Time to Pick up the Pen…

We are one month into a new normal… learning to live during a pandemic. Our family is one of the very lucky ones. We have our health, our jobs, and we actually like each other (well, most of the time), and I’ve come to see how liking the people under your roof is pretty crucial right now. In many ways, I am reveling in the gift of time and presence that was thrown unexpectedly upon us. We are playing more games together, two of us are making music together; we’re working in the kitchen, lingering at the dinner table, and watching the news and movies together; we are far less hurried in our days.

It’s not all rosy for sure. There is uncertainty about the future; there is loss of beloved activities – musicals, lacrosse games, dance recitals, parties, etc… We miss seeing our friends and loved ones. We get on one another’s nerves. As one family member has commented, “I mean I love you guys, but I just get tired of being with you all the time.” I get it. Overall, though, we are thriving and grateful.

Recognizing how privileged we are in this moment of history, I have been asking this question:

how am I being invited to give right now?

There is so much need; I could easily be overwhelmed. Small business owners and those unemployed are struggling. The non-profits doing so much good in the world are struggling. Many are dealing with loneliness, anxiety, and depression. The healthcare systems are overwhelmed. And the most vulnerable (and often invisible to to our eyes) are suffering the greatest — the millions of displaced peoples, those living in extreme poverty, the asylum-seekers in prison and on our borders. All of this pain and struggle is immense.

So what is mine to do right now?

We’re working this out as a family as we seek to be generous with our finances, allowing our hearts to move us as to which causes, local businesses and individuals we feel moved to support. And I’m also working this out individually, asking myself what other gifts am I being invited to share. Too often, I have given from a place of guilt and overwhelm. I’m learning that the best way to give is out of a sense of joy and freedom. Frederick Buechner, speaking of vocation, said that “the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

I love this piece of wisdom. And I see so many people right now responding to the world’s deep hunger out of their deep gladness. It’s stunningly beautiful.

I have several friends using their sewing machines to make facemasks for those on the frontlines and for those in the community. One friend in particular is using the proceeds of the masks she sells to community members to donate masks and food to a local nursing home.

I see artists sharing freely their gifts of song-writing, music, singing, words, chalking, etc…

I see teachers offering not only academic, but also emotional support, to their students.

I see communities of faith organizing meals for homeless shelters, offering spiritual support, and sharing financial resources.

So many are volunteering their time, their resources, their creativity, their words of encouragement.

I’m seeing so much gladness and hunger shaking hands together, and it makes my heart so hopeful! This is what it means to give of our gifts. This is what it means to be a global citizen. THIS is what is means to be HUMAN!

And so as I continue to sit with this question of what is mine to give, I am touching into my gladness and the world’s hunger. I love words, especially poetry. I love listening and supporting others. Poetry and listening to others makes me glad. I also feel the hunger for hope. The hunger for inspiration. The hunger for being companioned.

I have decided to lean further into offering spiritual companionship. I am trained in spiritual direction and ecotherapy, and I want to offer these gifts to individuals and groups. For now I’ve decided to offer free spiritual companioning sessions to those seeking spiritual support at this time, especially those who are on the frontlines as healthcare workers and those who recognize the invitation to pay closer attention to their spiritual lives. There’s more information about that on my Facebook page.

Additionally, I’ve decided that I want to start sharing more of my poetry. It’s been mostly sitting silent in my journals and on my laptop, and I think many of these poems want to be shared. So I’ve decided to offer them. I don’t know exactly what they want to communicate or to whom they will speak, but I know that sharing our gladness and our gifts is good to do.

On Wednesday of this week, we’ll celebrate Earth Day. It seems appropriate to share words that inspire love and care for our planet home… for all humans, all creatures, all water, air, and land. So I’m picking up the pen and letting it move.

This Pen Keeps Moving


What is it, anyway, about the old peeling sycamore
     and the gliding blue heron
          or the hummingbird on its fluttering wheels?


Why does the weeping beech hold such powerful sway in the sky?
     Why does the ocean never cease calling?


Like Ms. Oliver,
I could write a thousand poems,
and still 
my pen would not explain
how God hides herself 
in trees and birds
in water 
and desert rock
in everything ancient and everything new
in everything decomposing,
everything giving birth.


For such mysteries 
we have no words.

And yet,
this pen keeps moving.

© Annette Darity Garber