As we approach the national election in the US where surely half of the people will be disappointed/angry/apoplectic (choose one!), it’s good to remember:

Life goes on

Here are excerpts of a poem by that title by Howard Thurman, a black megachurch pastor in the 1940s. For him, life was difficult – I quoted him in a blog on Ruth 3: The Disinherited.

Excerpts of “Life Goes On” by Howard Thurman (bullets allow me to single-space the lines)

• During these turbulent times
• we must remind ourselves repeatedly that life goes on…
• The wisdom of life transcends our wisdoms;
• The purpose of life outlasts our purposes;
• The process of life cushions our processes.

• The mass attack of disillusion and despair,
• distilled out of the collapse of hope,
• has so invaded our thoughts
• that what we know to be true and valid
• seems unreal and ephemeral…

• Let us not be deceived.
• It is just as important as ever
• to attend to the little graces
• by which the dignity of our lives
• is maintained and sustained.

• Birds still sing;
• the stars continue to cast their gentle gleam
• over the desolation of the battlefields
• and the heart is still inspired
• by the kind word and the gracious deed…

• To drink in the beauty that is within reach,
• to clothe one’s life with simple deeds of kindness,
• to the movement of the spirit of God
• in the quietness of the human heart
• and in the workings of the human mind—
• this is as always the ultimate answer to the great deception. – Shared by Nancy Small, Associate Director for Spiritual Direction Initiatives, Office of Ignatian Spirituality, USA East Province of the Society of Jesus

Good stuff: “It is just as important as ever to attend to the little graces by which the dignity of our lives is maintained and sustained…the heart is still inspired by the kind word and the gracious deed.”

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. (Psalm 46.1 – 3, ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2. 14 – 16, ESV)