We still have gentle rain
amidst drought and floods
we still have gentleness
amidst war and famine
We still can love
when others hate
we still can share
when we hope for enough
We still have gentle rain
here and now
where we can plant and we can plow
Praise him in beautiful
Warm and sunny days
Gentle rain pours down
We need the rain, but I am grateful it stopped
so many areas have flooded recently and so many are flooding now
or hailing
I praise for gentle rain
after a summer of drought
in the face of all this climate disaster is to take care of each other.
A. Feed the Hungry
Feeding the hungry will keep our minds off our disasters and nourish others. These others are much more likely to grow up and not become terrorists. Terrorists occur when others feel they have been unjustly treated by another group or the system.
B. House the Homeless
These disasters are destroying many homes. Many of the people were average and middle class until their homes were swept away, now they are a refugee. If we can house them they can begin building a life and community again, which prevents terrorism.
C. Medical Care/Emotional Care
#2 Rebuild/Build for Resiliency
Set up systems and make it easy for people to bounce back emotionally and physically. It also includes building in ways that can either handle nature's furry or can easily be rebuilt.
#3 Stop Funding Disasters!
This means wars, and this means capitalism that makes a buck at the expense of the many.
These things start with me and you- doing it for our neighbors, and reaching further as we can. It means getting to know our neighbors, and others we hang around. Extend help and friendship.
We can also elect people with these attitudes and encourage them in the face of opposition to keep voting, creating laws to support reaching out with caring kindness.
It is the only way through the challenges ahead. Groups that form for caring for each other are going to make it. Those that destroy each other for resources are going to get destroyed (while taking a lot of innocents along with them)
I hope
when asked for another story at bedtime,
that she was read 2
When asked to play another 5 minutes
I hope he was given 10 more minutes to play
I hope that they put extra bubbles in the bubble bath
that Mom deeply inhaled the scent from her child's hair
enjoyed the weight and warmth of his cuddle
Smiled at his delight of learning new things
Watched as she twirled around with song
Gave an extra last kiss at bedtime
I hope
One of the challenges of mortality is balancing preparing for tomorrow and living life today because tomorrow is never promised.
If I absolutely knew I would have no tomorrow, I would be home playing with my babies, doggies, soaking up every ray of sunshine, taking one last sweet shot of sex with my hubby. I would drop all worries and go for comfort and experience, squeezing every golden drop I could from the last rays of light, and feel gratitude for the life I have had. I'd tell my children "Tomorrow, we go home to Christ."
Somedays, as the world tilts more into making tomorrow less likely, you begin to question the drive we have to carry on, as if nothing unusual is happening. Especially when that drive seems to eclipse both the actual preparation for tomorrow and the living life today.
Why go to work, go to school, when it reduces my current joy nor prepares me for what tomorrow will most likely bring? Why are we so good at pretending that tomorrow will just be another today?
This is a collective pretending. If enough of us pretend, it generally works, unless a disaster of man or nature actually befalls us, today will lead into tomorrow and be mostly normal. But as soon as enough of us stop pretending, it will fall apart. The lack of pretending tomorrow is normal will actually allow tomorrow not to be normal.
This is a two-edged sword. We do need tomorrow to be different if we want any hope of having enough resources to prepare for the future if we want to forge it into a liveable shape, but we also need tomorrow to be the same enough that we can use our current skill set to get things done as we prepare for the future.
Therefore, I submit the following advice (to myself)
1. Carrying on is important, but not in the "everything is normal" category, it has to be a carrying on that is designed to create a tomorrow we can/want to have.
2. This requires a focus shift. Stop pretending. Willingly acknowledge that tomorrow ought to be different. Figure out how you want it different and make plans how to get there. Ideally, our leaders should be doing this on a local, state, national, and worldwide scale. They are failing because big business requires our collective pretending. Without large-scale leadership, you will have to forge the best you can with whatever community you can join with. Find that community. Start plans and prepare.
3. Accept that you might have work to bring in the money you need to prepare for tomorrow ( and yes, paying your bills counts here). While you are working, you may have to pretend all is normal to do your job, or maybe your job is help prepare your work for this future we want to forge.
