by Mary Lamon, Hive Facilitator
editors note: Mary wrote this entry March 24. Instead of updating it with current season, culture, news, and injustice references, it is here, as it was written. It takes on even a truer meaning now, in an almost prophetic way.
So much “normal” is gone.
…in this strange season we are living in. Social Distancing. Stay-at-Home orders. Connecting through technology. Routines and rhythms shutting down as we step away from work, church, sports, social engagements, etc. Fears circulating about our economy and health care systems.
And then I go outside. I feed the animals on my farm. Collect the eggs. Watch the ducks splash in pools of water created by the recent rains. Observe Max the pig, digging his snout deep into soft soil, stopping to munch on unburied treasures. I notice the daffodils dotting the hill at the edge of the wood, the honeysuckle bursting with green leaves, the willow tree exchanging brown drapes for chartreuse. And I feel grounded. Spring keeps coming. Creation continues her ancient rhythms, undisturbed by the virus shutting down our human systems.
I’m reminded, again, of lessons from the Big Book. Ancient Celtic Christians lived in such harmony with nature, they called Creation the Big Book of God, and the Bible the Little Book of God. They believed God revealed eternal truths through both books, and Creation taught Wisdom for Living. As I witness the unstoppable, emerging life of Spring, I’m reminded I’m part of systems larger than our human economy. The Psalmist (24:1) tells us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all who live in it”. Yes. I am part of this great greening taking place. I am cradled in Creation and held by the Love that continues to birth it. This comforts me in the midst of so much disruption.
As I consider how the virus is scorching our economy, like our local nano-brewery trying to pay their bills, the restaurant downtown shuttering its doors this weekend, the throngs of workers applying for unemployment, I’m reminded of scorched moments in Creation. The blackened forest after a wildfire, grey hills buried under layers of volcano ash, water sanctuaries coated in spilled oil. And then Creation reveals what happens next. Spikes of green push through black cinders. Pine seeds open and rise toward the sun. A ravaged landscape begins to shimmer with liveliness as the ancient rhythms of healing, restoring and growing take over.
Creation teaches us, Life wins.
The Loving Creator of all things knows how the suffering of the world scorches our lives with economic scarcity, illness, heartbreaking loss, hunger, social isolation, and human cruelty… knows the crushing fear and despair that accompanies these experiences. And Love promises our stories don’t end here. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not consume you… Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:2,5).
In the Christian narrative, Holy Week tells us Love fully enters the scorched suffering of the human experience, to be with us…. in betrayal, abandonment, abuse, cruelty and death. Through every horrible, heartbreaking experience, our sacred stories tell us,
Love steadfastly holds us.
Love steadfastly holds us, until life emerges again.
Love steadfastly holds us until the scorched earth of our lives breaks open.
Love steadfastly holds us until the unstoppable, eternal rhythm of healing, restoring and growing rushes through us like living water.
Love steadfastly holds us until new ways of being are birthed on the other side of death.
This truth is unfurling all around us right now. The Big Book is telling us again the ancient story, Love Wins, Life keeps coming.