2020 – Spring to Summer – Beauty, Pain & Changes
July 5th, 2020
2020 – Spring to Summer – Beauty, Pain & Changes
With all that has, and is, happening in 2020 there are two quotes that dig deep and wide into my being. They fill me with hope and fire. And during this July 4th weekend celebration of the birth of U.S. independence, they speak loudest.
“What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?
What if our America is not dead but a country still waiting to be born? What if the story of America is one long labor?”
FIERCE LOVE
These words of Valarie Kaur*, an American activist, speak of a revolutionary love that is being born. It is not a namby-pamby love, but a fierce powerful love that pushes a new birth of change, like the powerful pushing required for a baby to be born from the womb. It isn’t an easy love, it requires breathing and pushing for new life to be born.
I created inspired by the darkness of the womb
NOT LIGHT, BUT FIRE f
The second quote is from a July 5th, 1852 speech of Frederick Douglas**, titled “What to the Slave is July 4th?” Its scathing words call for a deep strong look at our nation’s soul. These are words spoken nine years before the start of the Civil War from an escaped slave who became one of the strongest abolitionist voices. These are words as important today as one hundred and sixty eight years ago.
“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled;
the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”
HORROR AND RESPONSE
The horror of watching and knowing about George Floyd’s and other murders awakened us to the embedded racial hate most of us don’t see. Our collective consciousness has shifted. So much more needs to awaken and shift though. There are hopes, some new and some very old, and changes happening. Peaceful protests express this fierce love. In my downtown many windows were boarded up before the protests. All the protests were peaceful. Most of the window boards are gone now, but the art expressed much.
COVID-19 HELPING HEALING HANDS
The horrors and deaths of COVID-19 have changed our world as perhaps nothing ever before. There is a fierce love of the heroes who risk their lives working in healthcare, taking care of others and keeping the world feed. Fierce love is also what the many sewers of face masks have been sharing. Theirs is a love of helping others and saving lives. Many have sewn hundreds, like my friend Kelly. Her total so far is 350.
A few of the 350 face masks Kelly Larson has sewn
Kelly’s grandkids and the masks she sewed for them
I have sewn way fewer. Mine are for family, friends and myself. Some with ear loops and some with ties.
NATURE’S SOLACE
At the same time as the list of 2020 horrors seems endless and the depth too deep, springtime and summer arrived and are here in their usual splendor.
I am fortunate. Planting gardens, where nature heals with its beauty and love, filled my springtime and now summer. My garden work, considered “essential”, pales in the real essential work of saving lives. But nature does save by giving life to food for the body and soul. Working in gardens has been a time of quiet and being alone. Hands in dirt brings joy. This year I had more time that I can remember to work in my own garden. It has been a healer for me with its beauty and life. These are recent photos of my backyard, with flowers, food, bees, rabbits, baby birds and a pergola for sitting and finding peace.
NEW OFFERINGS & CHANGES
A few weeks ago I made the decision that all of my in-person class offerings, even the outdoor ones, will be postponed for 2020 until it is safe to meet together. I don’t know when I can offer classes and workshops again, hopefully in 2021. I was so sad to have to cancel, but….
I will be offering online “Creativity Circles” that will be new blog posts of classes. There will guided meditations and creativity guidance for both indoor creating and “nature journeys” outdoor classes. Mandalas, drawing, journaling, creating sacred space and more will be offered.
These offering will be blog posts that will always be online and available. There is no cost to “attend”. Those who are subscribed to this blog receive an email whenever a new blog goes online.
I am working on the dates and what each class will be. My next blog will share all of that information. I’m very excited to again be offering journeys into creativity for the soul.
Enjoy & Create.
LINDA
*Valarie Kaur shares a way of revolutionary love online and her writings.
https://valariekaur.com/
https://www.revolutionarylove.net/TED/ -Valarie’s TED talk, the most inspiring I’ve ever seen.
** Frederick Douglas descendants read part of his July 5th speech
