Socially Isolated but Spiritually Connected
Thinking About Little Things
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.
(Ernest Hemingway)
Dear Mayfield,
On NPR this morning I heard an African American Woman, a Christian leader in Cambridge, MA, cite this quote as a steady source of solace and inspiration for her and for her community both in this time of Covid-19 and also prior to and after this time. The quote fit so well with the mosaic photo above that I knew it needed to be included in this web note. I want to edit it slightly: The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong and beautiful at the broken places. I have long been drawn to the artistry of mosaics with their irregular, small pieces, connected at their rough edges, into a greater whole, and a spacious expression of beauty.
The pieces in a mosaic are often small. Recall with me the small or the little gestures from these days which compose an ordinary mosaic of strength and beauty even in the broken places. A gift left on a doorstep, a card mailed, an errand run, a contribution sent, a prayer offered, a conversation on the phone, a garden plot cared for, gratitude expressed, bird song enjoyed, grief supported, a local restaurant sustained with a take-out order, masks made, a pet fostered or adopted, a neighbor checked on, a relationship repaired, repeated tasks of caregiving, a creative seed planted, a child or grandchild taught at home, new understanding of others, a voice heard, awareness deepened regarding those who work on our behalf now, a willingness to shelter in place, and many others you could add…
Marion Wright Edelman, the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar and the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund in 1973, a nationwide advocacy group for all children, especially poor children, children of color, and children with disabilities, has written this about the power of small daily differences:
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
And the storyteller Bill Lepp gives us an opportunity to never think about little things in the same way again in his book The King of Little Things. I have shared it with you before. Hear it again through the linked recording. In this pandemic of great breaking, strength and beauty are emerging in small moments, actions, and shifts. LINK
Like the dove sent out by Noah from the ark to find dry ground, the current mosaic of little things lived in local places around the globe could form a pathway on which we stand in a fresh and inclusive fashion on dry ground together. Peace, Martha