Grace in the Moment

March 1, 2025 By Mary van Balen 8 Comments

Quieting the Spirit

Swimming, One Day in August

by Mary Oliver

It is time now, I said,
for the deepening and quieting of the spirit
among the flux of happenings.

Something had pestered me so much
I thought my heart would break.
I mean, the mechanical part.

I went down in the afternoon
to the sea
which held me, until I grew easy.

About tomorrow, who knows anything.
Except that it will be time, again,
for the deepening and quieting of the spirit.

I discovered this poem after an editor sent an image of a handmade card with a partial quote. This poem, at this time, is perfect for me

Like Mary Oliver, many things have been “pestering my heart” to the point of breaking. Most have to do with the current political scene in this country and its repercussions for democracy here and abroad, for all Americans, but especially for the poor and marginalized. I call my senators and representatives. When their voice message mailbox is full, I write emails. I donate to organizations that will help people directly or by filing lawsuits against unconstitutional or illegal actions taken by the current administration.

But the most difficult thing for me to do is just what I need and what Mary Oliver says: “… the deepening and quieting of the spirit.” Unlike Oliver, I don’t live close to the sea. But when I have a chance, a long walk along the beach calms my spirit. It’s the rhythm, the timelessness of the ebb and flow. It’s the awareness of the immensity of creation, earth and beyond, that helps me settle into a sense of being a small part of something unimaginably larger than myself and of the Holy Presence that holds all. It helps me take a long view.

But as I say, I don’t live close to the ocean, so I try to do what I can do where I am. I have varying degrees of success.

When I sit in quiet prayer, my mind fills with worry and concerns. No matter how often I acknowledge them and let them go, they return. Far from quieting my spirit, the time often agitates it. Instead, I read the New Testament and focus on Jesus’s actions and those of the women and men who followed him. Jesus didn’t “win” in our common understanding of the word, at least in the short run. The oppressors did, crucifying him and persecuting his followers. Jesus didn’t promise an easy way, but in the big picture, Love overcomes all. The prayerful reading engages my mind and heart.

I walk and pay attention to what is around me. The gift of the season. The birdsong. The sun and clouds. Stepping outside on a clear night, I take in sky. The stars and planets are breathtaking, even in the city.

I read poetry, novels, and spirituality and virtually gather with friends to share what spoke to us. Gathering is important and helps remind me that I am not alone facing these times.

This week, my daughter visited, and we went to the theater to watch A Complete Unknown about Bob Dylan. A 60’s folk singer, I loved the music and remembered the events and musicians. We came home and listened to Joan Baez while making and eating dinner. Then, at my daughter’s insistence, we pulled out my two guitars and sang the old songs. She washed dishes and I continued to play.

Doing things that feed my spirit and bring joy helped me connect with my deeper self. We baked cinnamon rolls, brioche bread, and banana muffins. We cleared the table and painted. And sat up late into the night drinking tea, talking, and watching favorite reruns.

“Centering down,” as Howard Thurman said, can happen in other ways than sitting quietly in a chair or walking the beach. I have found that when I do enough of these things, I am better able to be quietly without becoming distraught. Without living in fear of a future that is not yet. However we do it, it is time for “… for the deepening and quieting of the spirit” and living as best we can in the present.

Source

“Swimming, One Day in August”: First published in Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver, Beacon Press, 2008

Filed Under: Grace in the Moment Tagged With: "Swimming One Day in August" by Mary Oliver, attention, Centering down, Deepening, Feed the spirit, Gathering, Holy Presence, Howard Thurman, joy, Mary Oliver, Movie: A Complete Unknown, noticing, ocean, quiet prayer, Quieting the Spirit, Swimming

January 28, 2025 By Mary van Balen 8 Comments

There Is Only One River

My daughter called on her way home from a bakery where she picked up a loaf of challah for a soup dinner with a friend flying in for the weekend. The baker gave her a warm challah knot made from dough scraps while she waited for the loaves to come out of the oven. We remembered making challah at home. The braiding. The sweet aroma of honey-egg bread that filled the kitchen. By the time we hung up, I had decided to make a loaf myself.

I played an old Peter, Paul, & Mary album while I gathered ingredients and donned an apron I bought at the Eiffel Tower, surrounding myself with happy memories. I pulled aside the curtain that hangs over the long, narrow window and tilted the aluminum slats on the bent miniblind that covers the window in the old wooden door. Sunlight filled the room.

