It’s been a while since I’ve written in my blog, and I am thankful to all my friends (bloggers and non-bloggers who follow me), for their encouragement in getting me to start writing again!  All of you are so amazing!  And to those of you who blog daily or frequently…… how do you do it, and how do you do it so well??  I am constantly amazed by you!

One weakness of an introvert such as I, is the ease with which I can get so lost in my thoughts, that I cannot actually write what I am thinking about!  Once I get started, I am fine….but it is the “getting started” that I can sometimes find so difficult.  This has been my experience for the past 2 months, as I have absorbed one depressing news story after another.  I have wanted to add something meaningful to the conversation, but I have had great difficulty expressing what is inside trying to come out!

No doubt like many of you, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting about what exactly is possible for individuals to do to make a difference when times get dark.  It seems as if these cycles repeat themselves over and over again.  Darkness has been a reality for so many human beings throughout human history for such a very long time.  For those of us alive right now, though, and especially for those of us in the United States who are not use to seeing our government so blatantly inflict harm on others and so intentionally contradict the values we have attempted to live by, this feels like we are currently living in an especially dark time (even to those of us who have been aware of long hidden US hypocrisy in the past).  The internet and television have long enabled us to experience the pain and suffering of large numbers of people in our country and around the world, but it has now become very personal for many Americans as we react to horrific acts we object to, being committed in our name.  Each of us are struggling to figure out how we can personally make a difference in whatever way possible.  So, what exactly is possible?  What should we do?

There is a movie that came out this year, that I happened to watch this week by accident.  It was called “A Wrinkle in Time”.  I say “by accident”, because I did not realize what it was really about until I started watching it.  It was marketed as a science fiction story about a girl trying to find her scientist father who is trapped on an evil planet – it just didn’t sound all that interesting to me when it was explained that way – but the movie was so much more!  The movie was based on a book by that same title which was published in 1962, and yet watching the movie this week, I would swear the story line was metaphorically speaking about what many of us are witnessing and experiencing and feeling in 2018.  An important message in the film is about the way in which darkness takes hold of the light within people “one person at a time”, as individuals who are hurt give in to fear, then anger, then violence, until the light within them is replaced with darkness, and that only by remembering that love is what binds all of us together, are we able to resist the pull towards that darkness.  Once the darkness takes hold, the light is blocked.  It takes “light warriors” to remember the feeling of love and of being loved, and in doing so, they release the light.  They do this by creating a break or wound, so that the light can get in.  Not surprising, is the fact that in the story line, children are used as a way to lure people to their dark side, but it is also the love experienced by children which can be used as a means to pushing back the darkness and freeing others from the darkness.

There have been many horrible things we have witnessed and fought against since the start of the Trump presidency.  These events have caused hurt and given way to anger and fear in many of us.  These seeds have the potential to draw all of us further to our dark side.  And, as in the case of autocracies and dictatorships and others seeking control around the world and throughout history, the horrific treatment of children is often used to permanently draw people into their fear.  But, it is the love of children which has opened up the hearts of many.  I believe it was a great miscalculation for the Trump administration to use children to further their cause, because rather than individuals giving in to fear, than anger, than violence, they have instead come together in far greater numbers in acts of love and compassion and a deep desire for a better way forward.  The way to make a difference is to break through the darkness from a place of love.  I think what we are beginning to see is the massive emergence of many “light warriors” – they will not see themselves that way, but they are functioning in that way, none-the-less.

In the year 2000, there was a prophecy shared by Hopi Indian Elder’s.  It said in part:

…….this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered…

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?

Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.

……There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water….…see who is in there with you and celebrate…..The time of the one wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.