Welcome–Open Arms

Bob and I share this amazing gift…  We are stackers! You show us a flat surface and we will fill it.

Our stacks at home include the following: 

  • Mailstacks
  • Morning After Stacks
  • Laundry Stacks
  • Book Stacks
  • Clothing Stacks
  • Milie’s Toys Stacks 

What are our UU stacks? What piles of faith do we protect? What about the ones we grew up with and, upon examination, they still hold value?

Where are the truths we know are out there but we have not opened up to them yet? We are sure, once we realize what they are that we will be glad we took the time to find them out? What are we waiting for?

Where are the pieces of our faith that are displayed, used once but still out on counter of our faith, or folded and ready to go but won’t be any good until used again? 

The piles of truth that we are even now ingesting just a page or two at one sitting but so many we can’t be happy with just one.. When will we done and ready to actualize those truths on our daily journey? 

Or the truths that are familiar to us like our own skin… when was the last time we shared that bit so that someone else experienced the same joy ? 

Or the truths we don’t think are really true at all and we feel better keeping them at a distance?

I think the most dangerous things about stacks is when we use them to build a wall around ourselves and keep others out –  are those those principles that bring humanity together.?

Looking back, I’m awed by the way that embracing everything—from what I got right to what I got wrong—invites the grace of wholeness. Parker Palmer

What can we do to welcome wholeness into our stacks?

~Lydia Patrick

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2 Responses to Welcome–Open Arms

  1. katrina yurko says:

    Worthy Words Of Wisdom! I loved the sermon you gave last Sunday about the stacks in our lives. Everyone can relate to stacking,,,at least on a superficial level, but your translation gave us a deeper dive into the content and meaning of our stacks. Thanks for the window into awareness.

  2. CCC says:

    I’m a boxer, I box things up and put in a corner, hoping to never to see them again. I’ve recently started going through some boxes, emotionally and physically, revealing all the tangled cords of old battery chargers, the scattered mess of joy and sadness that comes to my heart, boxes of crafting supplies and projects never completed, and the pain of loss and love of birth all in one box. I’m working on welcoming patience with myself as I navigate through the boxes in my life.

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