Even During Quarantine...
To forget the world’s abundance, even briefly and in a moment of spiritual penury, is to lose one’s toehold on the ladder.
Robert M. Cotes and E.B.White, New Yorker, November 20, 1952.
During our moment in history, the one NO ONE ever wished for, Pete and I have chosen to embrace the principles embedded in The Serenity Prayer. We are accepting what we cannot change and changing the things we can. We have shut off our television. Instead of sitting around longing for missed sporting events and every single bit of information about COVID-19, we have chosen to embrace our freedom from tv. Our schedule sounds like something you post on a dating app! Long walks at sunset, sitting by a cozy fire with hot cocoa, staring deeply into each other eyes with accusatory glares during competitive games of all sorts.
We are choosing to look for the abundance, not from a perspective of positivity - because that would require the two of us to both get lobotomies! What we can and choose to do is look for what is real, now, today, that is an expression of abundance. We have seen an owl sitting in the middle of the road. I swear we have had time to see every leaf burst forth on our trees this year. Every Spring I promise myself - this year, this year I will see the leaves burst forth in all their glory. Every year, until this one, my head has been down, looking at my feet as I run toward some duty - whether real or imagined, who can say? More mundane but still abundant - we are amazed at what you can order online and have it show up on your doorstep….eventually.
We have marveled at the number of friends and family who have checked on us. We have thanked God for the hospital staff who allowed my sister-in-law access to her baby sister during her final hours of life on planet earth. We have marveled at the capacity for creative problem solving all around us. So much abundance!
It is possible to see the abundance and acknowledge the suffering. This is that grand both/and that we have been learning at NSC. Who knew it would serve us so well during an unprecedented pandemic! (Yes. I know. I know who. Just checking to see if you are paying attention!!)
