Can I ask you a question?

Actually, it will be several questions.
I have thousands of questions at the moment.
Most of them begin with "What the...???"
But those aren't the questions I will ask this time. 

This time, I will ask - what is nourishing your body these days?

What is nourishing your soul? 

What is bringing you joy in the midst of the chaos? 

I am being nourished by time with friends these days. Over lunch. On walks. Via text and email and video chats. 

I feel great joy when I spend time with family. I went out to Oakland, CA, to visit a niece, her husband, their beautiful son, and my (ex) sister-in-law who is still a dear friend even after divorcing my brother. Another of my brothers came to Charlotte this past weekend - and it was great to see him and catch up in person. 

I am being nourished by clementines and apples and cashews and Trader Joe's chocolate covered peanuts and decaf coffee and kombucha.

I find joy in the invitations to teach and preach and lead retreats and speak words of encouragement and hope into the lives of co-travelers on my life's journey. 

I am being nourished by prayer and reading and journaling and reading old journals. I've seen a lot and experienced a lot and miraculously, gratefully, I have survived it all. And I've got the scars and receipts and journals to prove it. 

More questions... 

What if the chaos being hurled at us from every direction is meant to cause us to forget that joy is our birthright, that peace is our birthright, that hope is our birthright? 

What if we are meant to be paralyzed by the fear that chaos brings up? 

What if we are meant to forget our power to resist and to collaborate and shed light in the shadowy valleys through which we are walking these days? 

To tell you the truth, I have struggled with fear lately. I don't usually have any problems sleeping, but I have struggled with sleep of late. I lay there, worrying, wondering how bad things will get, when the (long-term) onslaught against our democratic ideals will slow down (because this is NOT new in this country!), and when the tentacles of this current iteration of political evil will reach our family and upend our lives. It's a terrible way to get through the night. Truly dreadful. 

So I go back to what I have said and taught and preached for years now. 

I trust in your unfailing love. (Psalm 13:5)

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. (Psalm 71)

I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble; take heart, I have overcome the world. (John 16)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4)

I lay there and plead - Lord, I need more peace these days. We all need peace. 

Hope of the World, I need buckets of hope. We all need hope.

Joyous and just Jesus, I need love and laughter and joy too. Please don't let us forget about love and laughter and joy. 

I'll ask you again, kind reader - what is nourishing your body, your soul, and your spirit these days?

Please do yourself a favor - cultivate those things.
Indulge in hope and joy in extra doses.
Make time for love and laughter.
Take exquisite care of your beautiful body, your unbreakable spirit, and your boundless soul. 

May you know peace, deep peace, peace that surpasses your understanding.
That's certainly what I'm reaching for and praying for and living into. 

May you remember that you are loved. You are chosen. You are cherished. 
So am I. So are they... all the people we all call "they".  
Because what if there is no "they"? What if there is only "us"??? 

What if we are all beloved of God? What if we are all chosen and cherished?
Call me naive, but I believe that once we all know our belovedness, then the fear, the violence, the hate will no longer be necessary. Because if I am beloved and you are beloved, if we all are beloved, then why would we need to hate each other or fear each other or mistreat each other or kill each other?
So  when I am awake in the midnight hour, I pray for peace, for justice, and I pray that we will all come to know our belovedness.