The Neighbor with the Shopping Cart

 Friday, June 9, 2023

It's calm, peaceful morning on the patio out back. 8:15 AM, we're eating breakfast, reading the paper, doing crossword puzzle and listening to the house wren brag about his brood. Friday is garbage day so our containers are out on the alley waiting.

Midway through our meal, he comes with his shopping cart from who knows where. We only know him from his occassional route down our alley looking for garbage that he can use to make a little money; especially metal. Just as he passes our table, Pete jumps up, "Wait a minute!" he says to the elderly man hunched over his shopping cart of found things. "I've got something for you in the garage. I'll go get my key." While Pete runs into the house, I chat with the shopping cart man about the beautiful morning. It is a pleasant conversation. Pete returns with key in hand. He opens the garage and finds the metal and as usual, has a little more of a chat with the guy. The man who has had these chats with Pete before, asks how our solar panels are doing. Pete describes him as an intelligent person from their conversations. After a little connection, the hunched over gray haired guy with the shopping cart moves on down the alley with a little more metal than before.

As I watched the interchange and bid my own "have a nice day," I was struck by two things.

1. My husband is an amazing human being! He doesn't talk a lot but he does act out what he is thinking. He lives according to his heart and his convictions. He believes "love your neighbor" is the most important thing and so he lives it. He doesn't care if his neighbor is an old guy with a shopping cart digging through garbage or the friendly gardner accross the street. He just loves with his whole being. I am so grateful for his partnership and his example.
2. We really can't judge a book by its cover, as Pete so gently points out. We don't know what brought that intelligent man to the decision to take a shopping cart and walk down the alleys on garbage day. We can't assume anything. We need to leave our hearts and minds open until we've listened to the story. We need to approach and make it clear that we can hear the story. There are hundreds/thousands/millions of stories that bring people to walk the streets. And likely, they vary grately. 
3. Not everyone has the same role to play. Some are called to organize community and voting campaigns or service in public office. Others are called to take other approaches. We need each other to make this world work for all of us.
   

So I am challenged and reminded that "love your neighbor" is not just handing out food or money or doing what we think is best. It is also approaching and seeing and listening. It is treating our neighbor with the same respect we would treat a friend. And maybe part of the challenge is to learn to respect our own stories as well. I'm still learning what is needed and what I can offer.

Just some thoughts!

~ Jules

PRAYING FOR UKRAINE

FINDING HOPE and TEARS IN PRAYER

praying for Ukraine

March 2, 2022

Ash Wednesday for many believers

At 10:00 am Central Time in the USA, the Lutheran World Federation hosted a service of prayer for the war in the Ukraine on Zoom. I had wanted to take time to really pray for this awful situation so I signed on. I was not prepared for how many and diverse a group of people it would be. Wow!

The people offering their thoughts and prayers on  the screen were from many different faith expressions and denominations. I didn't count those, just noted them. The people listening were from 45 countries, as far as I was able to count. See the list i have posted here. So there was translater button at the bottom of the screen so that most of us could hear in our own language. And apparently there were about 2000 people on the call. Wow!

They prayed for 

    wisdom

        kindness

            strength

                courage

                   love

                        hope

                           blessings

                                for diversity to be valued

                                    to love our neighbor

                                        for refugees to find safe homes

                                            for wealthy western countries to get over our egos

                                                and even COVID-19 pandemic

                                                    PEACE!

Many tears were shed on this side of the screen. And I remembered my friend Rena's words the other day--"With all that has happened in the past two years, I would ask you, "Why aren't we crying?" And suddenly it seemed like tears were an apt prayer for this horrible circumstance of yet another country trying to invade another by dropping bombs. Tears for letting go of our abiility to control, tears for the loss and grieving of so many, tears for our inability to be helpful, tears for sleepless nights, tears for the sadness of it all. Tears for the beauty of our unity as some 2000 people from nearly every continent gathered their hearts virtually to pray for peace in the world.  

