Jan 20 2009
New Year’s Eve–Again
I’m writing on the eve of Inauguration Day in America… and it feels like New Year’s Eve–again. It feels like we are collectively starting the year over, which is a good thing since the first two weeks of 2009 have sped by faster than I can track. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to step onto a rolling treadmill set for jogging speed and been shocked and stumbly at the attempt to join something already going faster than you are. I’ve caught myself doing that a few times–and after 2 weeks of slowing down to the pace of guidance, stepping back into my usual pace feels just like that.
However, I also feel blessed that my busyness is just that–busy, but not disasterous. Around western Washington thousands of people have been dealing with flood in the lowlands and avalanche in the highlands. And friends across the northern US and southern Canada have been so far below freezing that the Centigrade and Fahrenheit thermometers match up–minus 40. My brother and sister-in-law got in their Pruis in MInneapolis and just started driving south. Colleen said she wasn’t going to stop until she could stick her arm out the window and feel warm air. I think they are in Alabama by now.
And then there is the rest of the world and how we spin along in our suffering places of famine and war. And every day, when I think I’m at some kind of whelming point, I go down on the beach with my beloved and dogs and am wrapped in the peace of wild things. Words drift off my mind, and there is just the end of the day beauty–even if it’s rainy or foggy or a slit of light as the sun falls behind the mountains. I am filled with profound gratitude for this moment of peace, for the place I live, and the privilege of my life. Please, God, hear my gratitude, and fill me with the ability to do this all justice–the earth, the work, the tending, letting fall apart what needs to fall apart; fiercely saving and savoring what needs to be saved and savored. Let me discern which is which.
And when I think I’ve got too much to do, too many people I’m trying to relate to effectively and with heart, a schedule for upcoming speeches and projects that I’m committed to, I catch the news out of the corner of my eye and think about this new President and all that waits his doing! How is he going to manage his new year’s commitments? How will he learn to sleep through the night in that big slave-built house, under the coverlet of his burdens? And I pray: pray for him, for his family, for Joe Biden and his family. I pray for all those gathered around this administration, the cabinet and advisors. I pray for the US Congress to come into its courage now, it’s ability to take action. And this is a new form of pray–one I invite you to join in with me, in whatever way fits your spiritual life.
My prayer is not a statement of request, a petition. I do not say, “please watch over… please guide…” My prayer is a statement of accomplishment, a completion. I pour a cup of tea and with my dog I go sit on the front steps under the shelter of the roofline and look into the raw breath of the new day. From this vantage point I say, “Thank you for protecting President Obama and all around him. Thank you for their wise and courageous decisions today. Thank you for bringing the American people into readiness for this leadership, and willingness to face a future that needs to be different. Thank you for making me ready. Thank you for imbuing me with courage to step into the unknown, to let go of old forms of security and reach boldly for that which is coming into being.”
These are my words–you have your own words. Whatever they are–may you step into your statements of accomplishment. I will meet you there, in that place where we are headed; in that place where we already stand in the future looking back with profound satisfaction and gratitude at how we expended our lives at this time.
Let me know your prayers…
Copyright ©2009 Christina Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Faithful One, only You know the magnitude of the responsibilities to which President Obama has committed his heart, mind, time and spirit. Thank you for his leadership and his willingness to tackle the awesome tasks before us. Fill him with your wisdom and peace. Grant him the courage to be a man and president of integrity, ever faithful to his wife, his children, our country and to you. Visit him with the strength of his grandmother and all the communion of saints when his shoulders sag under the weight of the office.
No one person can live up to all the expectations and desires thrust upon President Obama. No one can bear the burdens alone. Grant him friends who will love him no matter what and who will speak the truth to him no matter what. Keep him mindful of the power in community. Be with Mrs. Obama as she uses her gifts, intelligence and heart for being a wife, mother, advocate, teacher, and leader. Sustain her, O God, with a deep groundedness, humor and strength. Be with Malia and Sasha as they grow in wisdom and stature. Continue to plant their feet firmly on the ground, anoint their lives for service and bring as much normalcy to their growing up as possible. And protect this precious family who has and will give in extraordinary ways for this country and the world.