Challah is easy to make. Four steps of about 30 minutes each. Plenty of time to wash dishes and utensils as I went. And, to sing.

Along with Pete Seeger (my favorite), Joan Baez, and Judy Collins, Peter, Paul & Mary were major contributors to the soundtrack of my younger life. Guitar in hand, I sang at home, with high school friends, at sing-a-longs, coffee houses, and churches. I thought I could do without the guitar while traveling around Western Europe one summer, but by Germany, I bought one the size of a large ukulele and strapped it to my backpack.

Ball of bread dough sitting on kitchen counter with candle and dishtowel

In my kitchen, I sang as I mixed and kneaded the dough. I sang as I separated it into six pieces, rolling each into a long strand. I braided two smaller loaves. One to keep. One to give away. I remembered harmonies to old favorites. As I worked, one song in particular touched my soul, aching from the horrible events unfolding in Washington and across the country: “The River of Jordan,” written in 1972 by PP&M member, Peter Yarrow.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the appropriateness of the lyrics for the current situation in our country. Bigotry, hatred, violence, “them vs us,” is nothing new to the human race. There are always those who stir up fear and use it for their own gain. But what is happening here, the scope, the speed of it, is overwhelming.

I played that song over and over and sang with my whole heart. I remembered that PP&M sang at the 1963 March in Washington and the March from Selma to Alabama in 1965. Singling out groups for oppression and “othering” is part of our country’s history. It remains.

Baking bread, letting in the sunlight, singing familiar songs were balm. Walking down the street to deliver a loaf to a young mother and her son helped, too. We laughed as the little one showed me one thing after another and sat close as I read books to him.

But Yarrow’s song still plays in my mind. And I wonder… What can I do? How can I live out the wisdom held in the lyrics:

We are only one river. We are only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
We are only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name…

A little at a time. Where I am. What I can do. Look for goodness and beauty. Celebrate it. Put some into the world. Connect with and support others. Persevere. Pray.

Like bread, we nourish one another. Like a braided loaf of many grains, we are one.

Resoucre:

Listen to Peter, Paul, & Mary and friends sing The River of Jordan

Filed Under: Grace in the Moment Tagged With: celebrating beauty, finding beaury, finding goodness, hope, interconnectedness, Peter Paul & Mary, Peter Yarrow, The River of Jordan, We are one

January 8, 2025 By Mary van Balen 8 Comments

With Gratitude for Jimmy Carter

I celebrated the election of Jimmy Carter with fellow students, faculty, and administrators of a theological school, munching Southern ham biscuits in the student lounge. Following the presidencies of Nixon and Ford, President Carter and Rosalynn walked hope and joy into the national psyche as they stepped out of their car and made their way to the White House on foot.

Those 48-year-old memories still evoke hope and deep respect for the man. In stark contrast to the incoming administration that thrives on divisiveness, revenge, and the pursuit of wealth and power, Jimmy Carter was all about service.

Recently I read two articles that provided insight into the exceptional life and character of President Jimmy Carter.

The first was Samatha Power’s New York Times opinion piece, “Samatha Power: The Conscience of Jimmy Carter.” In it she noted that Carter often quoted Jesus in Matthew 25:40 saying that whatever we fail to do to the least among us, we fail to do to him.

Human Rights

Inspired by profound faith, President Carter worked tirelessly, during and after his presidency, to promote human rights at home and around the world. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “… for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”¹

In her opinion piece, Power outlines the central role human rights played in Carter’s foreign policy. He followed the dictates of his conscience, not political polls. He was the first president to publicly support a Palestinian State. He brokered a peace between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin. His public denunciation of South Africa’s apartheid was the first for a U.S. president.

January 14, 1979, President Carter accepted the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolence Peace Prize at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Image Credit: Jimmy Carter Library

Civil Rights

He grew up in a predominately Black area in rural Georgia and saw first-hand the effects of racism and the courage of those who worked to end it. Martin Luther King, Sr. was a close friend and inspiration. Beginning as a State senator, Carter worked to increase the presence of Black Americans, people of color and women in judicial and government positions. He appointed more African Americans, Hispanics, and women to these positions than all previous presidents combined.² He also worked to increase fair election practices. As Governor of Georgia, he announced “The time for racial discrimination is over.” He signed the Refugee Act into law in 1980 and welcomed hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees to our shores.

Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter working on building homes in D.C.’s Ivy City neighborhood for World Habitat Day 10.1.2010 Photo: Sammy Mayo, Jr. – HUD

Habitat for Humanity

Carter’s understanding of human rights included the right to food, shelter, health, and education.³ He worked with Habitat for Humanity, along with Rosalynn, building houses, even in his 90s! (I read the book The President Builds a House to my children at dinner one evening, exposing them to a role model and to the truth that helping others is a responsibility we all share, regardless of social position.)

Women’s Rights

He was long a vocal advocate for women’s rights, and he cut ties with the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000, citing the church’s rigid stance on women’s roles both in the home and in church leadership. In 2009 he wrote an essay addressing his action, “Losing My Faith over Equality.” In 2014 he published a book, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power. (Jimmy Carter wrote over 30 books including poetry and children’s books.)

Jimmy Carter tries to comfort 6-year-old girl at Savelugu Hospital in Ghana as Carter Center assistant dresses her extremely painful Guinea worm wound 2007 credit: The Carter Center — Former President Jimmy Carter tries to comfort young girl at Savelugu Hospital in Ghana as Carter Center techinical assistant dresses her extremely painful Guinea worm wound. 2.8.2007 Image Credit:The Carter Center

The Carter Center

In 1987, he and Rosalynn founded The Carter Center to promote human rights, democracy, and disease prevention. Along with other organizations (including the United States Agency for International Development where Samantha Power is the administrator) the Carter Center helped reduced cases of the Guinea worm that caused millions of deaths in the 80s and only 13 in 2023. The Carter Center also has all but eliminated the scourge of river blindness.

Foreign policy

Environment

According to Power, Carter “… was the first American president to elevate environmental conservation to a global concern.”⁴ Carter recognized the human right to clean air and water and the need to protect the environment. He installed solar panels on the West Wing of the White House, providing power to heat the water. (They were removed by President Ronald Regan.) He created 39 new park sites including 13 in Alaska, and in 1980 he signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act that provided protection for over 100 million additional acres in Alaska.⁵

NASA

An engineer as well as a peanut farmer, Carter approved money for the floundering NASA shuttle program. Skeptical, but not wanting to waste money already spent on the program that was years behind schedule and well over budget, he approved millions of dollars and saved the project. His decision was not popular, but in the long run it enabled the creation of the International Space Station (ISS), which today remains a center of scientific inquiry and international cooperation. Shuttles also delivered large payloads into orbit, perhaps most well-known, the Hubble Space Telescope.

In 1977, Carter recorded a message of peace and hope on the Voyager Golden Records included on both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. (His message was also included in printed form.) The records carry information about life and culture on earth including science, music natural sounds, and spoken greetings to any extraterrestrials who might find and decode it. Amazingly, both spacecraft are still traveling, now in interstellar space.

A copy of the Presidential Proclamation of July 16 – July 24, 1979, as the “United States Space Observance” signed by President Carter hangs over the desk of a NASA engineer I know. Besides the proclamation, the letter contains Carter’s appreciation of NASA’s work, the importance of space in daily communications and monitoring earth’s environment. He wrote that continued exploration held promise for “… the wiser management of our planetary resources, for the expansion of knowledge and for the development of civilization.” (Today, astronauts on the ISS and hundreds of satellites are monitoring our environment, giving us a more complete picture of the state of earth’s climate and resources.)

Faith and Being Salt

You may know all these things. It’s difficult to list the all good he has done. His persistence in pursuing policies and actions that contributed to the well-being of all people was rooted in his faith.

Which brings me to the second article “Why Does Salt Matter,” by Debie Thomasin the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Daily Meditations. I have a saltshaker sitting beside my pepper mill, but Debie Thomas reminds us that historically, salt was precious and used for much more than seasoning food. It was used medicinally as a disinfectant, to staunch bleeding, and to treat skin diseases. She points out that when Jesus called his followers “salt of the earth,” he likely had this broader sense in mind. Of course, salt used in excess can ruin a dish, overwhelming the flavor. In Debie’s words: “Salt doesn’t exist to preserve itself; it exists to preserve what is not itself… Salt is meant to enhance, not to dominate. Christian saltiness heals; it doesn’t wound. It purifies; it doesn’t desiccate. It softens; it doesn’t destroy…”⁶

Her reflection was published two days after Carter’s death, and as I read, he immediately came to mind. Jimmy Carter was salt. The best kind. His faith was the bedrock of his life and his actions. While today the label “Christianity” is sometimes used by those whose actions don’t reflect Jesus’ example, Jimmy Carter’s life and actions did – before, during, and after his term as president.

