Most mornings, I begin my day by writing in my journal. Many years ago, I learned a practice called “Morning Pages” from Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist’s Way. The method is as simple as it is powerful and involves writing stream of consciousness thoughts down in a journal every day for a predetermined length of time or number of pages.
One of the Morning Pages practice guidelines is that you don’t share what you write with others. I’m going to break that rule right now as I share a little of what I wrote this past Wednesday morning, the day after our national election.
The first thing that came to mind that morning was an extended quote from Howard Thurman. Thurman was born in 1899 and was brought up by his formerly enslaved grandparents. He grew up to be an influential philosopher, theologian, pastor, and civil rights leader in the mid 20th Century.
The quote I remembered is associated with Christmas, but you will see why it came to mind. The quote has always been a favorite of mine, and so I was to remember most of the quote, using Google to recall the rest.
Now the Work of Christmas Begins by Howard Thurman
When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.
I found myself adapting this Thurmond quote in my journal as I wrote, “the voting is over, and now the work of democracy begins.”
Like Christmas and other religious and national events, elections are of critical importance. Of equal importance are the day-to-day choices we make to live out our core values and beliefs. For me, that means committing myself:
to respect the dignity of all people,
to work for justice for all,
to heal divisions between myself and others,
to live a life of integrity, honesty, and transparency,
to love my neighbor as myself,
to embody in my thoughts, words, and deeds the truth that all people are created equal and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The voting is over. The work of democracy continues for each of us.
Article by The Rev. Dr. D. Scott Stoner, Living Compass
