Nourishment for the Resistance

Recently my colleague Carolyn posted this statement as her Facebook status:

I’m baking a banana chocolate cake while sipping a dirty martini.
Some days, this is what the resistance looks like.
Love and blessings to you, beautiful resisters.

What a scrumptious and tangible reminder of the simple pleasures that are surely necessary to sustain the work of faithful resistance and righteous justice and fierce love.

I’ve never baked a banana chocolate cake, and I don’t drink martinis, but I do believe in the nourishing value of pampering ourselves and indulging a bit on occasion. Our bodies and minds and spirits will wither if not well fed. And the (figurative, if not always literal) dessert is food for the soul.

One of the ways that I get fed is by gathering with other clergy for study and retreat. At those times I (mostly) leave behind the work of UUCC and family and slow down for a few days.

As I write, I’m returning from two days at a rustic retreat center in New England where I gather each spring and fall with a UU clergy study group. This time, we discussed Scott Stossel’s book My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread and the Search for Peace of Mind. It was a fascinating and sometimes uncomfortable read, and we had a variety of responses to it – which of course led to meaningful and interesting discussion about our personal and professional experiences of anxiety. And it was fun also to watch “Inside Out” together on Tuesday evening. I’m pretty sure we all cried at this movie that one colleague described as “an adult movie [no, not that kind] masquerading as a kids’ movie”.

It’s a long haul for me to get to the Craigville Retreat Center – despite the relatively easy flight on Southwest – but I’m always glad to have been there with this group. We worship together and laugh and sing and eat and share stories. It’s a valuable reminder that we are not alone.

I hope you, too, have dependable ways to nourish yourself, and that you allow time for those things. Baking. Sipping martinis. Yoga. Singing, dancing, constructing, writing, and other artistic expression. Walking, running, hiking. Games of all kinds. The company of beloved companions, filled with laughter and connection and sharing of lives.

We have work to do, always. Please make time – for you.

Love and blessings to you, beautiful resisters.

Love,
Paige