“Wow, what a powerful quote! It would be awesome if the world could live like this,” said a friend after reading this quote from last week’s blog post.
You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly, and the badly behaved until bad behaviour is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear. —Gregory Boyle, SJ.
My friend and I talked about the quote and how it reminded us of the people we share a meal with at the Wednesday Lunch Club. Later on in our conversation, I mentioned a drifter who was back in town. “I saw him in a grocery store and tried to get out of there as quickly as I could,” I said and went on to explain my actions. I met this fellow when I was working as a pastor. He drained the staff of time and energy. We tried to listen to him and love him, but it was never enough. I was relieved when he moved on.
I remembered what I had said about the drifter when I opened my heart to pray the next morning. As I replayed the conversation in my mind, I humbly realized I had defended my right not to stand with this belligerent man.
God was grateful for my noticing and led me to this Syrian icon of the Pentecost.
Peter is standing with strangers from many nations. They are all saints, not because they are a cut above the rest, but because the Spirit rests upon them, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done.
God was inviting me to see this drifter with a halo around his head and anointed with tongues of fire, even if he isn’t living into this reality. I don’t have to save him. I don’t have to engage him in conversation (although sometimes I may want to). But I do need to love him. Because whoever loves God loves all that God loves.
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The Sandalwood Tree
The sandalwood tree shares its lovely scent
with any who come near.
God is like that.
Does the tree ever think to itself,
I am not going to offer my fragrance to that man
because of what he did last night,
or to that woman who neglected her child,
or because of what we might have ever done?
It is not the way of God
to hoard.
∗ ∗ ∗
This week I am away with four other spiritual directors on my second eight-day Ignatian retreat. It is a silent retreat (except when each of us meet daily with our director). We’ll have four or five one-hour prayer periods a day and, in the hours between, I’ll rest, go for walks or bike rides or relax with a puzzle or handcraft. I can imagine much love mischief happening as we are hosted by the Trinity.
What love mischief are you and God doing to care for the earth? Let me know and I will include it in an upcoming post.
As I held these questions, I recalled the comment my friend Gail Koombes (right) added to last week’s post. She wrote, “Remember that there is always someone, myself for one, that would love to be your winter weight.” I thought of all the overweight people reading my blog. I wondered if they were thinking: Wow, if she dislikes herself for being fat, what must she think of me?
At our SoulStream partner gathering, Dave and Shauna Gill of Kaleden, B.C., told me about the ginger snap cookie bake-off they hosted. Shauna said, “The panel of judges was well represented with a father and son who required gluten-free, a chef, Dave, and the fifteen year-old-girl who babysits the kids, cats and chickens for many in this group of neighbours. The judges were blindfolded and subjected to slow, serious tasting with sips of water to cleanse the palate. One woman phoned ahead, needing to know many minute details about the competition. She seemed quite nervous. In the end, it was her gluten-free entry which won that category, and her smile at winning the bottle of wine went from ear to ear. A great time of kinship ensued, and there is more comfort and friendliness that passes between us all whenever we run into each other in the neighbourhood.” I had to ask, “Who won the competition?” “Shauna won the regular snap,” Dave said proudly. “Although the gluten-free one was really good too.”
What 
“Your sister really loves you,” a friend said after I told her about my trip to Gatineau, Quebec to visit my sister and her family. During that week I was touched again by Sylvia’s generosity and thoughtfulness. From buying my airplane ticket to arranging hikes and bicycle rides, to moving and cleaning a couch for our niece, she displayed God’s hands and heart.
As I walked today, I saw the beauty of new life everywhere. I still noticed the decaying leaves as I am always intrigued by their tenacity. They are now heavy with moisture, still clinging to the tree branches. I thought about how they have missed the opportunity for new life. I reflected on the areas in my life where I still cling and where I need to let go in order to be transformed.
An Everyday Pilgrim 