On into life

Posted On July 7, 2016

There is a lot of grief swirling around me just now, to the point where living life normally feels a bit absurd and unkind. So I restlessly confront that feeling and ache to do some higher good, and all that seems to await me is a squirming puppy or hungry kids or a spill that needs cleaning up. It seems to me that in times like these- when you temporarily lose some perspective (likely in service of growing some more)- you just have to put your head down and do the next thing. Makes me think of a passage out of one of my favorite books:

“The living can’t quit living because the world has turned terrible and people they love and need are killed. They can’t because they don’t. The light that shines into darkness and never goes out calls them on into life. It calls them back again into the great room. It calls them into their bodies and into the world, into whatever the world will require. It calls them into work and pleasure, goodness and beauty, and the company of other loved ones.” (Wendell Berry from “Hannah Coulter”)

Today I want to share a few gratitudes. I’m grateful for my family and my dear friends, in all their stages of life, in allowing me to be their witness and share their joys and griefs.

The bees do this from time to time to regulate the temperature in the hive. I only recently learned that the term for this behavior is “bearding”. This hive in particular has grown very quickly, and it’s been super hot and humid. We got new hive bodies for it to expand into which will help with temperature regulation and air flow.

I’m grateful for the life-energy of this budding farm. The puppy play, the dirt and muck, the bees and ducks and all the abundance, the constant call to tend and care for something outside of myself, the lessons it all offers me daily. I’m so grateful for this calling in my life.