For Such a Time as This: Reclaiming the Gift of Brooding.

Brooding has gotten a bad name. Some dictionaries define it as a “dark mood, dwelling on an unfortunate situation or outcome, or a toxic kind of rumination.” There are other definitions that are a bit more positive, “daydream, grieve, meditate, deliberate and dream.” Under all the definitions is the question, “what meaning do we make out of this time?” It depends on the framework we use.

In Genesis 1, God broods over the water (the newer translations use the word “spirit,” but the original Hebrew is “broods”). Hens sit on their nests and brood. In both instances, something new comes out of it, either the created order or a bunch of baby chicks, both of which are pretty amazing.

I am choosing the framework of creativity. This is in no way Poly-Anna nonsense, nor is it intended to minimize the difficulty and pain many people are experiencing. There is much about this time that royally sucks. Depression and anxiety are real and need to be treated. There are emergency mental health services available by Skype, Facetime or other platforms. Watch your local news updates for information. That said, there are some things we tend to lose sight of when things are awful.

Here are some things to brood about this week. I hope they offer a word of encouragement and an opportunity for reflection as you find your way through this challenging and painful time.

• Grief is what comes in the space that is often beyond words. It has a place in these days and is not to be hurried by on the way to another easier feeling. Take the time to grieve what and who has been lost in these days and weeks.
• There is much that is not clear and it is ours to give some serious thought to what it means to live with ambiguity. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, “Be patient toward all that is unresolved in you and try to love the questions themselves.…”
• There is little in this life over which we actually have control.
• Think about what is possible in these days of self-isolation. Get to know yourself in a deeper way through sitting quietly, if only for a few minutes. Ask yourself how you might want to be different when this is “over.”
• Give yourself permission to not function at the usual 110% we are programmed to put out.
• We are one global community. It is on us to be good citizens of the world, not just the little corner where we live.
• The people who keep this country going–grocers, truckers, trash collectors and other traditionally “low wage” earners–need and deserve to make a living wage. We cannot do without them. They deserve our thanks for the work they are doing. Instead of being grouchy about what the market doesn’t have, focus on thanking the person behind the register.
• Health care workers, first responders and others routinely put their own well-being and that of their families second to the needs of the sick. They deserve our unending thanks for their work.
• The place of the arts in our lives is not optional. We depend on beauty to make sense of everything else. Music, books, movies and television can feed us like nothing else.
• If CEOs can donate a chunk of their salaries to make sure their workers keep getting paid, what’s to stop them from taking a pay cut so workers making a living wage is the rule rather than the exception?
• There is so little that we need. Much of the stuff in our lives is extraneous; part of what we may discover is how little we really need.

Howard Thurman wrote, “There must be always remaining in every life some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which itself is breathtakingly beautiful.” May you find that beautiful place in your life as you live through these days.