The writer E.B. White once wrote, “I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”  To save or to savor, to give or to take? I feel the pull in both directions particularly strong these past two weeks with the beauty of summer- fruit, flowers, family, and friends, sitting alongside the world’s pain in my heart.

I see these not as two separate pulls, but as one that leads us more deeply into life. Summer teaches us to embrace life fully. Nurture it, love it, celebrate it, renew it, fight for it. Our place in the interconnected web is one of continual giving and receiving in relation to other lives. These relations extend beyond our immediate neighbors to the immigrants at our border, children in Palestine, people held in U.S. prisons, and so many others.

Time spent in nature and with the things and people I love renews my ministry. Right action arises from my relation to life on this planet and I become more whole through service and action that honors this relationship.

I wish for all of you a restful and active summer- time to savor and time to save. May your spirit be restored, and your ministry renewed. And may we deepen our relatedness to the web of life in community together.

 

Blessings,

Terri