Sunday Musings – January 24, 2022
We are blessed
My friend J texted me earlier saying simply, “We are blessed.” I might add that we are blessed to know and feel that we are blessed. One can certainly be blessed and not feel very blessed, One can convince oneself that like Job in the Old Testament one is being punished, mistreated or misunderstood. There are many in this country who sincerely believe they are living in a country where their beliefs and, thus, they themselves are not respected. There are those whose lives seem to channel that of Job; lives filled with hardship and injustice.
When my friend J and I share that we feel blessed we are not talking about material goods although we have more than our share. We are not talking about physical health although we may have more of that than the average person our age. We are not talking about the absence of discomfort or concern. We are talking about the fact that most of the time we are able to face life on life’s terms which means we face and deal with discomfort or even pain without being so wrapped in it that we cannot experience light. We know that there are many individuals who are unable to see light when tragedy visits. Some have no peripheral vision. They can only see the center of the storm. It is not that they are unwilling to see with a wider lens. Their brain is unable to do so. We know, for example, that those who live with clinical depression experience life as static, without any color other than black, and having always been black. Then there are those who experience the world as either all dark or all light. For them there is never both light and darkness. When someone experiences the world through these lenses the past and the future are seen only through the current lens of light or darkness.
Even at the darkest moments my friend J and I know that there is light or there will soon be light We also know that we are not chosen to experience light because we are more deserving, better than, have worked harder or are special in any other way. When we say we are blessed we are acknowledging that we have a responsibility to use the energy of our blessings to lovingly care for others; to use our particular talents to do what may seem like more than our share.
In the New Testament, (Luke 12:48) it says, “For unto whomever much is given, of him much is required.” John F Kennedy worded it: “For of those to whom much is given much is required.”
What we able to give back may be as simple as the gift of the unidentified young man in uniform who knelt at the grave of Beau Biden while Beau’s father delivered his presidential inaugural address.
Often the act of bearing witness to the pain of others without joining their dark or even violent, angry reality is the post powerful way to share a blessing.
On this first Sunday of a new chapter in the history of the United States, we who are blessed may need to bear witness to the pain of those whose experience and view of the world is grounded in the ugly hatred of racism, sexism and other symptoms of fear. We may struggle in exploring a way to bear witness which is not feeding the hatred but is also not so delusional as to appear to feed the myth that responding to hate with more hate and violence is going to bring peace.
We who are blessed to see light where others see darkness would do well to share the light with as much quiet humility and gratitude as did the person in uniform kneeling at the grave of Beau Biden. We who are blessed must share the courage of Amanda Gorman, the wise, strong poet.
Witten January 24 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
We are blessed
My friend J texted me earlier saying simply, “We are blessed.” I might add that we are blessed to know and feel that we are blessed. One can certainly be blessed and not feel very blessed, One can convince oneself that like Job in the Old Testament one is being punished, mistreated or misunderstood. There are many in this country who sincerely believe they are living in a country where their beliefs and, thus, they themselves are not respected. There are those whose lives seem to channel that of Job; lives filled with hardship and injustice.
When my friend J and I share that we feel blessed we are not talking about material goods although we have more than our share. We are not talking about physical health although we may have more of that than the average person our age. We are not talking about the absence of discomfort or concern. We are talking about the fact that most of the time we are able to face life on life’s terms which means we face and deal with discomfort or even pain without being so wrapped in it that we cannot experience light. We know that there are many individuals who are unable to see light when tragedy visits. Some have no peripheral vision. They can only see the center of the storm. It is not that they are unwilling to see with a wider lens. Their brain is unable to do so. We know, for example, that those who live with clinical depression experience life as static, without any color other than black, and having always been black. Then there are those who experience the world as either all dark or all light. For them there is never both light and darkness. When someone experiences the world through these lenses the past and the future are seen only through the current lens of light or darkness.
Even at the darkest moments my friend J and I know that there is light or there will soon be light We also know that we are not chosen to experience light because we are more deserving, better than, have worked harder or are special in any other way. When we say we are blessed we are acknowledging that we have a responsibility to use the energy of our blessings to lovingly care for others; to use our particular talents to do what may seem like more than our share.
In the New Testament, (Luke 12:48) it says, “For unto whomever much is given, of him much is required.” John F Kennedy worded it: “For of those to whom much is given much is required.”
What we able to give back may be as simple as the gift of the unidentified young man in uniform who knelt at the grave of Beau Biden while Beau’s father delivered his presidential inaugural address.
Often the act of bearing witness to the pain of others without joining their dark or even violent, angry reality is the post powerful way to share a blessing.
On this first Sunday of a new chapter in the history of the United States, we who are blessed may need to bear witness to the pain of those whose experience and view of the world is grounded in the ugly hatred of racism, sexism and other symptoms of fear. We may struggle in exploring a way to bear witness which is not feeding the hatred but is also not so delusional as to appear to feed the myth that responding to hate with more hate and violence is going to bring peace.
We who are blessed to see light where others see darkness would do well to share the light with as much quiet humility and gratitude as did the person in uniform kneeling at the grave of Beau Biden. We who are blessed must share the courage of Amanda Gorman, the wise, strong poet.
Witten January 24 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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