Awake and Aware

It's serene here.

This last string of great weather has included little to no Georgian Bay breeze, which makes for impeccably still waters, and a forest-gentle space out here on the deck and in here in my soul.

I'm taking it all in, greedy for the calm after the strenuous spring and summer Ken and I have valiantly stumbled our way through. I need the rest and the restoration very badly, my human frailty having been pressed as it was. I accept this as a gift.

I will write about it all, and post pictures of sunrises, and forest friends, and still waters. It never gets old.

But it doesn't mean that I am unaware of the rough waters happening elsewhere. Two events are bothering my heart right now, even in the midst of all this loveliness.

Right now people I know and love are in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, aiding those who have been devastated by severe flooding. Some of the pictures coming out of that region are so gruesome they wouldn't be shown on public television here.

Others elsewhere had thought they had escaped from the destructive forces of both natural disaster and civic unrest of their homeland to settle somewhere safe. Yet through no fault of their own, are once again finding themselves in grave danger, all because of the power of words, political rhetoric, and social media. I can't even imagine the trauma upon trauma. Especially for the children, oh my.

And that's just two of the more well-known awful things happening in our world. There's lots more. And there's lots I know about that's not on the news. I'm sure you do too.

I say all this because, as well as seeking to have my own online space be safe and uplifting and life-giving and grace-filled, I believe the full range of good mental health includes acknowledgement of and engagement with suffering.

This is no place to hide from this. And actually, my point is, I don't think we're supposed to.

I think each of us knows our own capacity, depending on temperament, and the degree of personal trauma we may be experiencing at any given moment. Sometimes it is truly the smartest mental health move to turn off the news for a while.

But I don't think God put us on the planet to pursue serenity over compassion, self-care over contribution, or inner-peace over bringing peace to prevail over the conflict, whenever and wherever we can.

Seems to me, that's what Jesus did.

Came to engage in our suffering.

So I will let a few things bug me today.

Take agency where I can, pray where I can't.

Lap up the quiet because that is the gift I'm being offered right now.

But I will not abandon what I believe I've been called to.

I will not look away or refuse to care,

lest I lose the soul I am so determined to protect.