On Saturday (the last non-muggy, less than 90 degree day for who knows how long) I spent 10 hours indoors… in air-conditioning (which I am no longer used to having) along with Evangeline (our extremely capable facilitator) and members (residents) of Blue Heron Farm. If it sounds like I’m gearing up to complain, I’m not. Just whining a little bit. My decision to step outside my former life included a commitment to spending much less time in “meetings.”
Alas, sometimes life together requires meeting together. Saturday was necessary, important and purposeful. As a community we’re in transition. Struggling to articulate who we are, individually and collectively. And ultimately, find our common ground in the form of a vision/value statement. A lot of work had been done prior to Saturday’s gathering so in large part our day was about getting clear. Making sure we really heard each other. And then….
From a list of about 40 core values we’d all contributed, we broke into small groups to identify the three we could agree on. There were four people in the group so no easy-out, make nice kind of stuff like “why don’t we just take one from everybody’s list”. Oh no, this was the real down and dirty. We did it well. Not always pretty. Certainly not always easy. In my group we ended up unpacking “equity” and “abundance”. This is hard work folks if you dare to get below the surface and quit assuming that what you think these words/values mean is the same as what other people think they mean.
Unpacking equity: For my part, equity does not imply equal. I raised three boys and we never operated with the assumption that life was equal. They didn’t get an equal allowance, a car at age 16, a room of their own, or pre-determined amount of birthday gift. Their desire for lap time did not always equal my desire to sit in the rocker. To the best of our ability we did give each other what was needed. This varies by person, age and circumstance. It takes longer to figure out and may even seem at times to be inequitable, but it sure helps draw awareness toward what is needed rather than what is wanted. Equity is about a lot more than equality, but that was just my two-cent contribution to a rich conversation.
Unpacking abundance: I’ll just start by saying that abundance was my bottom-line value contribution. so I really wanted to see it on our list of three values. Within our small group, and later in large group discussion we referred to abundance as a lofty ideal and a fluffy word. I agree! It’s a leap of faith to believe there is enough. I’ve spent the last five years leading mission camps where we faced head-on the overwhelming needs of Appalachian mountain communities. We did this with limited funds, tools, and mostly unskilled, teenage laborers. Miracles were a daily occurrence. I still believe, more than ever, that there is enough. And I also believe we need a lot more practice around sharing and simplicity so the haves and the have-nots are standing closer together. My life revolves around this very practice.
I know there ’s some head shaking and words like “pollyanna” that go around when I speak my truth concerning abundance, and that’s okay. It is a lofty, fluffy notion. But I’ve lived and worked in the opposite place and here’s what I’ve experienced. In the presence of scarcity thinking you usually find what you’re looking for: what’s wrong, what’s missing, what’s hopeless. No thank-you! I’d much rather hang out with Pollyanna than Chicken-Little. If you’re standing beside Chicken-Little when the sky falls you’re gonna feel it.
So when I look at Blue Heron Farm and its’ people I believe there is enough: Enough land, enough trust, enough creativity, enough food, enough joy, enough cooperation, enough solitude, enough compassion. There is enough and plenty to share. We’re not perfect. We never will be. But we really are blessed with the simple abundances that are often hard to find in a fast-paced, consumer culture.
Enough of these words. I’m putting on some music and doing A BUN DANCE! (ain’t that a picture?)
