Bless Us All 💞🌹🙏🏽

A long time ago a spiritual advisor of mine suggested that it’s a good practice rewrite the 23rd psalm in words that fit whatever the current situation is.  I was drawn to do so this week..

Divine Love is all of our shepherds.  None of us lack anything. Love makes all of us lie down in green pastures. Love leads us all beside still waters.  Love renews all of our souls.  It guides us all in right paths, as befits  Love’s name.  Though we all walk together through the valley of deepest darkness, we fear no harm, for Love is with all of us.  Love’s rod and It’s staff – they comfort us.  Love sets a table before us all in full view of our enemies – until we realize that our only enemy is forgetting about Love.   Love anoints all of our heads with oil.  All of our drink is abundant.  Surely Goodness and Mercy shall walk beside us all – all the days of our lives – and we shall dwell together in the house of Love forever.

This is a prayer for All of Us.  No exceptions.

It seems essential to pray for all of us right now.  Never before in human history has it been so obvious that every human being in the whole world is effected by the same thing right now – albeit in different ways and to different degrees.  Death, illness, loneliness, fears about health and resources and finances; isolation and the inability to be near loved ones.

This is a common tragedy to All of Us.  We are truly All in this together.  Times like this beg for a unity and a realization of our common humanity and suffering.

Yet I have noticed a turning back by some folks who are watering the seeds of “us vs. them” again and separating out from the Whole to which we all belong.  To do so is to lose the opportunity that comes with tragedy.  The gem that lies in the mud is found when we allow our hearts to be opened by our common suffering.  As the songwriter Leonard Cohen tells us, it’s the cracks that allow the Light to get in.

For the folks that want to go “back to normal” (whatever that is!) – I want us to challenge that “normal”.  That normal is filled with inequality. With social and economic and racial injustices.  It is based on haves and have-nots and disregards basic needs – like healthcare and food and housing for everyone. It leaves out the “We’re all in this together” – whatever the “this” may be. It leaves out the recognition of our common humanity.  Our interbeing nature.  It leaves out a whole lot of folks who we’ve marginalized in our society.

While there is a part of me that can get really scared about changes, (the ones I know and the ones I don’t know), I am more afraid of “going back”.  If I were a tweeter, I would tweet # NO TURNING BACK!

It’s not about all being the same, or not disagreeing.  We are diverse and it’s fine to have differences.  It’s forgetting about our common humanity that is the problem.  And maintaining respect in the face of differences is so very key to realizing we’re all in this together.

Julian of Norwich, the 14th century mystic, wrote these words…

“All shall be well, for there is a force of Love moving through the Universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.”

I know that the in the world as we know it, “all shall be well” may seem a lofty, if not crazy idea in the face of our individual and collective suffering.  Yet if we allow ourselves to be aware of the energy and Presence of Love, it mitigates the suffering.   If we allow ourselves to be in touch with the suffering that marginalized folks, and our dear Mother Earth herself are experiencing, we’ll recognize not only that we’re all in this together, but that we can find solutions together that create a more equitable and just world that honors All Beings.  All Our Relations, as our indigenous sisters and brothers have taught us, includes everything and everyone on our Beloved Mother Earth.  This accounts for taking care of our grandchildren and great grandchildren, and their children, and on and on – for 7 generations.

If we pray for the Good of All Beings,  we are setting the Energy of Love into motion, and It is enhanced in It’s ability to move freely about the Universe.

I invite you to join me in #NO TURNING BACK. Since the future is unknown anyway, let’s create a better one together.  As Margaret Mead so wisely said, so many years ago….

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

Let’s all create a #NO TURNING BACK group of friends who envision what this would look like, and how to begin to put it into practice! Let’s put Margaret Mead’s wisdom into action!

There is a beautiful song by Jennifer Berezan called “Prayer for All Beings.” You can watch her singing it on youtube.  I also have a practice of singing blessings for all.  I invite you to listen to the below recording of a simple song that came to me recently.  Please feel free to sing along with it.  I have found that singing brings a vibration to prayers that seems to lift them up and send them out to where we intend for them to go.

Take good care of yourselves, and each other, in these times.  And in all times.

May All Beings be safe, and cared for, and free.