Politics!

     My student Becky was late this morning. I was surprised. She is never late. But she arrived at 10:30 with an amazing story to tell.
     Becky is an activist. She speaks up and speaks out. She volunteers for the phone bank for political campaigns and rings doorbells and hands out political flyers. Today she was accompanying Joe Sestak on  his campaign visit to downtown Reading.
     Becky related to the class how she had walked next to Mr. Sestak. She showed us how tall he is. As she walked beside him, she told him, "I'm your security in the 'hood." We all laughed.
     She brought Joe Sestak campaign flyers to us, and we all got one. The class gave her a round of applause for civic involvement, and for showing up at class too.
     It was a wonderful moment!

For God Alone My Soul in Silence Waits

When I was a young mother, my children would come to me full of stories of injustices in school or on the playground, arguments they’d had with friends, complaints of unfair treatment by a teacher, and the other myriad challenges children face when growing up.  As they talked, I would interject remarks that I deemed helpful, well-intentioned solutions. One day one of the children said, “Mom, I don’t want you to solve it.  I just want you to listen!”

            What a wake-up moment for me!  I had been too ready to put in my two-cents’ worth instead of letting them finish speaking.  I should have been saying, “What do you plan to do about this?”

            I still struggle with this. The other day my daughter said, “Face it, Mom, you’re a fixer.”  I like to think of myself as a recovering fixer.  Every once in a while I relapse, but mostly I try to be present to people as an attentive listener.

            This works equally well in my prayer life.  Many times I am tempted to assault the ears of the Almighty with a litany of pains, woes, complaints, griefs, miseries — the list could go on.  But for me, answers do come.

            What do I do?  I sit in silence, focusing on my breath.  I might have an image, saying, or list of concerns nearby, but I do not obsess about those.  I sit in silence and I breathe, and remain attentive, and in that silence I find peace, healing, restoration, and sometimes answers.

            The art of listening is a gift to others and to oneself.