Raise Your Words

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.

-Robert Frost

With so much going on right now,

both big and small, macro and micro, my mind has been on a spin cycle. Big, cultural, societal problems take up mental real estate and battle with my smaller, everyday thoughts and frustrations about parenting, in particular.

How do I show support?

How brave will I be?

How many times do I have to tell them?

Just stop bickering!

What happened in the news today?

What happened at school today?

We have to do better.

How can I be a better mom?

I just want to cry.

I just want to scream.

Poetry that stuck.

On the screen in worship on Sunday was a poem by Rumi, a famous 13th century poet and scholar. It really spoke to my heart and my mind, addressing my big and small worries and thoughts. Raising my words in my parenting, in my relationships, in political discourse, in advocacy, in support, will cause so much more growth, so much more blooming, than simply raising my voice. I hope I can rise to the occasion.

Click here to download Raise Your Words doodle.

Comments

I Was a Coward

I knew I needed to do it. I was too afraid to start. I rehearsed the conversation in my head over and over, but still didn't know where to begin. I had excuses: They are too young. They won't understand. It doesn't directly affect them. They don't have the historical perspective yet. But the truth is, I was afraid to tell my children about Charlottesville, because I was afraid to reveal to them the ugliness of humanity, the failure of my generation and their grandparents' generation to address social ills and instead to sweep them under the rug. I was afraid to see my pain, confusion, sadness, guilt, and fear reflected in their innocent faces. It was hard enough to address the inadvertent mispronunciation of the African country, Niger, by a classmate, and the loving, necessary correction of that mispronunciation by another of their friends, last year, and the conversation about words the people use to steal the humanity away from other humans.

You Do You

I am so over our competition culture. Can we all agree to be confident enough in our own life choices that we can stop overselling them to our friends and family? And stop arguing or at least implying that our choices are superior to theirs? You do you. Click here to download You Do You doodle. And I'll do me. We can all be happy doing what is best for us. Home school or public school or private school. Daisies or succulents. Cable or Netflix/Hulu or no TVs. Disposable diapers or cloth. Mini-van or SUV or truck. Color your hair or go gray. Heels or flats. Vegan or vegetarian or flexitarian or carnivore. Read the book or watch the movie or both. Coke or Pepsi or "I don't drink pop." Pop or soda or soda pop. Run or lift weights or dance or don't. From scratch everything or go out to eat. Chocolate lover or someone who obviously doesn't have tastebuds. Of course, of course, I have an opinion on all of those things (and more!

A Prayer for our Schools

O Holy God, Our Creator and Sustainer, I ask you today to draw near to our community and hold us in your hand, tuck us under your wing, as our children go back to school. I pray that our children are encouraged, brave, bold, and compassionate. I pray that their school communities lift them up so high that can easily rise above the culture of bullying that has invaded our world. And, God, I pray for their safety, I pray that the violence that has permeated even our most innocent institutions will stop, not just here, but everywhere. I ask that you grant them a peaceful place of learning, where they are able to free their young minds from worry and fill those minds with learning. I ask for flexibility and understanding in their spaces of learning, and I pray that our children and their teachers know, truly know, that their worth is indeed not measured by any test score, and are heartened to strive for their best, without fear of comparison. God, especially hold new students and

The Whole Kristen ca-Doodle

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