2020 Word of the Year

Happy New Year, friends!

It's been a few weeks since I moodled online (though I'm always internally moodling about various things as I go through my days). I enjoyed a long Christmas/New Year moodling break, and will have a story or two that arises from it. But for this first post of 2020, I think it's fitting to announce my Word of the Year for 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmA2_h_Xgro

And 2020's word of the year is...

COMMUNITY!

I have many reasons for picking this word. The main one is that, though my 2019 year of Blessing was full of so many beautiful and blessed moments, there were also many challenges in which I felt very much alone. Toward the end of the year, though, I realized the importance of reaching out for support and companionship as I dealt with my challenges. I'm still struggling in many ways, but I've decided that rather than clamming up and toughing it out, I need to be more open and invite my family, friends, and perhaps some other different forms of community to struggle along with me when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Another thing that's on my mind as we begin this New Year is the state of our world. We are so divided, whether it be politically or ideologically -- East vs. West, USA vs. Iran, environmentalists vs. big oil, conservatives vs. liberals, settlers vs. Indigenous, cis-gendered vs. LGBTQ2S+, Boomers vs. Milennials, Christians vs. Muslims vs. Jews --  name any issue and there's probably a divide in it. 

But if we want to continue as a human race, we need to put our divisions behind us and become COMMUNITY when it comes to world peace, caring for our environment, eliminating poverty, working for the rights of the marginalized, and the list goes on... There are so many issues that have to be tackled by good people who care, and though we all have different pet concerns, perhaps we can agree that the common good of ALL, no matter the stripe, is what we need to work toward. Because really, our divisions are just our fears being given too much credit.

I think I'll end this little announcement of my Word of the Year with one of my favourite little pieces by Australian Michael Leunig. (I hope he and his loved ones are safe from those wildfires... another climate crisis we need to address as a world community... ) I know I've moodled this before, but it bears repeating as we start into a decade where we must work together for the sake of our species and ALL the others. I love Michael's image of everyone in their own sad little boxes. That's kind of where I've been, but I'm done with being stuck in my own little box, and I hope you are with me on that. We CAN make this year, this decade, a Happy one if we break down the mostly cardboard walls that divide us, if we choose community.

If you have your own Word of the Year and are willing to share it, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. Happy New Year, and New Decade!

A re-moodling for US election day

To me, this speaks for itself. I pray that American voters hold love for their most disadvantaged neighbours, friends and family members in their hearts when they vote today.

From A Common Prayer 
by Australian humourist and cartoon artist Michael Leunig 
(Dove, Harper Collins 1990, ISBN 0 85924 933 6) 

Living out of love, not fear

Last Monday morning, we woke to discover our garage door open and my husband's fairly new bicycle missing. We still don't know how the thief gained access, but we suspect a faulty garage door opener. We filed a police report and secured our garage. Then at 2:45 in the middle of last night, Julia woke us, saying she heard a scraping noise from the garage. So Lee got up and went to see if another bike might have disappeared. 

Fortunately, everything was in place. We don't know what Julia heard, but it was a windy evening so maybe someone's garbage can was walking down the back alley? Our sleep disturbed, we lay for a while wondering if our home and possessions were secure enough. Conversation kept us awake for a while, as we talked about the things we own that we need to protect (not all that much, really). Eventually we came to the wise conclusion that our possessions really aren't that important, and that we don't want to let fear rule the way we live.

The problem with possession, with clinging to anything, really, is that we have to protect and defend what we consider to be ours. Of course we don't want things to disappear from our lives -- we need what we need, and having the things we need disappear can get costly. But locking ourselves and our possessions away from the world all the time isn't a good option either.

In Sunday's Gospel reading, Jesus said, "Fear no one... do not fear... do not be afraid..." And what do we fear? Loss, pain, and abandonment, mainly. And what counterbalances our fears? Love, of course.

From A Common Prayer 
by Australian humourist and cartoon artist Michael Leunig 
(Dove, Harper Collins 1990, ISBN 0 85924 933 6) 

I love this little reflection by Michael Leunig. I know I've posted it here before, but it comes back to me in situations like this, begging to be rediscovered. We are afraid of so many things. But when we chose love over fear, the world changes from terrible and traumatic to a place of infinite possibilities. Knowing that we are loved beyond our wildest dreams, cared for by a Creator who provides us a beautiful planet on which we live, move, and have our being, can help us to be fearless, to welcome the stranger, to forgive the thief. We know that our Creator's love touches all, even the person who stole Lee's bike, whether she or he knows it or not.

Of course, we're still one bike short, and we've taken as many precautions as we can to ensure that nothing else goes missing. It was a good bike, and I hope and pray that the person who took it benefits from it in a positive way, gives up petty crime and discovers their belovedness. But of course, that's between them and our Creator.

Love and fear

Lately, listening to all the Canadian electoral rhetoric, the response of different countries to the refugee crisis, and negative opinions voiced on various talk shows has left me with the title of this moodling stuck in my head. I knew that I had read a fantastic quotation about love and fear somewhere, but when I googled "Love and fear" nothing like what I had in mind came up. The closest thing was a Ghandi quotation, "The enemy is fear. We think it is hate, but it is fear." A good one, but not the one I wanted.

This morning, it dawned on me where to find my 'quotation,' which is much more than a quotation. It's in my favourite little book that has a permanent home on my desk, called A Common Prayer by Australian humourist and cartoon artist Michael Leunig (Dove, Harper Collins 1990, ISBN 0 85924 933 6). Mr. Leunig's little reflection is just too good to keep to myself, so I share it and its original artwork here, hoping he will forgive me, and praying that the world will wake up and choose love instead of fear.