isn't it a pity...

Today was a shambles - and to paraphrase Fr. Thomas Keating, "I had a number of chances to practice being at peace and I blew them all!" Like I've noted before, "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" and I felt smashed around and smooshed today in spades. It was a wake-up call. Thankfully, by day's end, I was beginning to listen. 

Partially I am grief-stricken over the cruel and blatantly racist words and policies raining down on the world from the throne of 45. Today's budget proposal was insult upon injury for the poor, the vulnerable and the wounded within and among us all. There is a nasty resurgence of some inner demons that need some extra love and prayer these days.  And I am anxious for the well-being of loved one, too. A perfect storm for getting caught up in the no-good, low-down blues... just as our Lenten journey predicts, yes?  Those freakin' temptations of the desert: they're always lurking, aren't they, and never far from the surface?

Well, now it is time to quit shaming myself, take stock of the love that is greater than my hurts and get back to trusting God's grace more than my failures come the morning. Really, twelve hours of a pity party is more than enough for any pilgrim.  B.B. King got it right when he said something like, "Playing the blues when you're feeling the blues is one of the best ways to move beyond the blues God ever created!" And that's the gospel truth. Thank you, Nina Simone, for your wise and healing gift in this cover of George Harrison's "Isn't It a Pity?"