As I have shared with people about my divorce, I have been surprised with the abundance of gifts and offerings I’ve received. So many people offered me places to stay or to use for retreat or rest and recovery. Others have offered of their time to help pack or accompany me as I begin to look for my next home. Still others have shared vendor recommendations from their own experiences of moving, selling, and donating household goods.
I am deeply grateful for this abundance of gifts. I recognize how privileged and blessed I am in my friends and family. I also recognize how challenging a time this is for so many in this world. Because there’s also an abundance of cruelty in this world, there are many people undergoing experiences much worse than mine—with a lot fewer resources available to them.
Consider the people in Gaza. The world’s attention has largely moved on to other urgent matters, but Gazans are still imperiled. For one thing, they are starving. A friend posted on social media last week about a new initiative designed to bring attention to the very real scarcity of food. Please read about it here and consider what it would be like to try to live on 250 calories a day.
I write this not to compare our situation with theirs. This is not about inducing guilt. We have an abundance of problems right here in America, including a very real constitutional crisis. It’s perfectly reasonable to be focused on the challenges closer to home.
Instead, this is about being awake to our innate oneness. I write this as an invitation. Even in moments of crisis, we need to periodically pause, look up, and see beyond ourselves. This reorients us toward the basic fact of our common humanity. When any of our human siblings are imperiled, so are we.
I admit I don’t have a lot of bandwidth to work for change right now. However, I can still hold others in my heart. I can still pray. I can still look for opportunities to spread the word about opportunities to make a difference. I can trust that just as others are gifting me from their abundance now, I will be able to share with others in the future.
What do you see in my invitation to periodically pause and take in a broader perspective?
