Balance, someone once quipped, is having a cookie in both hands. These days, I find myself wishing it was that easy. As the pandemic continues to surge and recede, as spring continues to dance between late winter scudding clouds and drizzle and those perfect soft spring days, I want nothing more than to find the early days of summer. I sought out Denise Levertov’s poem “Talking to Oneself” (you can find the whole poem here: https://www.tahomauu.com/hart-hearts-even-hope-seems-far-away/) recently to remind myself of how life goes:

“. . . But it’s April,

there is nothing unique in your losses
your pain is commonplace
and your road ordained:

your steps will hurt you
you will arrive
as usual

at some condition you name summer:

an ample landscape,
voluptuous, calm,
of large, very still trees,
water meadows, dream
savannah distances,

where you will gather strength
pulling ripe fruit from the boughs,
for winter and spring,
forgotten seasons. . .”

Balance, perhaps more than I want, has to do not with everything having its counterpoint in this moment, but recognizing that everything is in flow. When we’re able to be centered in the moment and in the flow, we know it’s the case.

The landscape of summer beckons, but these are the days we have. So, I will find my balance in the sweet new vegetables starting to crowd the tables at the farmer’s market, the flowers that weren’t blooming yesterday but have burst into color today. I am convinced that some part of the magic of balance comes in figuring out what to cherish right now. There’s almost always something.

May your days have a little of that. Even if it’s just the cookies in each hand.

 

CovidActNow, the external metric that we’re using to determine the risk of gathering in person, reports that the risk level in Pierce County has risen to medium. There’s been an increase in hospital admissions and reported cases, but the rise isn’t enough for us to change our way of gathering with each other. We’ll be in-person and online again this week with an opportunity to hear more about the lives of people who are without homes. This Sunday we’ll continue to learn about the realities of people who have no stable place to live, as we prepare to make an ongoing commitment to offering a place for unhoused people to park at our Congregational Meeting scheduled for June 12th. I hope you’ll be there for the service this Sunday, however you might arrive.