Over the last three days, I’ve zoomed around Texas on e-bikes more than 100 miles with one of my very favorite people. We’ve moved fast, seen gorgeous scenery, and felt the wind blow in our face. It’s been exhilarating, and it’s helped me feel a deep sense of presence. I’ve felt connected to my body, my surroundings, and to the relationships around me.
Last evening, while doing this, I thought, “This is the best memory I’ve made this year.” There are other honorable mentions that stand out too, but this was pretty incredible. In these moments, I’ve felt deeply alive.
We carry so many difficult problems — our own, or those around us, or those half a globe away. Likely, we feel all of these in waves, and the emotions around them are so valid. These needs, whether they are internal, interpersonal, systemic, or international, deserve our attention and solidarity. We want to care deeply for these challenges and the people within them.
I also hope that our sense of aliveness helps too, not only because it recharges us, but because it casts a vision for something else. Howard Thurman used to say, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
We do need to ask what the world needs. But within that asking, hoping, and dreaming, may our aliveness yield more aliveness. May it cast a vision for something better and give us the strength and inspiration to put it into action.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 