Peace in the in-between
There seems to be only one Christmas greeting inside me.
Peace.
From the time I was a middle school student in a Quaker school, listening to the faculty elders talk about peace amidst the Vietnam war, through the seasons of church-going hearing the Christmas story: “Good tidings of great joy. Peace on earth.” This is the part that resonates with me.
We are not always Merry. We ae not always Happy. But all of us have deep within, spoken or unspoken, the yearning for peace.
At the same time, here we are in an in-between time. Hope at the end of a long pandemic struggle, but not there yet. Hope in our country for new and better governing, but we’re not there yet.
Personal struggles of being in-between inside of people that I can’t know or imagine, except to know that they are universal.
In the hearts and the practices of artmakers (definitely including me) we have an ongoing sense of being in-between. We work on projects at hand. We find meaning and pleasure. But we sense we can do more, something different, something better. But we’re not there yet.
And for artmakers this is all one experience. The events of everyday, large and small, find their way into our heart and thoughts and affect what we create. In all this:
Peace.
Not because everything always turns out just Susy-Sunshine right. It doesn’t.
But because this is what there is to do.
If you are a creator, keep creating.
If you are an art lover, continue loving and appreciating.
If you are longing for the next step to be here: Listen. Look at what you are doing and see what it’s saying.
Amazingly and wonderfully, some things will unfold just by allowing time. Robins returned to our yard this morning, a simple delight I treasure, when our population of yard birds has diminished so much. I stood at the window absorbing all the birdbath splashing and jostling with a sense of wonder.
And, outside my front door, a little Christmas cactus is about to explode with blooms.
Without knowing or reading up on the correct care, this gift from last season was just placed outdoors in a spot other plants seem to like. Behold. It’s right on time.
And so, to readers, artmakers, art-appreciators, those in a good place in your life, those struggling, I send the only greeting I really know.
Thank you for reading.