He was salt. He was the city on the hill, the light on a stand. He and his wife left a legacy of love and service and faith that touched and inspired people around the world. I am one. And I am deeply grateful.

Notes

1 The Nobel Peace Prize 2002

2 Presidential Campaign and the Carter Presidency The Carter Center This is an excellent summary of Carter’s presidency. Other aspects of Carter’s life and legacy can be found on The Carter Center site.

3,4 The Conscience of Jimmy Carter by Samantha Power

5 Jimmy Carter’s conservation legacy

6 Why Does Salt Matter? by Debie Thomas

Filed Under: Grace in the Moment Tagged With: Being Salt, Center for Action and Contemplation, civil rights, Debie Thomas, environment, human rights, humanitarian, Jimmy Carter, NASA, Samantha Power, service, Space shuttle program, The Carter Center, Voyager 1 and 2, women's rights

December 5, 2024 By Mary van Balen 14 Comments

Holding Both Grief and Hope

This column is more political than my usual offerings. I can’t talk about spirituality as if it exists in a vacuum. Many of my readers will resonate with my thoughts and feelings. Others may not. But I must do what is mine to do.

I began writing this column in September, when I woke up thinking “hope.” Feeling hope. While that may not seem surprising, it was for me. In the middle of election season, I had been living with dread and fear about the future. No matter how deep it’s pushed down or how purposely ignored, fear sucks hope right out of a person. That was me.

What allowed me to throw fear out and embrace hope instead? The Democratic National Convention. Instead of the vengeful rhetoric espoused by some Republican candidates aimed at stirring up fear and keeping us down and apart, there was hope. There was a positive view of the future that included everyone. No hateful misinformation about the transgender community. No disparaging remarks about immigrants or calling for mass deportation. No whitewashing the part race and slavery played (and plays) in U.S. history.

When the cameras scanned the crowd, diversity was everywhere. It was celebrated by those who spoke and in what they said. It seemed possible that this country could embrace compassion and love of neighbor. It seemed possible that we could, together, move in a more positive way through the challenges and tragedies of our world. Perhaps we could believe that we are, indeed, more alike than we are different.

When I woke up on November 6, fear and anger again had replaced my hope, and dread for the future was taking over. The vision of inclusion, respect and moving forward together was replaced by one of negativity, revenge, and disrespect of “other.” The highjacking of “Christianity,” putting it into service of an approach that seems anything but Christian, continues to sweep the country. Efforts to enshrine Evangelical White Christian Nationalism as the official religion of the U.S. is grossly un-American.

I wasn’t alone in my “morning after” despair. Many concerned with climate change heard “Drill, baby drill,” with disbelief. Many concerned with women’s rights heard “Your body, my choice,” with dismay. And basic human rights? Democratic institutions?

Struggling with all this, I listen to many wisdom voices, past and present: my faith and spiritual/wisdom teachers of many traditions; civil rights leaders; psychologists and counselors; poets; good friends. In addition to eating well and incorporating exercise into the day, here are thoughts on getting through these difficult times:

Grieve Alone and Together

Recognize feelings and emotions. Experience them. Feel sorrow, anger, fear, and despair. Weep. Rant. Vent. Sometimes alone. Sometimes with friends who can hold your tears and love you when you’re a mess. Find communities where you can share your grief. When one member has no hope, someone there will. Remember, grief isn’t once and done.

Who are the people, the communities that can hold you, support you, love you? Who are those who share your sorrow? Who are those with whom you can both grieve and find hope?

Find a Place Where Grace Flows

The week after the election found me on Chincoteague Island with my daughter. The ocean draws me into a contemplative space, opening my soul to release emotions – joy, gratitude, grief, sorrow – as well as to receive grace of healing, wonder, and gratitude.