I come away from that hour and a half with renewed hope. And I just wanted to share with you that this had happened. That there are people who want peace, who want to join their energy with others to make this world a better place. This one day of prayer does not fix everything but it is a good beginning because prayer changes us. When we open our hearts to wondering if there is a better way, to the possiblity that healing and courage and love can grow, we are already making healing and courage and love grow in ourselves and making space for that to happen for others as well.

Let us keep praying--in all the ways that we do--for all those things I listed--for wisdom, hope, strength, courage, love, and peace for all our human brothers and sisters all over the world.

As one of the speakers said today: "Let's commemorate this event by being hope!" Amen to that!

~sharing my thoughts and prayers, just Jules

                                            

Strangers in Our Own Land

I wonder if we're aren't all strangers
in our own land
throughout our lives
wondering how anyone
could be as strange as we are
seems like it takes a lifetime
to accept the embrace of enough
that being ourselves is enough

when I look at you,
I never think,
"you should be more"
I just think,
"What exquisite beauty!
What luck that I have met you!"

perhaps it is time to offer ourselves
the same kindness
to open our arms up
to our own strangeness
welcome our own beauty

just a thought....from jules

It Starts with a Trickle

July 2018--The Mississippi Headwaters

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to be at the Mississippi Headwaters with my family. I've been there a number of times, the first time when I was just 9 years old. And all that time, I've always known this was the start of the Mississippi, the same river we cross in the Twin Cities on a daily basis. So this year it surprised me a little when I had a new experience of it.

While some of the family was walking in the water up to the first foot bridge and other family were watching the stuff, I had the opportunity to walk alongside the river on my own. That's when it hit me...if you didn't know any better, you'd just call this a creek. It's so little, you might not even give it that much credit. At very beginning it's just a trickle of water over the rocks in the corner of Lake Itasca, shallow enough for my 3-year-old granddaughter to wade in it. By the foot bridge, it is still only knee or thigh high. It's a very small movement. It's almost nothing and yet it isn't.

I thought how the Mississippi is one of the major life forces of this country, bringing life and energy to both people and animals. It's the reason people came and built towns and cities. It's part of the reason this part of the world became farmland. For centuries, that water has found its way from northern Minnesota all the way to the gulf carrying nutrients and water and people and animals along with it.

And that's when this idea hit me: every major movement starts with a trickle. We don't know at the beginning how far it will move us. We may never know how the kindness we do today grows and moves as it travels from one person to another. Pete and I have had the opportunity to cross the Mississippi River at many points from the innocent beginning to the Gulf of Mexico. It travels a long way, through many different ecosystems, towns and cities.

What if the love we share today is the trickle that will bring hope and life down river? What if it's not hopeless or pointless to keep on trying? The trickle takes awhile to build momentum but mile after mile, day after day, it gathers more energy and speed and life as other water ways join it.

So, I'm wondering, how will I offer some kindness, some love, some peace, some understanding today? It only needs to be a trickle.

Peace Be

So last night as I was falling asleep, I thought of something that belonged on my to-do list that I keep forgetting. I had such a great sleep last night, best one in a long time, but I was kicking myself for not getting up and writing that forgetful item down. I have NO idea what it was!

In an effort to remember, I decided to sit down and run through my whole TO-DO list on paper. It is a good practice for me to once in a while sit and write it all down. I wondered too, what other things I might be forgetting. And now I'm wondering when I am going to do all that and if I really do all that? My goodness! Life so easily fills in the blanks, that I might have to get better at scheduling space for thought and reflection.

So, I wish I could remember what I forgot AND I'm also grateful that the reason I forgot is that I had one of the best rests last night. I am so grateful to wake up refreshed. I think a good sleep might be one of life's best treasures.

And I'm grateful for having a life, however messy and weird it might be. I have a life to live and that's a good thing even if I can't do it all.

And I'm grateful for my young friend who came over yesterday and inspired me with her creativity and incredible presence and her truth. Thank you.

So, peace to the forgetful mind. It'll likely come back to my consciousness when I least expect it but if it doesn't, the world won't end. Life will go on.

