Today is Sunday. The weather is pleasant. I have a home, food, clean water, clothing, and convenient transportation. I am grateful. #resurrectionisaverb.

I am not merely grateful, but, resurrection, over-the-moon, joyously, grateful (an exclamation mark might overstate things a bit).

The kind of grateful that is a holy moment, which calms, slows, and renews. That deep breathing kind of grateful where time stops dominating; experience refreshes.

I sing praises for theses gifts from our Creator: Covenant and Co-creation

Covenant, the promise that humans, especially those who understand our mortality, receive from the Eternal One. Co-creation, the promise that our thoughts, decisions and actions during the regular course of the day matter. We either choose to be aligned in the ways of Spirit or we choose not to be. Sometimes our awareness of what we are choosing is conscious and sometimes it is not. When our choices are aligned in Spirit’s ways, we bring about God’s kin’dom, which is something of great value to earth.

These gifts are there for all who seek them. Alas, all are not able to receive. The reasons for this are varied, but contain one common element. All arise out of the human condition of impermanence. We are all experiencing death in this moment together. Some of us are further away, some are very far (sorry Dr. Younger I felt the need), some are getting really close and then there are those that are in transition. Yes, we are all experiencing death in this moment and there are infinite degrees of proximity from the glorious entrance until the blessed exit.

We may already be losing the way of vigils during birth, as birth has become more privatized and there are less rituals and sharing in the work that is birth. The work of the mother who bears the child is often done in the privacy of a hospital room with few in attendance. In some ways this is changing as women are encouraged to learn more about natural childbirth options.

Death has become, in many ways, dehumanized, although currently there is a great deal of societal push-back as other options are explored and become available.

“We hide death as if it were shameful and dirty. We see in it only horror, meaninglessness, useless struggle and suffering, an intolerable scandal, whereas it is our life’s culmination, its crowning moment, and what gives it both sense and worth.”
~Marie de Hennezel

During this time between birth and death, we live. I live. My life experience influences my ability to be grateful. My gratitude stems from the fact that I live well and am fortunate to have my basic human rights met, though I confess I have not always lived into this fully. I am aware that for many people who do have their basic human rights met, this is not the case. All humans need basic rights, so that they are not merely enduring their existence, but living a life with proper shelter, clean water, food, clothing, and convenient transportation. Realizing this, out of my gratitude springs compassion. Compassion requires that we share not only in the beauty of life, but also in the suffering. Both beauty and suffering make life human. Compassion drives us to bring about justice where there is injustice. As a followers of the Way, we cannot rest yet. Hope sustains us, for the promise abides, gathers near around us when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and pursue justice for all.

So I continue to focus my attention, seeing and experiencing the beauty around me, being present and compassionate. When it is hard and I fail, I do my best to ask for grace and deliver self-compassion. Opening….and opening…and opening some more. #resurrectionisaverb