What to Do When Everything’s Not Going to Be Alright

What to Do When Everything’s Not Going to Be Alright

“With the change of leadership here in the US, many people are scared. They are facing threats to their security, their health, and their freedom and looking toward an uncertain future. They find themselves in “an ocean of darkness,” as George Fox wrote, though he also wrote that “an infinite ocean of light,” of God’s love, flowed over the ocean of darkness. Our faith does not tell us we will not face challenges, but that we can trust in the guidance of Spirit to show us how to love one another in ways that make a difference.”

The Children’s Meeting of 1663

The Children’s Meeting of 1663

“‘The children’s meeting’ of 1663 is famous among Friends. In 1906, some Friends made a book about it, [a fictionalized account] told in the words of fourteen-year-old Judith, who was there in 1663.

At the end of that first week, on Saturday, with their parents still in jail, Judith’s friend Maria came to visit and asked:

‘Who will gather the meeting tomorrow?'”

Winnie the Pooh and Grief

Winnie the Pooh and Grief

“One day Winnie the Pooh went to visit his friend Rabbit. Rabbit, always the consummate host, offered Pooh some honey which Pooh gladly accepted. Pooh, true to form, ate rather too much honey and as he was leaving got stuck in Rabbit’s door. 

Pooh was stuck half in and half out. He couldn’t go back in and he couldn’t get out. He was stuck so tight he couldn’t even sigh.

(That’s what grief feels like for many people.)”

Whatever’s Been Uprooted, Let it Be Seedbed

Whatever’s Been Uprooted, Let it Be Seedbed

The plow has savaged this sweet field / Misshapen clods of earth kicked up / Rocks and twisted roots exposed to view / Last year’s growth demolished by the blade.

Your Pain is the Breaking of the Shell

Your Pain is the Breaking of the Shell

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy.”

We Were Made for Joy and Woe

We Were Made for Joy and Woe

Man was made for Joy & Woe;
And when this we rightly know
Thro’ the World we safely go.
Joy & Woe are woven fine,
A Clothing for the Soul divine;
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

A Seasonal Perspective

A Seasonal Perspective

“Night and day are a continuum. Our planet is constantly turning day into night, and back again to day, with some of the loveliest times being dawn and evening, when it is not sharply either day or night. Our planet is seasonal. Winter gives way to spring, to summer, to autumn, and back to winter. Our lives, too, are seasonal and cyclical.”

But I’ll Still Try to Love You

But I’ll Still Try to Love You

“[At my first sit-in] we sat there for two days waiting for something to eat. And it was the most challenging two days of my life. People came up and spat at us in the face. They put lit cigarettes down our backs, our shirts. People would punch us in the stomach so hard that we would fall on the floor, and then they would kick us.”

God Will Set Thee Above Thy Fears

God Will Set Thee Above Thy Fears

“It is in my heart to praise thee, O my God; let me never forget thee, what thou hast been to me in the night by thy presence, in the day of trial when I was beset in darkness, when I was cast out as a wandering bird, and when I was assaulted with strong temptations, then thy presence in secret did preserve me, and in a low estate I felt thee near me.”

Heal Our Broken Souls

Heal Our Broken Souls

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal our broken souls.

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