You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it.    -Psalm 65:9

 

Seeker,

Is there space in your life for one more thing, person, problem, or possibility that demands attention and presence?

 

In times like these, it is hard to pray

when my head is a repository without repose,

and my home a warehouse of rooms without room,

 

when there’s no longer an ‘away’

in which to hide

the accumulations of this day,

 

when my body is stuffed,

and my days are crammed

with comings and goings.

 

This sorry tale is made sadder still

in a world of needs neglected

where greed goes guised as development.

 

…our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. -Pope Francis

 

Stuffing and busying,

and discarding without considering,

this now is the norm, no longer the aberration.

 

When less is ever more elusive,

and living simply just one more thing to do,

how do we take the track toward un-stuffing?

 

The world would become better off
If people tried to become better.
And people would become better
If they stopped trying to become better off.  
-Peter Maurin

 

Can you even imagine

what our daily lives

might be like…

 

if less were valued over more,

if thrift were rewarded,

and slowness and simplicity became the traits of celebrity,

 

if quiet, humble living were applauded,

if listening were prized,

and littleness were lauded,

 

For when everyone tries to become better off,
nobody is better off.
But when everyone tries to become better
everyone is better off.
  -Peter Maurin
if children were raised down to reverence life,

if soiled hands were appreciated and gardeners honored,

and our heroes were softer rather than super,

 

if communities centered on

the lives most vulnerable,

and worldly ways were organized for care,

 

if people looked with sympathy

upon those poor souls burdened by wealth

and life’s greatest polluters received rehabilitation,

 

if mending and making do replaced discarding,

and we punctuated each day

with pauses to give our thanks away.

 

Everyone would be rich
if nobody tried to become richer,
and nobody would be poor
if everyone tried to be the poorest. 
-Peter Maurin

 

Now imagine,

if you can,

what might happen

 

if you and I practiced un-stuffing,

and tried lightly living, with slower, smaller steps

to shrink the footprint we leave our children’s children.

 

What could life really be like

for us and all our kin

who share this most uncommon home?

 

Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love. -Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

The goodness of the sea be thine.

The goodness of the earth be thine.

The goodness of the sky be thine.  -Celtic Blessing

 

joe