Saving What We Can By Connie Schultz

[babylonsister]

https://www.creators.com/read/connie-schultz/07/20/saving-what-we-can

Saving What We Can
By Connie Schultz
July 9, 2020 5 min read


snip//

Older readers tell me they fear they will never again see their grandchildren, their friends, their places of worship. "I'm 82 years old," a woman wrote to me earlier this week. "I know your inclination will be to reassure me, but please see the world through my eyes. It is very likely I will die before I ever see the people who matter most to me."

It does us no good to speculate about so much we cannot know, but isolation has a way of unlocking the darkest corners of our minds. How do we bring the light?

We keep living, is all I can figure. We fill the space we're in.

I've mentioned before how I often turn to the Irish priest John O'Donohue's book, "To Bless the Space Between Us." And here I am again, my coffee cup holding open the page titled "Equilibrium": "Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore, / May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul. / As the wind loves to call things to dance, / May your gravity be lightened by grace. / Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth, / May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect. / As water takes whatever shape it is in, / So free may you be about who you become."

I just checked on the hydrangea. Their faces are wide again, looking up at the sky as their petals glisten. I will join them in their reverie.

Have I read this before? I don't remember, but what I do know is that now, regardless of past interpretations, it speaks a different language to me.