My salty tears mingled with salty air. I rejoiced at the birds’ antics and wondered at shells at my feet. I laughed, prayed, and sang into to the pounding of wave after wave on the sand. Sometimes alone. Sometimes with my daughter. Together we watched the Supermoon rise, the king tide flood the marshlands, and herons wait patiently along the banks until the water receded and they could resume their mindful-walking fishing practice.

My ocean visits are few and precious. I have other Grace places: a small, neighborhood woods; a local café where I go to write; art museums; a friend’s kitchen table; my favorite chair flanked with a handmade table that holds a mug of tea and a stack of books.

What are your ordinary as well as extraordinary places where Grace flows? As Robert Lax would advise, go there often.

Establish a Grounding Practice

page of nature journal painting of shell litter people walking beach wrirtint

Take time for spirit-nourishing practices.

At the beach condo, my daughter set up a long table filled with art and journaling supplies. Every day we showed up there, like pilgrims to a holy place. She painted. I created page after page in my nature journal: mosaics of small drawings, paintings, and words.

Journaling/Art

For some, journaling and creative arts are prayerful, centering activities. While on Chincoteague I didn’t work on my current book project. I didn’t write this long overdue column. Now, back home, those projects call for my attention along with piles of laundry, dishes, and routine chores. While I can’t give hours every day to nature journaling, I’ll try for one day a week. And I can be faithful to my regular journaling practice.

Quiet Time/Prayer

During information overload, refrain from too much news consumption and social media scrolling. Make time for quiet. I’m reestablishing a morning routine of sipping tea, twenty minutes of quiet prayer, and reading.Throughout the day I take a few moments, breathe deeply and remember that I live and move in the Presence of the Sacred, no matter what I’m doing.

Quiet walks around the neighborhood or in a park can provide mental and spiritual spaciousness.

Give yourself the gift of time to engage in practices that help ground you and sink deep into your center. Encounter the Sacred that dwells there. The Goodness that cannot be overcome.

Move Forward

In a New York Times opinion piece “How Not to Fall Into Despair,” Brad Stulberg quotes Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl and uses his term “tragic optimism.” It involves acknowledging pain and hardship and in the face of it, moving forward in a positive way.

It’s the “both/and” stance central to many religions, including Christianity. Jesus lived acknowledging and confronting the evils of his day while still finding room in his heart to hold love, forgiveness, and hope.

He lived compassionate engagement, hanging out with the marginalized and calling his followers to care for the poor, widows, and orphans. Love God and your neighbor as yourself, he said. He didn’t list exclusions. He didn’t ignore the oppressors in power but didn’t let fear paralyze him.

What is mine to do?

One friend said she was taking the “left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot” approach. Not looking into the future but being present to the moment and to what she could do where she was, to put kindness and compassion into the world. Another is concentrating on volunteering for organizations that serve others in her city. Both are claiming agency rather than helplessness.

It involves what Stulberg calls “wise hope and wise action.” Not hope born of denial, thinking that if we just wait long enough, things will get better, but seeing things for what they are and still taking action.

In his final written message published in the New York Times after his death, the great civil rights activist John Lewis charged us to do that. To stand up and speak out when we see something that isn’t right. “Democracy is not a state.” He said. “It is an act.”

I am overwhelmed by what is happening. I feel helpless. But I’m not. I can do what I can do where I am. I can write. I can be kind to strangers and the marginalized. I can donate to organizations that support causes I believe in, especially those that serve targeted populations threatened by the wave of “othering” spreading across the country. I can stay informed, write to Congressional representatives. I can speak up to representatives in my state government when they propose and pass legislation that demonizes and oppresses monitories.

Darkness doesn’t have to win in the long run. Not when enough people inject the light of love and compassion into the night.

What is yours to do? How can you claim agency and move forward?

The Long View

looking out over ocean. Dark cloudy day with sun peeking through

Recently I stood with a woman on the beach, both of us looking across the ocean. “Stay connected to nature,” she said. “It will help with the long view. It will give you strength. It endures.”

Sitting in the National Gallery of Art in front of two van Gogh masterpieces I remembered that people suffering in all kinds of ways throughout history have been able to see beauty and hope through their grief and found ways to share it with the world.

In dark times, I find it difficult to believe that the moral arch indeed bends toward justice. But Viktor Frankl, John Lewis, and countless others, known and unknown, did. And they knew the truth of that saying depends on individual action. They lived holding both grief and hope in their hearts and found courage to move on.