Let us hear President Obama’s invitation to service even as we hear your urgent invitation to bring transformation and healing. Let us live with a renewed sense of connectedness. Let us continue to love away any barriers created between races, religions, social and economic differences, genders, sexual orientations and nations. Keep us faithful and diligent to the conversation, even when our confidence is shaken and it appears we do not comprehend one another’s language or perspective. Help us remember and trust that nothing is impossible with you. As we strive to be faithful disciples, help us be big-hearted citizens who know that our acts of generosity and advocacy can be part of the change for which the world is starved. This we pray in confidence and gratitude, Amen.
Rev. Cynthia Langston Kirk
http://www.piecingstories.com
This is the first time I feel myself truly connected to a President, and as you mentioned, praying for him, his family, and his advisors. It’s “a new form of Pray” indeed.
My emergence from quiet time has been sluggish, happening in fits and starts this year. I find I’m carrying more of my deep connection with the Earth and Spirit with me into my daily life. It’s a blessing, and a learning in the art of balance and presence.
So well said. I don’t pray, but I do affirm. Thank you for the clear affirmation of gratitude and for the awareness of what it will take. Yours in Spirit. Lori
Having just finished listening to our new president’s inaugural address, I am struck by the similarity between it and your prayer. Both resonate with a confidence in this country, its people and its leaders, and I am profoundly grateful for that. As you will see, if you look at my other blog, contemplativephotographer.blogspot.com, I am struggling to rebirth hope, and so I doubly appreciate those who believe the change CAN happen.
Hello from another northwest island — Bainbridge — and thank you for this post. (I was sent here by a friend, Mary Lee Simpson).
Diane
What an awesome happening…We have a new President. Oh, the changes we have seen in our life times. What challenges filled with blessings of growth.
One of my favorite scriptures is Ecclesiastes 3 where we are led to think on “A time for this and a time for that” As I read it in reflection the other day the word “Deserata” popped into my head. It was a familiar word, but one I had forgotten. I did a search on it and found this beautiful poem. I encourage you to read it again. There is much wisdom there. I sent it to my son who is a LtC. in the Army who was leaving for Baghdad in a couple days. He emailed me back to say thank you and that he liked it. I know it will give him encouragement for the mission he has.
President Obama has our encouragement in many ways for the days ahead.
Christina,
Thank you for the encouragement and the reminder to speak into existance things that are not. I join with you in the gratitude and faith that things will be as they should be because we pray instead of worry. We believe instead of doubt. May we live that way in regards to all that we do. Our lives, callings, careers, relationships, our world. I know that God Who created all continues to create and wants us to cooperate in the creation process. If I choose to create life and not death, I join with God in making the world a better place. I can start by making sure that what is issuing out of me is Springs of Life, my words, my beliefs, my longings. Today I thank God for new beginnings, do-overs, hope, faith and love. Love and Light, Angela Seagler
Hi Christina, thank you so much for your words. I have been caught up in busyness and stress also, even though I have only been back at work for two weeks, after a three week holiday on the mid north coast of NSW Australia.
It has been a stressful couple of months for me leading up to Christmas, with my elderly mother coming to live with my family at short notice. Mum has early dementia and my family and I have been caught up in trying to adjust our lives to suit our new living arrangements.
After reading your blog, I realise that I have been caught up too much in thinking about how difficult things are, rather than being thankful that we are all together.
Here is my prayer. Thank you for allowing my family to have time with my mother, to learn from her, to laugh with her and to share our family with her. Thank you for providing us with a place to enjoy our holidays at South West Rocks. A place that always brings me peace and allows our family to share our Christmas and New Year with friends. Thank you for allowing my daughter Erin to find her solemate, Nathan who treats her with respect, kindness and love. Thankyou for guiding our Government in creating a peaceful, prosperous and safe place for all and to continue their alliance with Governments from across the world in their acceptance of diversity in learning to live together on this planet.
Thankyou God also for people like Christina, who through her words reaches many of us and who teaches us to think differently and to share these thoughts through circle practice and our writing.
With thanks. Jan
I still think you would have made a good vice-presidential candidate! Thanks for your prayer.
Cynthia
Our prayer is that peace will come to our Nation. Peace in the sense that we can sleep at night, now, because someone is looking out for all Americans.
And just as you continue to pray from your new-day vantage point, that place where we already stand, Barack proclaims the shift has already happened. We watched the inauguration with family and friends, holding our children from Haiti, loving the swirl of red, white, blue, brown, tan, tasting the gratitude. Thank you, thank you, it is done, it is done, it is done.
