We're in it together

In response to my last entry, I received one of those very few responses to what I share. It was from a very good friend, telling me how much she loved the entry, for Ruth is an Old Testament  passage she loves, a passage which sums up her feelings on good friendship.

There is a beauty, not just to the words of Ruth, but also to the song surrounding it, composed so much later by the monks of Weston Priory, for they capture the human experience of true and deep, human friendship.  Such friendship is essential to life.  . 

The daily struggles and pleasures of life do mingle into the mix of any one week, making up who we are.  This week has been no different.  I have had great coming togethers with new and old friends. In the midst of such enjoyable experiences of life, I know my human struggle and quest take their toll, while ever urging me forward. 

During this week, I read the brave story of a young, Ukrainian soldier, left as an amputee after suffering in battle.  I meet a young, smart, Myanmar woman, who had to flee her country, after being arrested, tortured and threatend with rape, by the military.  Then I look at my life and think how insignificant is my share of the human struggle.  Still, it is my share and that matters, for we are in this thing, called life, together.  

We are one.  We all have our place in the world.  We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  The truth is that "the clarity and care with which we have loved others will speak with vitality of the great gift of life we have been for each other."  

As I shared this week my spirituality of migration, at a webinar, I named three key points:

1) No one is a stranger.  

2) We are all on a journey, sharing in the one pilgrimage on the way to God.   

3) Love others for who they are in the eyes of God.   

All how true.  We're in it together, this thing called life.