Jesus did. Those who strive to imitate his life, to follow his Way, will too. It’s not a “Christianity” that storms the Capitol with violence when things don’t go your way. It’s not a “Christianity” that sees some people as expendable and deserving of disrespect. It strives to serve the common good. It’s a both/and faith. It’s a grief/hope faith. It doesn’t deny pain, oppression, and suffering. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. But he kept on going, living with compassion.

May it be so.

Sources

Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation by John Lewis

How Not to Fall Into Despair by Brad Stulberg

Filed Under: Grace in the Moment Tagged With: art, Both/And, compassion, creation, Election 2024, Grief, grounding practices, hope, incarnational faith, inclusion, long arc of justice, long view, Practice the Presence, prayer, quiet, small acts of love, what is mine to do, where grace flows, working together

September 19, 2024 By Mary van Balen 6 Comments

With Gratitude for Mary Oliver

September 10 was Mary Oliver’s birthday. It would have been her 89^th. I thought of her that morning as I walked into my living room. The sun poured through the window over the buffet, flooding the plants, shells, and other treasures that live there with light.

Hello, sun in my face
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crochety—...

I recited her poem “Why I Wake Early.” It has become my morning prayer whenever the sun greets me by spreading its light over the chair and couch, painting the hardwood floor with yellow stripes reaching to the dining table at the other end of the room.

Mary Oliver is part of my morning reading, and in her honor, I treated myself with a few favorites. Years ago, when I first read it, “At the River Clarion” won my heart with the opening line: I don’t know who God is exactly. Yes. After years of listening, searching, and studying, I still say the same thing. Attention to creation provided hints to the poet. The river splashing across the stone where she sat. The stone itself. The mosses under the water. They spoke to her of holiness and the part of it all things are. Not a message quickly heard, she said, but one understood by being present to the moment, day by day by day.

In the poem, she wonders how one gets “to suspect such an idea,” being a tiny piece of God. Perhaps it’s as 20^th century theologian Karl Rahner articulated: God’s enlivening presence within all from the start creates a desire for something beyond ourselves and enables a response to the Divine.

I remember in my high school years, corresponding with a friend’s cousin who was a lay brother at the Dominical House of Prayer in Washington, D.C. I treasured our letters and wrote that we are all part of the wholeness of God. All holding some bit of God, like a puzzle piece, deep within. And when all things finally gathered together, God would be wholly present. What planted that sense in my teenage heart? If Rahner was right, it was there from the start, calling for openness to Mystery and attention.

As Mary Oliver so clearly understood, we are called to notice. Seeking is unnecessary since God is already here. But attentiveness and quiet have something to do with deepening the relationship with the Holy within and without.

Recently, I spent a day with two friends I have known since we were in our late teens. Like beautiful threads, we weave in and out of one another’s life tapestries. Sharing our spiritual journeys is always part of the conversation. Nestled in the woods on the edge of the Hocking Hills, their home is simple yet adorned with beautiful bits of nature and art (many pieces made by friends). Chairs and couches are arranged in a cozy circle good for talking, and the kitchen, complete with a long table, welcomes family and friends.

We shared memories of past gatherings and coming adventures, titles of books we’re currently reading as well as ones that are staples of our lives. We read poetry, caught up on our families, and ate delicious homemade soup and bread while sipping iced tea.

On our walk, light filtered by trees on our right made beautiful patterns across the road and the tree trunks on our left. Nuthatches and chickadees had their lunch at the large feeder and woodpeckers’ drumming announced they were finding theirs elsewhere.

And while I spoke of my soul’s longing to spend days with the ocean, the woody beauty called out for attention. When given to the place where I was at that moment, attention revealed Mystery and Love waiting there.

Oliver’s poem “Praying” begins by pointing out that an encounter with Holy Presence need not be occasioned by something particularly stunning. She says it doesn’t have to be a blue iris. I’d say it doesn’t have to be the ocean.

Praying

It doesn’t have to be 
the blue iris, it could be 
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few 
small stones;
just pay attention, then patch 

a few words together and don’t try 
to make them elaborate, this isn’t 
 a contest but the doorway

 into thanks and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Mary Oliver generously shared the fruit of her attention and journey with us in volumes of poetry. I give thanks. And while I’m still hoping for a week or two at a beach before the year is out, I will try to heed her admonition in “Messenger,” that “My work is loving the world…” and that despite having old boots, a torn coat, and arriving at mid-seventies “…still not half perfect …” I will focus on what is mine to do. She sums it up in her poem “Sometimes”:

“Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it… “

Thank you, Mary Oliver.

