Stand firm

In the middle of the river the boulder sits

Moss covered, and cracked

Around it, chaotically roaring

Insistent and powerful

The water surges

Feed from melting snow and sudden rains

Smaller, lesser rocks roll

Larger rocks rumble

Down the stream

Driven by the force of the water

Which will not be denied

But still this rock sits

Solid

Breaking the will of the water

Which must part

Change direction

For this rock is rooted deep

This rock has the strength that comes

For that deep connection with that

From which it has been birthed

We too live in the middle of chaos

All around us the waters roar

Pushing us this way and that

Trying to move us

Propel us

Into places we do not want to go

Greed and the lust for power rumble

Racism, sexism

Prejudice

Flow powerfully

We feel the pressure

Constant

Unrelenting

Can we stand?

Can we force the waters to part?

Only if we are rooted

Only if we understand what we value

What we believe

And only if we are deeply rooted in that from which we came

The Sacred

When we are rooted, we just are

We do not have to flail and assail

We do not have to minimize or dismiss

We do not have to fear and exclude

We do not have to call others names, or bully

We can simply stand

Instead of saying, “XXX is awful”, or worse, “YOU are awful”,

We can say, “based upon the fact that the Sacred calls us to love all people, and

See all others as Sacred Children, I cannot accept……..”

We stand

We force those forces that would destroy

To break, to part, to move

It is difficult to just stand

To be in the moment, rooted

It is easier to roll, crushing all in our path

Allowing the very things we would resist

To control us, move us, push us

But stand we must

This day

Every day