Monday January 18, 2021
Well, here I am. I am supposed to be thinking about the contributions that Martin Luther King made and I am wondering if I will have a meltdown over the fact that we, in New Jersey won’t have the number of vaccines we’re supposed to have. I’m certainly not among the first in line, nor should I be – the health care workers including nursing home housekeepers and janitors – they should be first.
But if they don’t get vaccinated because there’s no stockpile, then what about the rest of us? And what about the homebound ill and needing the vaccines as well? Where did those stockpiles go? Did they ever exist? But now I tell myself, is this what you should be thinking about today, this day? I mean, after all, none of us are being targeted by an assassin with a high-powered rifle.
Moving outside of ourselves is a difficult thing to do. We can read about the people who gave their lives for equal rights, here in the United States or Afghan women murdered because they would not conform to an extremist medieval version of Islam. But in this age of coronavirus, which strikes without regard to the contributions one has made to art, music, society, it’s difficult. God give me the grace to step outside of myself.
Prayer for the Day
We’re never quite sure what to do with our fears, O Lord,
So we tell ourselves there are people in worse situations than us;
Sometimes we’re not even sure what we should fear:
Our lack of faith or our own self-centeredness.
Break into our hearts and our consciousness
And how us the light so we know which way to go.
In the name of him who helps us to overcome fear,
Even Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
There is no illusion greater than fear
Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher 5th century BCE
One challenge at a time, I try to turn into the face of fear and tell it “you are not my master, you are the product of my self and I am your master.” I look into the monster’s eyes until it disappears. Then I am free.
Rohvannyn Shaw, artist, writer
God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble;
Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains shake.