Calm in the Chaos Interfaith Center

4.1.2020                                                                                                                                                                          We are experiencing the darkness of the storm. Some people are being struck by the lightning bolts of economic devastation. Some of us are terrified by the thunderous roar of disease closing in. We are all getting soaked by the information raining down on us daily. Some of us are standing on our porches, watching the storm as we search for the rainbows. My grandson colored a rainbow to post in his apartment window in Queens, as hundreds of other New Yorkers had done, so that walkers (while distancing themselves from other walkers) could enjoy a scavenger hunt of rainbows in windows. I joined the fun. Mine is in the Reed Road window on the porch. Spiritual leaders are acknowledging the storm. Father Richard Rohr says, “This message is an earthquake in the brain, a hurricane in the heart.” Acknowledging the changes in our lives as we slow down, get to know one another more deeply and feel what really matters to us, and then looking for the rainbows.                                                                                  This event has pressed the re-set button on our planet. If we don’t change our ways after the storm, there will be more storms, for this system of air, plants, animals, soil, trees, humans is designed to work harmoniously. Everything on the planet understands that but humans. If this global re-set doesn’t wake us up, there will be no rainbows.                                                                                                                                                                      I  want rainbows. Lots of rainbows.                                                                                                                                Self-talk #15:  Make rainbows for grandson’s future

4.4.2020                                                                                                                                                                          What has become increasingly clear to me is that the virus is causing some of us to be kinder and more accepting. If you’re hospitalized, the only goal is to become healthy enough to not need the ventilator, so you can go home. What if your nurse is someone you’d never talk to in the grocery store, for reasons of how they appear? I need you and your skills now; please help me. What if the ambulance driver prays aloud while she’s driving you to the hospital? I can’t even understand what she’s saying, but, hey, if there’s a possibility it can help me, I’m in. What if the person delivering my groceries looks like someone I could never trust? Thank you for bringing me food!            One year ago today, I participated in our local college’s Muslim Appreciation Day. And today I reflect on what my community has learned in a year. I wish my list of answers were longer.                                                                    Self-talk #16: Open heart, open mind. The only answer is love.

4.11.2020

Chatting with a friend this morning, the topic turned to divorce. We had both experienced the phenomenon, as had one of each of our daughters.  As we mused over a few details that we had in common, we reminded ourselves that there is no recipe for a divorce, just as there is no recipe for a marriage or raising a good child. Oh, for certain, there are some agreed-upon threads that run through most divorces, marriages and parenting styles, but every one of those relationships is unique. There is no recipe.

Neither is there a recipe for how we face fear, uncertainty, and stress when it feels as though we have no control over things. Each one of us finds our own way. Maybe it’s staying in pjs all day, or wearing a lot of jewelry, baking every day, or drinking wine on the back porch, or crying, or calling loved ones more often. There is no right way.

The world has announced it is resting, and we, too must abide. What we choose to do and how we do it will be our legacy when we look back on this period of history.

Where were you when Kennedy was shot?

Where were you during the great ice storm of 1991?

Who were you quarantined with during covid in 2020?

And the question I ask myself is, “What will my story be when I tell my grandchildren about Easter, 2020?”

Self-talk #17: I am creating my own history