My feet are always numb with neuropathy, but our first plowable snowfall made me more aware of where my feet fall. My heightened awareness brought with it increasing heartbreak with news from the Middle East, Ukraine, and Vermont communities that used to think they were immune to gun violence. Poisonous political positioning makes me squirm.
Grace chimed in during my meditation. “Don’t get numb in November. May your heart break open to let love in.”
I am grateful for my long-time practice of living on the learning edge between what is and what could be. I remind myself many times during the day of how that creative tension allows me to grow, to make choices that are consistent with my core values.
A friend recently emailed me that he is stepping down from a high-profile job. He attached the following poem:
Our Real Work
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
~ Wendell Berry
I used this poem with a couple of reflection prompts to open a Board meeting. A Board Member shared that the poem reminds her that our work together is about positive possibility and promise.
On November 7, Michael Turner and Josie Burri from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, my K-12 alma mater, came for a visit. We drove to the Lakeview Union Elementary School in Greensboro where Josie, an accomplished flutist, played for the children. After playing a piece composed by her teacher, she asked the kids what the music felt like in their hearts. Hands flew up with positive possibilities.
One child offered, “I FLEW all over the UNITED States of America!” These children are promising, despite the many challenges I know they face individually and collectively. They have a lot to teach us.
November is a time of remembrance and thanksgiving. As I write, I smile and remember with gratitude many taglines, mottos, and mission statements. Here is a sampling.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation stands by “Love thy neighbor, no exceptions.” WholeHeart, Inc. “envisions a world based on love.” The Shipley School teaches “Courage for the deed. Grace for the doing.” The Obama Foundation’s mission is “to help people turn hope into action—to inspire, empower, and connect them to change their world.”
I have hope that we are closer to positive, sustainable, social change than we think we are. We just have to meet. We can keep each other warm and not numb in November.