Does it all seem like a lot right now? Yeah, me too.” (Rev. Christina Rivera, CLF, Feb 11)

“Does it feel like it’s been a hell of a week and all indications are that it will be followed by years of weeks of hell?” (Rev. Joan Fontaine Crawford, Feb 23)

As I sit down to write this month, the sun is shining, crocus are blooming, and it feels like everything in nature is doing its best to help us smile and shake off whatever blues the winter wrought.

Yet – I’m struggling. My heart is heavy and my spirit weary. My body feels like a balloon that someone let all the air out of. The words of these two strong women, UU ministers I respect and turn to often for hope and inspiration, echo the pain I feel as I try to absorb what is going on in our world.

So instead of trying to “pull myself together,” and present myself as always staying on the bright side of life, this month I am following the wisdom of another wise woman minister I follow – Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. In a recent issue of the CLF Quest newsletter, Minister Aisha Hauser quoted Nadia from a workshop she did for them: “It is useless to try and hide some part of yourself when you are a faith leader – whatever you think you are hiding, people already know.”

Today, I’m exhausted. I’m scared. I want to crawl under the covers and only come out if someone makes warm chocolate chip cookies. OK, so maybe I haven’t lost ALL hope.

Because here I am, and we’ve made it through another month with the shared warmth and strength of our EUU community helping us get through it in so many ways. To loosely quote Rev. Joanna again: “Today I get to write to a community where I know people and they know me and our core values and what is most important to us….In this chosen village, there are individuals seeking to spread kindness with their words, their actions, their very being….to lift each other up, or simply to commiserate and give the message that none of us is alone.”

I’ll close with the advice of Rev. Christina:

• Identify reliable news sources.
• Remain informed while respecting your body’s need to process emotions.
• Engage in spiritual practices which give you time for anger, despair,
  and rage.
• Keep showing up in community and remember you don’t have to do
  everything as long as everyone does something.

We made it to March.

We have the chance to be together in Saarbrücken in April, plus online in so many ways.

And chocolate chip cookies are still possible. Hang in there.

Bonnie, in service to EUU as your president