Love

Tonight, at dinner, I asked my husband "where is our bag of tea lights?"

He told me where to find them.

I pulled them all out and lined them up. Thankfully I had just enough.

We lit them up and whipped out my camera.

This picture might be cliche. Yet another picture of love spelled out in candles.

But you know what, we need more love in this world.

We need more love.
We need more kindness.
We need more giving without strings.
We need more patience.
We need more peace.

So, yes, today I snapped a photo that might seem cliche.

But I stand by my decision to do so.

As Peter Keller says "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.

So get your candle lit. And then light another candle. And light another candle. And another. And encourage those to light candles. 

This is what happens when you share love. And kindness. And giving. 

It multiplies. It goes out in the world. It becomes something. 

I'm not naive. It doesn't magically erase all the bad things. 

Life is life. And bad things happen. Children die. Adults die. People get sick. People shoot other people. People go hungry. People decide other people deserve to go hungry. 

We live not in a broken world, but in the world that always was. Some of our earliest stories are about murder, lust, revenge, death, pain. 

This is our world. But that doesn't mean we should stop lighting candles. Or that we should stop loving. Or that we should build (metaphorical or literal) walls and keep people out, because they might hurt us - physically or emotionally. 

Because people might also bring us joy. And happiness. They might light our candle on a night when it's gone out. They might show us love. They might change your life for the better. You might change their life for the better. 

The thing is, we don't know. No one can see the future. No one can be 100% sure about a person. People we think are just amazing, fall down. People we are sure are bad, can do something really good. 

I know there are real threats out there. There is real danger. Some people are really bad. There will be wars and famine. There will be pain and suffering. 

I can't erase all of it. I can't make it all go away. But I can try to love. I can try to care for those around me. I can light candles around me. I can reach out to those around me who are hurting, or are in pain. I can bring a neighbor a meal. I can bring a relative a hand knit blanket. I can drive a sick friend to the doctor. I can shower my children with hugs and kisses. 

I can't feed 100 people, but as Mother Theresa tells us, I can feed one. I can reach out to one person and do something to brighten their day. I can do something to help them. Even a small something. 

I will light those candles. I will love. Even when it's hard. Even when it feels like it's not enough. Even when it feels like it's not helping. Even when it feels like the world is falling apart around us. 

Love.

Togetherness

This weekend we spent a lot of time being together with others.

We spent time with friends, family. People we see all the time and take for granted and people we haven't seen in a longer time.

There was talking, and playing games, and shopping, and just being together.

There is something nice about being with people. And it's even nicer when it's people you like.

The last few weeks have felt heavy for me. Things going on have me feeling pulled down. Then with the news of bombings at the end of the week, it just felt like too much.

On Friday, one of my children asked me if I thought World War III would start and what would that mean to us.

I haven't often had to talk to my children about war.

It's not that we shelter them, we do talk about current events. But there always seems to be space between what is happening and us. 

Clearly, my child was not connecting things and realizing that it could happen here.

Until now, my kids have been buffered from it. My 9 year old is still.

It's so hard. Obviously I want my kids to have nothing bad happen to them. And yet, they have already had to walk roads that most of their friends have not.

So I just told her that there were bad things in the world. And I didn't know what tomorrow would bring. But to take today for what it's worth. She accepted it. We were on the way to pick up her friend. She seemed relieved and ready to talk about the next topic. 

How lucky she is that she can just jump to the next topic.

But still it weighs heavily on me. Somewhere, tonight, there are kids going to bed mourning their parents. There are parents going to bed mourning their children. 

It is heartbreaking to say the least.

So when we get a weekend full of friends and family and togetherness? It is a wonderful thing. And one I won't be taking for granted anytime soon. 

Saturday

It's Saturday.

I feel like I'm still reeling from all the week's news.

It doesn't feel right to post much right now.

So tonight, I'm going to hang out with my sister, and enjoy my family.

Love and light to you all.

Heart Breaking

Bombs and shooting in Paris.
Bombs in Baghdad.
Bombs in Beirut.
Earthquakes by Japan.

My heart hurts.

My head hurts.

I'm not sure what else to say, except I sit here wondering if peace is really out of reach of human hands.

I firmly, and strongly, believe that most people are good. That most people are kind. That most people want to be helpful.

But those that aren't?

They are causing so much destruction and heartbreak and heartache and pain.

I want better for people right now.
I want better for my children.
I want better for my grandchildren.

I don't know how to get there though.

I do know that right now, in this moment, my heart is breaking, and this world feels broken.

But I won't give up.

I'll be doing what I can to make a difference and to make the world better. I'll educate my children and talk to them about what's going on. I'll tell them how I look at it. And I'll tell them what I think we can do.

I won't allow hatred or bigotry or revenge or fear take over my heart and my mind.

It doesn't feel like enough. But it's what I can give. It's what I can do.

And in this moment, I am sending love and prayers to all those hurting tonight. 

Only happy things?

I've seen it a lot lately.

Statements from facebook friends and twitter friends. About how the world is to divisive. And too much negative things. So from now on, they are only going to post happy, uplifting, fun things.

I get it. Oh boy, do I get it.

There is a lot of heartbreak and sadness in this world.

But sometimes, not all the times, but sometimes, don't we need to talk about that bad parts of this world?

Don't we need to speak up about things that might seem unspeakable in order to affect change?

Talking about sex trafficking certainly isn't happy or uplifting or fun. But shouldn't we talk about it in order to stop it?

Discussing how a victim is being blamed for whatever happened to him/her is not happy or uplifting or fun. But shouldn't we discuss it so we can change the way crimes are reported? So that victims won't be blamed? So that we can learn how to better bring justice to those victims?

Poverty.
Illness.
Death.
Social injustice.
Genocide.
Children being shot for nothing.
Pain.
Suffering.
Hunger.

It's not fun. It's not cute. It's not uplifting. It's not funny stories. Or cute comics. Or kittens doing cute things. Or children dancing to songs. Or the stories of people doing good. Or changing the world. Or giving.

But don't we need to see both sides of life on social media?

I don't want to be surrounded by negativity or controversy all the time. Just as in face-to-face interactions, I don't want every conversation to be a political one. Or about crime. Or about controversial things.

But I also don't want to bury my head and pretend like everything is all good everywhere.

Because it's not.

These can be tough things to talk about. People are divided on what is the most pressing problem. Or how to solve it. Or what to share with kids. Or what is our role in these things.

But don't we need to talk about it anyway? Don't we need to have these tough conversations?

I'm not talking arguments. I'm not talking name-calling. I'm not saying the loudest voice should drown out the rest, no matter how ludicrous that voice may sound.

I'm talking about honest and open conversations. Where hard topics are not avoided. Where recent news stories are not tip-toed around.

Societies, I think, must change. Must evolve. Must fix past wrongs. Must try to avoid future pitfalls. Must try to make sure that every person in that society feels safe. And loved. And cared for.

Am I a Pollyanna here?

I hope not.

In the meantime, I'll continue to watch kitten videos, and cute babies, and like funny memes.

But I'll also bring up the hard things. The ugly things. The heart-breaking things. The things I think need to be discussed, changed, reviewed, dealt with.