And peace to this day. Just a little love and kindness will get us through.

And peace to all who are struggling with something today. A little prayer will help. (I know all your prayers help me)

And peace to my neighbor who just stopped by for a moment just now. She need some tea and I was happy to be able to provide her with some. I am grateful for her presence on my block.

And peace to my friends far and wide who have either asked for my support or provided support for me when I have asked. We all need a little help from our friends. We really do. We're not going to finish this race without that.

So I started with being frustrated at myself and my forgetfulness and end with gratitude for the richness of friends and neighbors, the gift of sleep and a little kindness and the healing that comes with a little prayer.

And that's why I like the practice of journaling and blogging and even the occasional Facebook post. It can help us find the gifts, if we give ourselves the time and space.

Peace be with you this day!

love, jules

KINDNESS: Everyday people reaching out to everyday people

I was reading Dragonfly Project email just now...mostly "thank you" messages. Tears form as my heart swells with gratitude for this work and this gift. This project is just one of many where everyday people reach out to other everyday people to offer help, encouragement, comfort and love.
It is not obvious because our general tendency is to tell the bad news, but this kind of stuff happens all the time. People see someone in need or pain and do something, often just something small, to offer support.
Have you ever noticed that just an invitation, just a note from someone saying they are thinking of you or just a smile from a stranger can make all the difference in your day? Where would I be now if not been for the kindness of someone I barely knew reaching out to me to offer the comfort of the Dragonfly Story those many years ago? I drop something in the store and some stranger picks it up for me. That big rig on the freeway gave me a chance to get in the lane. I offered to sleep on the couch but my mother-in-law made a bed up for me. That was one of the best sleeps I've had lately. It doesn't always have to take that much for us to offer kindness.
So here I sit fifteen years after the founding of the Dragonfly Project with tears of gratitude in my eyes and deep joy in my heart. Ten years ago I also joined a hospice/comfort choir (sometimes called "Threshold choir"). Morning Star Singers is everyday people offering their voices to comfort those struggling with health and well being, life and death. Having been on both sides of kindness, I can say with certainty that the seeds of kindness that were planted by others have grown into quite a garden of color in my heart. And the seeds of kindness that I have planted have brought me even deeper joy with the wonder of the way love works, the way peace works, the way we were created.
My friend Barbara McAfee has written a song about this profound thing we call kindness. I am attaching the link here. I hope you will listen and be inspired. Let's give Kindness a chance.


Here is the sound cloud link to the "Kindness" song and the lyrics in the box to the left.
https://soundcloud.com/barbara-mcafee/kindness
Barbara McAfee's website
Morning Star Singers website

The Dragonfly Project website

Kindness

Tonight, I was answering Dragonfly Project customer service mail. I'm not always as responsive as I could be but tonight I had an opportunity to offer some kindness to someone who had accidentally ordered the wrong thing. So I took the time to write a special note back to them. I don't know if it will make a difference but in the moment I thought of all the times people, for no other reason than kindness and generosity, offered me some grace.

My friend Barbara McAfee has this song "Kindness" that I just love. I've been fortunate to sing this song with her and others several times. I have to say it is a song that has gotten under my skin. I especially love this line "if those who owed us nothing, gave us nothing, how poor we'd be. The very source of life itself is generosity."

It's true! Where would be without the generosity of strangers? How would have ever made it this far with kindness and generosity? So often, we are encouraged to be focused on our selves. what do we need? What will best for us? Well, along the way I've discovered that sometimes what is best for me is to be generous and kind to a person, perhaps even someone I don't know. It's not just a gift to them but a gift to myself to add some love to the universe. Maybe this is the way my heart gets a chance to grow. Whatever the case, I hope my gesture helped in some way.

You can listen to Barbara's song here:

UPDATE: I heard back from the customer, who was grateful for the extra personal contact. She plans to  order more cards from us. And she feels her heart has been heard. Kindness. It's a powerful thing.