The Opposite Direction
Franz Kafka’s words above can give us solace as we think about the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.
When we excitedly planned Returning to the World with Paula D’Arcy next week and the Behold and See workshop with Elizabeth Ann Gates later this month, we envisioned many of us already returning to community activities.
Instead whether or not we’re vaccinated, we’re either back inside our homes or cautiously moving about. Kafka’s reminder that sometimes we have to go back before we can truly leap forward helps me to consider this is a necessary (but not liked!) step to returning to the world better than before.
Eagerly awaiting the wisdom shared by Paula and Elizabeth Ann in the next few weeks to help us navigate this time of more upheaval, I hope you’ll join me for these events!
May you trust in your movement forward even when it appears you’re going in the opposite direction.
Accepting change means learning about surrender and trust. It is not so much trusting that our circumstances will improve, but trusting that whatever happens, we’ll find our way.”
–Paula D’Arcy
Blessing in the Chaos
To all that is chaotic
in you,
let there come silence.
Let there be
a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim
on you,
that have made their
home in you,
that go with you
even to the
holy places
but will not
let you rest,
will not let you
hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.
Let what distracts you
cease.
Let what divides you
cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you
in its cage.
Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath
the chaos,
where you find
the peace
you did not think
possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.
– Jan Richardson
