We Struggle Together

My heartbreak was being met.
— Terry Tempest Williams, in Erosion (2019)

I am sitting with the horror of the latest legal attack on transgender kids, this one at the hands of the Texas governor.

I am sitting with the terror of aggression by Russia, on Ukraine.

I am sitting with the anguish of parents who have lost a child to premature death.

I am sitting with the sadness of a beloved teenager’s sense of betrayal.

I am sitting with the discomfort of some colleagues’ fragile defensiveness.

I am sitting with the questions facing religious leaders as we anticipate uncertain futures.

* * * * *

My heart is breaking for the brutality, the fear, the threat … and for all the delicate, yet persistent, beauty in its midst.

And in that heartbreak, I’m blessed to know the truth of Terry Tempest Williams’ words: “My heartbreak was being met.”

My heartbreak is met — not fixed, not explained, not healed, not ignored, not justified, not derided, not dismissed … not even held, nor embraced, nor loved.

I am simply met — in heartbreak, in joy, in bewilderment — by those who are willing to be companions in the moment, bearing witness to one another, being simply present.

Thank you, faithful travelers of UUCC, for being some of my companions as we struggle together on this spiritual journey.

In heartbreak and in love,
Paige