Not So Alone...

This morning, as I took my daily walk around a lake close to my home, I stopped to pick, eat and savour the first delicious wild blackberries of the season.  And I was struck, once again, by the abundance and generosity of the Universe.

So often, when we are caught up in the busyness, exhaustion and isolation of caring for others, we can become constricted and forgetful of the constant sources of support that undergird and uphold us as we move through our daily tasks and routines.  

I was married to an Anglican minister who regularly stopped his worship services at the sound of a siren, to say, "Someone's in trouble.  Let's pray."  He went on to pray for whomever was in trouble, their families and friends and all the people who were on their way to help. Now, years later, members of that congregation are scattered all over the country and the world but when many of them wrote to me at the time of my husband's death, they mentioned that wherever they are, they continue to stop and pray at the sound of a siren and that they've taught their children to do the same.

No one who is prayed for - the person in trouble, their family, police, dispatchers, paramedics, fire personnel, nurses, physicians, crisis counsellors - knows that, in that moment of trauma, someone is thinking of them with heartfelt prayers for their safety and for the healing of wounds that could arise from the situation.  And yet, that support is there.

And how often do we think of the people who dry clean our clothes, stock our grocery store shelves, pick up our garbage, deliver our mail, and farm our food as being part of a huge network, there for our support? (- To say nothing of our friends, neighbours, communities, the abundance of nature and whom or whatever we believe in that is greater than ourselves?)  We are not as alone as we sometimes think and feel.

So, on those days when you feel exhausted, depleted, and alone, it may help to remember that there are sources of support all around you, whether you can see them or not.

In a quiet (quieter..?) moment, today, I invite you to take some time to think about your own particular network of support, seen and unseen.  Allow your heart to recognize supports that may not have been visible before and to fill with gratitude.