“My hope is that the description of God’s love in my life will give you the freedom and the courage to discover . . . God’s love in yours."
- Henri Nouwen, Here and Now

Friday, February 5, 2010

A Lesson about Peace from the Snow




I left the snow of Upstate New York and moved to California:
The Golden State, the place where you are supposed to be able to wear shorts year-round. The state of sunscreen mandates, surfing safaris, and warm watery waves,
The place where you can regularly buy strawberries, mangos, and ripe & juicy oranges.

I knew what to expect. Or at least part of me, it did.

Then there was that day: The first time I took a trip up 80N.

The snow was thick and tall, and it dusted the streets with a heavy covering.

Unbelievable: I was in California and wearing snow-pants and snow-boots and all sorts of snow gear.

It was like Christmas had come to July. Except it was not July. Just something right at an unexpected time.

We talk about peace like it’s always that someday, sometime, apocalyptic—just not quite here moment.
But Vanier says that peace only happens one-heart-at-a-time. So what are we waiting for?!
Let’s get started now! Let’s open our hands to each other, risk partaking in acts of
adventurous caring, create a party and invite everyone, like Jesus would do!
Let's start acting now, with our own heart.
Why?!

Because everything in this world cannot be explained in expectations.
Because this New Yorker learned that there is in fact snow in California.
And once we stop thinking that peace can only exist in the realm of the utopian, we might recognize its possibility right before our eyes,
like the snow on I-80 that day
and the beautifully welcoming snowman that resulted!