Detach

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

~ Reinhold Niebuhr

This morning I was gifted with some wonderful time on the bluff, overlooking Lake Michigan, in downtown Saint Joseph, Michigan. The happy occasion was a reunion (of sorts) of our Interfaith Fellowship group. In various spaces and configurations that group has met since 1997. This gathering was co-created because one member who has been living in Florida for the past several years was in Saint Joseph visiting. 

We brought our chairs, delicious and nutritious snacks to share, and hearts open to being together as the ONE. I introduced the inspirational cards from Wellness for All, the organization Mary Jo Bulbrook has helped birth into our world. 

Detach was picked by two individuals, and the message of this one is probably deeply important for each of us now. 

Detach

There are dimensions that are holding you back from your true destiny. 

Learn to detach and release all that causes harm to your inner life 

and ability to find true peace. 

As you search and journey within, 

you will find that all aspects of life have only one true mission 

which is to pave the road to inner life of serenity that is within your control. 

That message is clearly essentially that of The Serenity Prayer, those powerful and utterly familiar words penned by Reinhold Niebuhr.

It may not come as any surprise to most of us that the wisdom to know the difference is key. We cannot change the Aurora tragedy (as much as we might like). We cannot roll back time and unburn the acres devastated by wild fires. We cannot wish back a loved one. No amount of denial will unhappen history, however, that "inner life of serenity" unfolds perfectly as I surrender my desire to fight against what is out there and to embrace what is truly within my own control. 

Our true nature is that delicate, silent, loving, inner state of peace. 

I saw this Queen Anne's Lace thriving, having come up between the cracks in a driveway. I love that Queen Anne's Lace (as it is called in the U.S.) is considered a beneficial weed, because—according to Wikipedia—it is able to "boost tomato plant production and provide a microclimate of cooler, more moist air for lettuce," just by growing nearby.

I am not sure if my fascination with weeds this summer is because the hot (unusually hot), dry (drastically dry), weather here has been so hard on annuals that the weeds are strikingly beautiful by contrast. I am more inclined to think it has something to do with my spiritual journey as I am coming to see the beauty of the weeds (unplanned, often wild, life-changing events) in my own life. 

The following was written in the loneliness upon my return home to Michigan in April, 1996, and by May I was enrolled in the Living Ministry Program of Reunion. A year later I had gone on to birth the Holistic Alliance. In 2005, we were letting go of that form. Once again I feel that tugging at the weeds of my life, as though I am soon again to give birth to heaven knows what gifts for our world. Enjoy ~ Debra

Where can I go to find peace?

          Where can I go that peace cannot find me?

                    Who is the searcher?

                              Who is the sought?

Peace is the natural state, trust and embrace a new thought.

The rhythm of peace is silence

          the words a language of naught

                    I lay down beside the still waters

                              My burden immediately scatters.

Here, I become the me that matters.

Where is peace for my world?

          my stars, my moon, my son?

                    Found simply waiting to be honored

                              For you, by be, my word...

A gift, freely given, in the silence to be heard.