Hello my friends,
With Mother's Day last weekend, we're conscious of the nurturing effects of the women in our lives. Whether we are mothers or not, we recognize the sustaining love of a mother or a mother figure that has made a profound impact on us.
The masculine energy has for millennia received the credit for moving society forward — for advancements, for exploration, for ruling and reigning. But as I once heard Native American Poet Laureate Joy Harjo say, “every man enters this world through the door of a woman.” (I wrote about Joy Harjo in A Voice of Wisdom last fall. All underlines are hyper-links.)
I wish our society valued the feminine/nurturing as much as it values the masculine/conquering. Because right now, the Nurturing, the Mother Love, is what's holding our humanity. I don't watch the news, but I check the headlines. As an empath, I've learned to be informed but not inundated. And in the healing phase I am in right now as I work through my PTSD, I take care not to take in too much information. But a quick glance at the headlines on my phone, and I see senseless tragedy, strife, impending financial crisis, bigots and bullies gaining ever greater platforms and support.
But then there's the pause.
What do I have control over? Focus there. Thank you, Spirit, for your guidance.
I have dominion over my own energy, my own home, my own sphere. And what the news and the pundits will never tell us is that this is our power. I'm not being trite or dismissive here, and I do believe in speaking up and action. If you've read my newsletter for a while, you will recall some of my posts about taking action like Building Bridges and Wisdom from our Children. But sometimes we need to disengage from the collective alarm, grief and fear and focus on ourselves and what is directly in front of us.
All along through the millennia, women —and men too— who have chosen to nurture instead of to conquer and control others have made a quiet, powerful impact across society. Hearth and Home is not a cozy extra. Hearth and Home sustains individuals, couples, families, communities and thus civilization. Without meals being made, homes kept, rides given, friends checked up on, neighbors engaged in conversation, volunteering, praying, listening, understanding — all these nurturing, soft skills —where would society be? And just think of where society — homes, workplaces, places of worship, businesses, places of learning — think of where society would be if more of us valued and welcomed soft skills into the traditional domains of the masculine.
So with this past Mother's Day, whether it was a happy or sad holiday for each of us (my heart goes out to those who have lost a mother or a child, have wanted a child or are estranged from a child or a mother), we can honor the Mother Love in our lives and feel its warm glow in our hearts. That's the Mother Love of the Spirit which has no gender but is perfectly balanced feminine/masculine — perfectly balanced love.
What the world needs now is love — wherever we are, whoever we're with, let us recognize the channel we are of God's grace to each other and how much it matters when the greater world can look so ugly. There's so much more beauty and healing and love than is ever reported. Let's remember that when headlines break our hearts or make our blood boil. And then send love in those directions and give love to those around us, cherishing each moment. For the present is where the Divine meets us.
Next week, I'll be enjoying time with my Mom visiting from Minnesota, so I'll be taking the week off. I'll be back with you again on May 30th. Until then, may we know the power of love in our lives and believe in the power we have to make a difference because of it.
Believing in us,
Jen