Stirring the embers...

Whenever I reflect on my life, I call it stirring the embers; stirring and bringing a tiny hot coal to the surface that will act as an ignition point for my daily energy. This is one that surfaced today:

Many an evening here on the Oregon Coast there is a beautiful sunset. Just about everyone who visits the coast during the sunsets can't help but pull off the highway, if they are driving, go out on the deck,if they have one or stroll on the beach so they can watch the last dieing embers of the Sun. Without even thinking, they find themselves in a peaceful state. When Cindy was still alive, but in her last year of life (for those who don't know, she was one of the women in transition I housed. She lived with me the longest of all the women and we became very close.) anyway, she was living day to day not knowing when death would take her so she would position herself at the window waiting for the sunset. She would call all of us who happened to be in the house to come running to watch it with her. We never knew when this would be her last sunset. This started a tradition she calls the "Peace Wave" and figured that when people were watching the sun set or rise around the planet they would experience an endless wave of peace. Since peace is a natural gift we experience at that time, as we are quietly watching the light increase or disappear, depending on what part of the day and where we are when the earth turns toward the sun, she told us a wave of peace would wash over the earth, no matter if two people or two billion people were experiencing this peace. The more who joined this wave of peace, the more powerful it would be. After a while, she imagined, other moments of peace would take over while we were quietly stirring the soup, kneading the bread, rocking a child or watering the flower pots in the morning sun. When we SNJMs passionately speak of peace or join a march or organize a group of people around peace making, we can know that back home, some of our infirmed or aging SNJM family members, or those who have many things that keep them from joining our march, are quietly carrying out the peace wave from their sick bed or apt. window. It's a comfort knowing that when the time comes for each of us to slow down because of our aging process, we can still be a powerful force of peace where ever and how ever we are. The forces of nature are our teachers and guides calling us to stop and watch the sun rise, stop and watch the sunset. Stop and be the peace, be the eternal wave of peace we seek.