down and reflecting.
All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way.
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality. To how big we really are. To how little control we really have.
To what really matters. To Love.
Commentary: If fear is a disease, tranquility and contemplative silence are among the cures. Slowing down and going nowhere are not constraints and disappointments, but the opportunity to quietly get right with yourself, those whom you love, and (the Creator embedded in) the world around you. Turn the uncertainty into a gift.
Suggested Action #24: Has some unhurried time opened up in your life? Accept that opportunity to walk alone in-the-world-where-allies-abound, to sit in stillness for a while longer, to camp with one or two friends in a remote place under the stars. Give yourself some space. Some time. Some timelessness.
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Gary Paul Nabhan aka Brother Coyote is a professed member of the Ecumenical Order of Franciscans, a graduate of the Living School, a conservation biologist, orchard-keeper and story-teller.
