Giving life the shape of justice

Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice
Roots hold me close; wings set me free
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.  

-- Spirit of Life,  from Singing the Living Tradition
words and music by Carolyn McDade  

Today's #UULent word is justice. Life is pretty random, yet it has an arc, and sometimes we can see and feel that arc bend toward justice. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was one such time. We have at least two progressive epochs unfolding in our own era: the slow-then-rapid realization of marriage equality, and now the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Who, or what, gives life the shape of justice? All weekend, I've been hearing passages from To Kill A Mockingbird read in tribute to Harper Lee, who passed away Friday. The reclusive Alabama author helped give shape to a burgeoning civil rights movement when her novel came out in 1960. Inspired by his white ally Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind and snubbed at a Holiday Inn, Sam Cooke risked his career for the same cause with A Change is Gonna Come.

And the beat goes on: Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert helped advance marriage equality with Same Love. Kendrick Lamar's Alright and Beyonce's Formation are high-profile musical manifestations of black pride circa 2015-2016. Lin-Manuel Miranda is the toast of Broadway with Hamilton, of which Miranda says, "Our cast looks like America looks now."

Black artists and topics were snubbed by the Oscars this year, but 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture in 2014. The mere nominations of Spotlight and The Big Short as Best Picture nominees for next week's Oscars are victories for justice, with the latter film an especially smart and gleeful blow against the empire, far more bracing than anything that's happening in our savagely dysfunctional politics.

Justice sometimes happens in the courtroom and the corridors of power. But first, it moves in the hands and the hearts and the heads of our artists, our writers, our musicians, and filmmakers -- and then it moves us: to laughter, tears and applause, and then to commitment and action.

Space of infinite possibility

Today's #UULent word was fear. As a professional writer for 30+ years, I have no fear of the blank page. But blank calendar pages? That's another story.

I'm leaving my current job a week from tomorrow. I gave notice back in November, and my last day is almost here. This photo is of my planner a month from now, the third week of March, a time of the month I've been in production as a magazine editor these past two years. But next month, I'll have no deadline to meet. My successor will be putting her first issue to bed, and I'll be three weeks into not having a paycheck.

My challenge will be this: Can I overcome my fear of having nothing to do ... of hitting up my savings account ... of sitting with the blessed but somewhat scary spaciousness of the independent life?


I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was doing one of those little plastic puzzles we used to get in birthday party goodie bags when I was a kid. You'd slide little tiles around to get the numbers in order, which meant there had to be an empty space so the tiles could slide. But in my dream, there was no empty space, so there was no room to maneuver.

I love my planners, and these past two years, I've used something called the Passion Planner. Its creator, Angelia, is an amazing, inspirational -- and very young -- success story. But I found myself writing "NO" next to her tip of the week last week: "This week, try to fill as many time slots as possible. Schedule out everything from sleep, to meals, to time for yourself." The idea, she continued, is to track where your time is going, "allowing you to assess your productivity and truly be present during each moment."

No.

I've been keeping lists and scheduling my time and and assessing my productivity for decades. I'm at a point in my life where I just want to live. These days, being truly present means putting aside my compulsions to make endless to-do lists and plan every last thing.

There's something else on each page of my 2016 planner, something that resonates much truer for me. It's the Space of Infinite Possibility. Angelia is speaking my language here.

I am confident that, a month from now, these pages won't be blank. But my wish today is that I not fear the open spaces ... that I embrace these spaces of infinite possibility and not be in a rush to fill every last spot on my agenda. Because I have a feeling that it's through sitting in the so-called empty spaces that I will find the work -- and the play and the leisure and the meaning -- that is most true for me.

Hearts full of soul

It's the first Sunday of #UULent. On my Instagram feed, I am posting a photo each day to represent the word of the day. On Sundays, we are called to reflect, embody and enact the word, too. And of course, today's word is love.

I woke up this morning with the famous 1st Corinthians:13 passage in my mind, "Love is patient, love is kind." There's more before and after that, as you've likely heard at many weddings, but really, the first two phrases of that fourth verse say it all.

Love is patient. 
Love is kind. 

The rest is commentary.

I've been in love a few times in my life. Today, my sweetheart, Tom, and I celebrate our third Valentine's Day together. For us, love is patient, kind, frequently passionate, rarely prickly.

Most of all, it's companionable.

This box arrived last year filled with chocolate-covered strawberries. When it was empty, I decided to fill it with memories. It's filled over the brim already, and we're just getting started.

Romantic love is wonderful, but today, I'm also feeling love for my daughter. When I arrived at church, the early service not quite done, I opened the door and saw a mother quietly nursing her baby, just the two of them alone.

"That's true love," I said to her. I mentioned having happy memories of that experience, then noted that my "baby" will be 22 this year.

"They sleep through the night by then, right?" We both laughed.

Maybe not, but it's not for me to know. My daughter is living her life. It's the life I gave her; it's now fully her own, but she'll always be part of me and vice versa.

And there is even more love somewhere. As people gathered for the service, I happened to see -- and talk with -- a half dozen or more people with whom I've shared a bond in our faith community, through a Covenant Group last church year and Wellspring in this one. Shining faces, smiles and waves of recognition. I've only been part of my current congregation for two years, but I feel the love growing there. As usual, the more you give, the more you get.

Love starts within, and it ripples outward. May it ever be so. Meanwhile, got a date ... have to run ... :^)

Own your story

I've been a fan of Austin Kleon since Steal Like an Artist, and I've been having a lot of fun with The Steal Like an Artist Journal, which he released last year. This month, Austin is posting a page a day of people using the journal on his Instagram, so this is my shot at glory, at least among fellow Austin Kleon acolytes.

This post says a lot about me:

I'm up crazy early today. Deadlines.
I'm procrastinating from the work I'm supposed to be doing.
I'm not afraid of much.
Life is good.
A leap is nigh.