April showers and freedom
I read an article recently by Diana Butler Bass on the spiritual practice that changed her faith. She shares a story of a time when she was let go from a job and she shared her anxiety and hurt with a friend.
“Tell me one thing you are thankful for,” her friend said. “Just one.”
In the face of despair, the author’s friend offered a window to another world: gratitude.
I have been very fortunate this month to have many friends encourage me to look toward the life-giving, affirmative, and hopeful in my life. While Diana Butler Bass used to believe gratitude was an emotion, she now affirms it is a habit to practice. “The habit of gratefulness helps us thrive,” she wrote.
In Austin, April showers begot constant change. I experienced transitions this month as spring quickly merged with summer, I continued discerning my next steps for life after YAV, and my work here changed. So while this month has brought turmoil and storms (even the thunder is bigger in Texas), I have also been showered with reasons to be grateful:
- Dogs at Shoal Creek Park in the off-leash area playing in the stream
- Music and almost weekly baptisms during services at University United Methodist Church — a progressive church working for justice in the heart of Austin
- My housemate Reba’s art that adorns our living room — follow her and you’ll be amazed
- Blue bonnets — the royalty of Texas wildflowers
- Long walks with friends that turn to pilgrimages on the greenbelt
- Care packages with Easter treats from First Presbyterian Yorktown — such a sweet surprise!
- Gluten free muffins from the bakery down the street
- My friend Elena who takes me on adventures and shares a kindred heart
- Spring blooming in the trees — even with the abundance of pollen
- Going to counseling each week at a sliding-scale, affordable non-profit within walking distance of my house
- Time to rest — the surest gift of simple living
- Labyrinths that remind me the path to God is circular and we cannot get lost
- Conversations with my site coordinator Carolina that remind me that God is grace
- Poetry circles and this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, “Kindness”
- My mentor, Rob Spach, and all who gathered to celebrate his 25 years of ministry at Davidson — the same number of years I’ve been alive
- My partner Josh who listens with an honest and open heart
- Dessert on Monday evenings with my housemates and sharing laughter and sweets
- My coworkers at Grassroots Leadership, the stories and lessons they have shared with me, and the courage, dignity, and resilience they carry
While this year has many times felt challenging and lonely, I have found that a daily practice of gratitude nurtures the soil to grow relationships with God, community, and myself. It provides a new window to see different possibilities. “Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed,” writes Thich Nhat Hanh.
This month, I have also seen gratitude at work as a powerful force for healing and liberation. My friend Valerie created a painting for the Austin Sanctuary Network art gallery this month that shared the most vibrant dedication of gratitude for two people, Hilda and her son Ivan, with Guatemalan flowers, the Quetzal bird, Lake Atitlán, and volcanoes. Hilda and Ivan came to the United States seeking safety and freedom from violence in Guatemala. They are indigenous members of the Mam community. When they came to the US, rather than receiving safety, they have since been put in a for-profit immigrant prison for nine months and then later needed to take Sanctuary, confined to the grounds of the church to stop their deportation.
Hilda spoke to the crowd of supporters at the church where she lives, saying, “I need freedom.” For two years in Sanctuary, Hilda and Ivan have continued fighting to stop their deportations, form powerful relationships, and transform our imaginations of what is possible for justice. With gratitude for the earth, determined for their freedom, this is how I now see Hilda and Ivan:
I pray that the storms of this season globally bring more good soil and sunflowers — and ultimate freedom for friends like Hilda and Ivan. I believe that gratitude gives us the strength to keep going.
For the blessings of life that help us to heal, resist, and thrive, I give thanks to God.
