A Season of Hope

Only a few days remaining before Christmas...  now the worries set in:

• Have I forgotten anyone in the gift-giving and cards?
  
• Are all of the preparations enough?
• How will I pay the bills in January?

With all of the beauty of the past several weeks in the music and decorations, we sometimes don't relax and enjoy this season.  I wonder why?

How do you enter this holy season?
(Photo:  Christmas Colors - Larry Gardepie)

Several years ago I began to disengage from the hustle and bustle of these holidays:  partly because my parents both passed away in December; partly because I was tired of the pressure to live up to memories.  I began traveling: to be close to friends; to see something new; and to reunderstand the Reason for the Season.

 

I wanted to believe again in the miracle of these holy days.

What do you believe in?
(Photo: Believe Christmas display, Macy's Union Square,
San Francisco - Larry Gardepie)

To believe again... not necessarily in the Santa, elves, and reindeer stories but the wonder and hope of Waiting.  This season is intertwined with the belief that God chose to live among us, the prayers of each expectant parent for a safe and healthy birth, and the dark winter months giving way to light.

 

I wonder... if we believe in God-Among-Us, how do we explain the pain and suffering in the world?  That is, do we treat others knowing that they -- and we -- have Sacred Worth and Value?

Is there reason to hope?
(Photo: World Tree of Hope,
San Francisco City Hall 2016 - Larry Gardepie)

On one of my travels, I came across the World Tree of Hope (click link to learn more).  That year it was in San Francisco's City Hall.  This year it is at Grace Cathedral.  This tree is a symbol of hope, uniting the world in prayer and wishes for a better way of life for all.

As your family and friends share gifts and time together in the next few days, I wonder if it is appropriate to begin a dialogue about:

• Your concerns or worries;
• Your hopes and wishes; and,
  
• How you will help change this hurting world.
  

Maybe this season is about how we give birth to hope.

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

War on Words

A friend and I traveled an hour north this past week -- the farthest we have driven in over a year!  We wanted to explore Old Town Temecula, the Temecula Valley wine country, and March Field Air Museum in Riverside.  Though only a relatively short distance from home, we experienced many differences as we cautiously stepped out into a Reopening World.

One change: encountering insensitivity and rudeness as some people focused only on their own needs to party, play loud music, and disrupt people around them.  Our words and actions did not matter:  we were faced with "Go Boomer" disconnects.

What images come from your words?
(March Field Air Museum, Riverside, California)

Are the Safety Bubbles we created around family and close friends no longer able to expand... no longer able to include others?  Will this be our new reality: a war of words, images, and reactions?

Mind you, this was our first excursion away from our home base.  Maybe we have become too sensitive!

I began wondering, though, about the recent mantra, "Words Matter."  If this is no longer relevant to some people, how do we trust what we see and hear?  How do we engage one another?  In other words:

• How do my words and actions influence others?
• Do I Hold Back, Hold Onto, or Hold Down others?
• Where is inspiration and encouragement?

How do you hold others down?
(Duck Pond, Temecula, California)

As we move outward to embrace a changed world, it seems that we must also face our inward understanding of that world:  the struggle between what we want or need and the hopes and desires of others.

Another change we encountered:  Temecula has placed white flags around a park memorializing community members who have died of COVID.  Names and dates on simple flags fluttered in the afternoon breeze, reminding us of people missing from our lives.  The change?  The wants and needs of others -- internally missed, externally shared -- are silently calling us back to Common Unity.

What words can heal?
(COVID-19 Remembrance, Temecula)

Like butterflies breaking free from the cocoon that encased them, maybe our emergence from our COVID bubbles can be just as transforming.  We are no longer the caterpillars that were earthbound.  Rather, we are called to rise on the breezes that free us... remembering, and moving outward.

Questions to consider as we encounter others in this new world:

• What did they experience this past year?  [Curiosity]
  
• Have they lost someone or something due to COVID?  [Empathy]
  
• How can I go beyond my own wants and needs?  [Connection]
  

May our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts listen and try to understand this new world.  May we seek transformation.  May we become the change we seek.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)