What to Do In Times of Fear
It’s no fun starting your day thinking about Ukraine - the sovereign, independent, DEMOCRATIC nation currently being invaded by Russia.
It brings up a lot of scary questions about authoritarianism, NATO, cyber-wars, and a hostile power marching its way across Europe - again.
I was working through my morning gratitude practice, but my mind was going to dark places quickly. Sam wandered in rubbing his eyes.
“Good Morning honey, Putin’s bombing Ukraine.”
It’s a fine line …
… trying to live as a light in a world with substantial growing darkness. I can’t run around like a happy-clappy dope ignoring anything that doesn’t immediately affect me, but at the same time, I can’t live so alarmed that I collapse into a sheetcake. So what do I do?
Turns out one answer is to sing some 70’s classic rock with a guy and his guitar outside your favorite breakfast joint.
Yes. Really.
Be The Light.
The Broken Egg Cafe has the best breakfast in Pensacola - it’s a horserace for sure, but after years of diligent research, Broken Egg wins the gold, which is why you get to wait for a table on a Thursday morning after spending a few hours hyperventilating about Putin.
When we arrived, an older guy was standing outside with his guitar playing Wichita Lineman for seemingly nobody. Just standing there, playing. I asked him if the restaurant hired him to play while people waited for a table.
“No,” he said. “I’m just coming for breakfast and I figured I’d play while I’m waiting. Want to sing with me?”
“Yes I do,” I replied and he launched into the first few notes of Take it Easy by the Eagles.
We sang the whole song together, right there in the parking lot, until we forgot the words to the third verse, which is fine because turns out there is no third verse. But here is the second verse:
Take It easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy.
Coincidence? I think not.
Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly.
Yesterday, after watching things unfold in Ukraine, I posted this quote from the Talmud based on Micah 6:8.
And today, I think my buddy with the guitar really understands the assignment. He’s humbly doing what is in his power to do, bringing music to the morning, which in my mental state felt a lot like mercy.
When the hostess popped out and said our table was ready, I mentioned the guy with the guitar.
“Oh, he does that all the time,” she said. “He’s one of our favorite regulars.”
“He just plays his guitar while he’s waiting for a table?” I asked.
“Yeah, he keeps it in his car.”
Here’s the Lesson
I believe this fella is doing is what he can to be the light when the world feels dark. I’m not helping myself or anyone else when I let the grief overwhelm me. The guy with the guitar may feel grief or rage too, but he showed up in the opposite spirit and it’s making a cool ripple because I’m telling you about it.
I sense his intention is perhaps to help people like me not let the sound of our own wheels drive us crazy. Or maybe he just likes the Eagles.
What he did was shift my perspective enough so I could begin regulating my own nervous system, bringing my pre-frontal cortex online to consider how I can walk humbly, do justice, and love mercy today.
So my prayer for us today is simply this:
God, I believe you are sovereign. I am sorry for the abuse to which we subject the earth and one another. Forgive me and us. Protect the innocent, oppose the wicked and show me how I can do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you today. Amen.
#standwithUkraine