FootprintsintheWind.com

Thoughts are not the only things in us, and thoughts might be not the deepest parts of us. Then there is the question of the ground beneath our feet and the stars above our heads and the voices outside our heads. What do we see in the flames of a camp fire?

:- Doug.

Less do we need to learn
than to lean
in to one another

:- Doug.

The hope for our species is in us: together.

:- Doug.

Friend, what do you see? What healing is needful?

:- Doug.

For people on the margins
This only will do
Not mere justice—but being heard
For people in the center
This only will do
Not being heard—but hearing

:- Doug.

Meeting for me looks like reminding—re-hearting—each other—of our connection with our community. What communities are we part of and how are we connected? What is necessary for the healing of this place? What would make it whole—for us?

:- Doug.

Call to heart your heart
Call up to your coeur your neighbor
As different as he or she might be
Their heart is pink
Their blood is red
And their heart’s rhythm
Is your heart’s rhythm
Then when you hear each other’s story
They are not so far apart
That you cannot grow together
Something wonderful
For us

:- Doug.

We are not advocating community, but making it whole, healing our community.

Whole does not mean of one mind, but it does mean of one heart. We must love our hearts to wholeness. It means accepting people as persons, valuing each and all, bringing the margins to center.

It means that in our workplaces and our neighborhoods, in our government hearings, coffee shops and public places, every place we find each other, we make an effort to include all voices and to hear each other as children of humanity. Especially the people we do not like, the ones who are for sure not like us, the ones we have come to despise and hate, the ones who hate us. And the ones we never notice: the old, the homeless, the smelly.

:- Doug.

We have here some great people who are trying to make things better. Not all of them do I agree with, but that is good. Sparks create nutrients for growing.

:- Doug.

Do we hold community dear? Do we hold dear our community? I suspect there are few who do. I need to work on this myself.

:- Doug.

The true step beyond advocating is healing. We are healing—making whole—community. The community of G*d. And these are not just those who own G*d but all those whom G*d owns—holds dear.

:- Doug.

G*d is us
Because G*d is love

:- Doug.

Re-hearting
Re-being
Better still
We can
Make our
Hearts
Being
Larger

:- Doug.

What are you doing in community? How are you doing community?

:- Doug.

Community: Are we in this place to fill our pockets? Are we here to race each other to work and then back home again at night?

Do community: challenge ourselves to be larger, challenge us to become all we are possible to be, challenge us to seek out hidden facets in ourselves and each other, challenge us to do community: more of the same, ever.

:- Doug.

Work with the people who hear, not merely listen.

:- Doug.

Touch what people will themselves activate. It is something already resident in their hearts.

:- Doug.