Christina, you mention those of us living in the frozen north. We are also watching raptly as events unfold in your country, because of course they have such influence on us. And sometimes we feel that we don’t have any control as our neighbour to the south is ten times our size.
The cold, while we complain about it, has been a blessing - we haven’t had floods, and repetitive snow storms, etc. just consistent cold weather, and we know how to live with that.
I would guess that most Canadians were glued to their television screens yesterday morning watching the pomp and pageantry you have to celebrate a change in direction. Some of us are jealous of the way you have of marking change. It doesn’t quietly slip by unnoticed. We were also listening intently to what your new President had to say - and we were encouraged and hopeful. His words were honest and the challenges he made need to be heard in my country (Canada) as well. The problems we have created will need the honest efforts of everyone if we are to overcome them.
My prayer is that we continue to grow to understand one another, and that our leaders have the courage to lead with integrity.
Blessings
Also writing from the deep freeze of southern Canada, we watched with glee the inauguration of your new president. We leaped up and danced at the end of his speech, teary and hopeful. Aren’t we all starved for the hope that he brings? Canadians as much as yourselves. One of my U.S. friends said she felt it with the power of the Second Coming! We stayed at the watching until he and Michelle danced at the first Ball.
Now, two days later, we are amazed at how much he’s done in two days - or at least begun to do. We are resonant and vigilant, and still pretty filled with hope, and may I write these words in a year’s time.
Thank you all, dear neighbors…
Ah Great Spirit! Thank you for the beautiful earth which sustains us and supports us in our daily lives. Thank you for giving us a president that shares that wonder and awe with me. Thank you for helping him and our congress to move towards a position and style of life that helps preserve the living waters and ceases to poison our crystal atmosphere. Thank you for the bounty that emerges from my organic garden and help more people to see how to nurture their own food as well.
And thank you for Tammy Vitale, who provided a link to this blog so I could share in this new sort of affirming prayer.
Blessed be.
I am writing from frigid Minnesota, where I’m grateful for central heat, fleece clothes and blankets, many varieties of nourishing soup and warm friendships. I don’t go to bed at night without a long list of thanks-giving.
I, too, rejoice in our new President, who has all of the markings of an old soul. Thank goodness, because wisdom is what the world demands at this point. Every day, when I hear the summary of the news and what he has accomplished that day, I smile and feel something akin to the glee Brenda mentioned. The problems haven’t changed, but the approach has, and somehow it’s easier to breathe. Yesterday Republican Arnold Schwarznegger commented on the move towards more stringent air quality standards by saying, “We finally have a friend in the White House.” I marvel every day at the change that has already happened…..a perceptable shift in energy that is, in itself, a source of wonder.
I am inspired tonight by my 98 year old grandmother, who had a cancerous lump in her breast removed this morning, and is back in her apartment “feeling wonderful.” I celebrate her zest for life and sharp mind, and hope that I’ll be able to compete with the contestants on Jeapordy when I’m that age.
Next week I’m on retreat, and look forward to focusing on the rhythms of the sea.
Christina, thanks for the invitation to blog.
I too take comfort in the water, though living in a place with rivers, lakes and streams it is not the same as my dear Pacific that I love so. None the less, water is such a blessing as are the wondeful old souls of the forest. I often think of them as Ents (Lord Of The Rings) with their loving energy.
My prayer is also one of it already being acomplished. One that gives thanks for the wisdom, insight, and compassion for which this country and the world is lead. And thanks to Gaia for her part in it. Thanks for loving compassion and peace and my little part in it.
Blessed Be.
I too am inspired by our new president, Barack Obama, and grateful for his ability to reach out to the people of the world to solve problems wisely and with compassion. I am so inspired by him that I now have the courage to improve my own life by working harder at what I do and to simply enjoy the process which is much more valuable than the end result. I have more confidence knowing that he is at the helm of our country and that he will find solutions by listening to the ideas of others. Thank you, God.
Christina,
So happy to have “found” you again! I met you years ago when I worked with your father, Leo, in DC. He introduced you both in person and through One to One. He recently sent me Seven Whispers and Storycatcher. I’m so happy to share your thoughts once again.
I, too, am grateful for the change that seems to be taking over our beloved land. There’s a renewed spirit in the air among people of all colors, shapes, beliefs. What a blessing to breathe in the “fresh air.”
I know that our God is looking down upon us with pleasure, perhaps even saying, “I think they are finally getting it.” I pray that’s true.
Prayers and warmest wishes to you!