power to you

When you have faith your eyes are bright, your steps are confident.  This is power….

This power will not destroy you, or the people around you.  In fact it gives strength and energy other people can feel.

                                         Attributed to Tich Nhat Hanh

______________________________

 

when we walk through times of trial

we seek to be strong

we thirst for safety

we long for control

 

we want to be able to do something

anything

anything at all

to make things better

 

we want power

 

yet what does power look like

when we are combatting a virus

or when evil perches in the highest places?

 

does it look like military gear and guns

marching down the street

waving flags?

 

does it look like cardboard signs

waved in the public square?

 

are we exercising power

when we choose not defy authority in the name of freedom

and refuse to wear mask?

 

does power look like people crowding a bar in Wisconsin

or a beach in Florida?

 

I believe

that real power is a matter of the heart

that it is the natural consequence of being people

who have journeyed inward

to the deepest places

and found that sacred place where love dwells

 

and having discovered

surprise

that they are permeated by the divine, say to themselves

 

“Hey, I’m pretty special!  I am a child of God!”

 

Power comes when we become intimate with the God within

and with our true self

and take that intimacy into our day

 

and live it

 

there is peace here

calmness

compassion

 

this is a power that embraces rather than batters

a power that includes rather than excludes

it is a power that sees beyond the self, rather than a power focused on self

 

true power does not intimidate

and does not demean

it does not bully

it lifts up

it comforts

 

it makes us better, not worse

 

this is a power that wears a mask, rather than carries a gun

it is a power that passes from us to others as love

not a power that passes from us to others as fear

 

more power to you