Ripples

My Thoughts

Lately many national conversations have turned negative and citizens have become polarized. This is my meager attempt to remind everyone that we share this planet, this country, and our communities with folks who have many different views. This does not mean one "side" is right and the other "wrong." We are just different, because God made each of us as unique individuals. Some of us have been busy exploring our ancestry and learning about our ancestors countries or regions of the world. Many of us have discovered that our heritage is not what we thought it was and that there is no "pure" race, just the human race.

My hope is that some of you will join me in a pledge to speak with civility and respect to my fellow humans, no matter where they come from, the color of their skin, their religious beliefs or political persuasions. We will disagree, but let's work at disagreeing without being disagreeable. God created each of us in his image and He does not make mistakes.

To that end, maybe we can work together to heal some of the damage done to God's creation--our earth and our little place on it. We can bring back the plants native to our community, the ones created for this location, the plants that our pollinators and other wildlife depend upon to sustain them and their offspring. Together we can heal ourselves and our habitat, one person, one yard at a time. Won't you help me?

Prayer of Saint Frances

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.