Sources:

“Why I Wake Early” by Mary Oliver Published in Why I Wake Early (2004) p. 3

“At the River Clarion” by Mary Oliver Published in Evidence (2000)

“Praying” by Mary Oliver Published in Thirst ( 2006) p. 37

“Messenger” by Mary Oliver Published in Thirst (2006) p. 1

“Sometimes” by Mary Oliver Published in Red Bird (2008) p. 35-38

All these poems and many more, have been published in Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (2019). She arranged these poems herself from her books published from 1963 to 2015! If you love Mary Oliver, this is a book to own!

You can purchase it online from Bookshop.org and support independent bookstores across the country. if you have a favorite, you can even choose the bookstore you would like to support. Mine is Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio

Filed Under: Grace in the Moment Tagged With: "At the River Clarion" by Mary Oliver, "Messenger" by Mary Oliver, "Praying" by Mary Oliver, "Sometimes"by Mary Oliver, "Why I Wake Early" by Mary Oliver, attention, creation, encounter with God, God in creation, Karl Rahner, Mary Oliver, Mystery, noticing, prayer, Presence, present to the moment, silence, wonder

September 5, 2024 By Mary van Balen 2 Comments

Entanglement

While the concept of “entanglement” is not new, it is increasingly encountered today.

Suzanne Simard’s work and book, Finding the Mother Tree, reveal the entanglement of tree roots, fungus, and mycelium that connects individual trees, creating a community. This intricate, underground network allows trees to communicate with each other, warning of impending danger and responding to one another’s distress. Through it, mature trees share nutrients with young ones growing beneath their canopy.

The word “entanglement” appears in current spiritual writing, referencing its use in quantum physics. Care must be taken in appropriation of a term from one discipline to another. “Entanglement” in a physicist’s work has a different meaning than it does in a theologian’s. Still, it provides an apt metaphor.

Quantum physics offers an extraordinary look at how matter, at an elemental level, can be connected even when separated by vast distances. True not only between individual particles, but also among thousands of atoms and molecules within the animate and inanimate. Entangled particles act as one thing.

And there is the metaphor: All creation is entangled, made one by the shared, enlivening force called by many names: God, Ground of Being, Presence, Holy One, Spirit.

Entangled creation includes human beings. Despite the “othering” that happens – especially during the current political climate – dividing humanity into groups of “them” and “us”, we are profoundly connected. What is done to one affects all.

Suffering and violence around the world affect those far from it. Joy, enthusiasm, and kindness reach across the globe, making it a better place.

That human beings continue to war against one another and to destroy this planet, ignoring the warnings of extreme weather, vanishing species and habitats, and poisoned waters, are indicators that the reality of entanglement often goes unrecognized.

Yet it calls for a response: Respect. Respect entails reverencing all people, all things. Respect is the appropriate response to the Presence residing deep within each of us, within all creation, from the smallest particle to the vast cosmos. All is holy ground.

We are called, like Moses, to take off our shoes.

watercolor painting of Hebrew woman taking off her sandal — *Mosetta* ©2018 Molly Weiland watercolor

slightly different version originally published in Awakenings the newsletter of The Spirituality Network, September 2024

Photo: Mary vay Balen

Source:

“What is Entanglement and Why Is It Important?” on Caltech Science Exchange

Filed Under: Grace in the Moment Tagged With: climate change, connection, creation, Entanglement, Finding the Mother Tree, God in creation, holy ground, Holy One, interconnetion, mycelium, othering, physics, Presence, Presence within, Respect, Suzanne Simard

July 22, 2024 By Mary van Balen 8 Comments

Dona Nobis Pacem: A Morning Prayer on Whidbey Island

Dona nobis pacem. Give us peace. I offer this simple sharing of yesterday’s morning prayer that began with attentiveness to the overwhelming beauty and variety of the natural setting. I moved into singing the traditional round Dona nobis pacem, then spontaneously sang words from my heart, and finally slipped into silence. A prayer for peace in our troubled world. You might find it helpful to listen to the song using the links below to become familiar with its rhythms before continuing to read.