Smuggling Grace

— Photos by Renee Roederer

While on a Zoom with a group of teenagers, one of them quoted the 1988 movie Heathers, well before her time: “If you were happy every day of your life, you wouldn’t be a human being. You’d be a game-show host.”

Thanks, kiddo, for that gem. I’ll share that one from time to time. And I’ll tell myself too.

—Renee Roederer

We welcome the new moon.

Cheshvan,

month to turn inward.

Inward, to review and reflect

a time to dive deep

to touch the inner core

a place of quiet stillness.

But the New Year festivities

Music and rejoicing

were interrupted.

Marred by violence.

Murder of innocents

in their beds, homes, fields.

How can we witness such brutality

while our aching hearts

yearn for peace?

We cry out for an end to

Smoldering hatred

Continual violence

Danger for our children.

Do we not learn anything

traveling this human path

In these mortal bodies?

Must history repeat itself?

We cycle in circles

with cries of revenge

leading us to despair.

Oh, Shechinah, Holy One of Blessing,

Teach us to deepen in awareness

Lift ourselves from

desperate repetition.

Brother killing brother.

Release us from this bondage.

Help us find a place of balance

where darkness transmutes to light.

Let us return to the natural rhythms of

body and earth

Resonate with water and wind

Touch our inner well of wisdom

Come home to our unity

with all sentient beings

And find comfort in heart openings

connecting us to each other and the One.

–Lucinda Kurtz

Every day at the close of his television show, Fred Rogers would often say,

“I love you just the way you are.”

One day, while filming, Francois Clemmons made a connection and felt like those words were being directed at him. Afterward he asked, “Were you talking to me?”

And Fred Rogers said, “Yes, I’ve been talking to you for two years, and you finally heard me today.”

May our ears perk up. May we hear those kinds of messages. May we know they are true — perhaps newly heard, yet shared with longevity.

I was cycling down the road in the bike lane, and I was moving pretty fast. I didn’t realize I was about to be a disturbance. But as I neared a fir tree on the side of the road, a flock of little sparrows suddenly retreated into the tree. It’s almost as if they were about to take off collectively, then at my presence, they swarmed right back into their safe hiding space in one, big, collective pivot.

“Sorry!” I said aloud, as I zoomed on by, smiling. I also thought it was pretty cute.

They moved in concert with one another completely, and they knew exactly where to go. It made me wonder, do we know the people and places with whom we can retreat and rest?

—Renee Roederer

After a caterpillar spins itself inside a silky chrysalis, it turns into goo. It liquifies inside the cocoon. Between its intricate life as a caterpillar and its intricate life as a butterfly, it is truly a gooey mess. It’s hard to believe that something so beautiful emerges, but this is indeed the messy, mystical process.

So if any part of us feels like goo right now, we might be transforming.

–Renee Roederer

P.S. A study has revealed that butterflies remember their lives as caterpillars. Given the goo process, and the fact that butterflies move, eat, and sense differently than caterpillars, that’s pretty incredible.

— Photos by Renee Roederer

By Emily McDowell (@EmilyOnLife)

Hi, it’s me. While bike riding, I have nodded to and/or waved at an embarrassing number of decorative scarecrows during this season.

Ope.