Belly smile and deep bow to the universe on days when prayers are being answered in the affirmative. Today was such a day.
When an elder-sister asked me, summer of 2013, did I want to open an affiliate of Women Writing for (a) Change? I remember feeling unprepared, unworthy, uncertain, but also expansive, energized, curious. As I let the idea germinate in me, I realized I had a vision of how circle could hold story-telling differently than our overculture holds it. Not debates and arguments, fear and division, but story-telling, listening, witnessing, trusting. I wanted to bring Circle to Dayton, Ohio, one of the most segregated cities in the USA. It’s a vision that has never left me, even though I learned to hold it loosely. I spoke often of wanting the world to be different than it was, is. How circle could be a container for that change. Some women of color would come into circle, but they rarely stayed for more than a semester. My heart ached regularly to be a part of ‘making a difference….
I travelled the highways between Dayton and Silverton for years, coming to writing circles, then Board Circle meetings, then fund-raisers, trainings, and more. Strangely, an answer to prayer can be as simple as turning left when you always used to turn right. Which I don’t mean with political undertones in the least. It was good and necessary to turn right off of I-71 South for as long as I did. Tonight, however, I turned left. Life was leading in a new direction…
A Fire&Water friend had suggested a restaurant with a good Happy Hour menu, a good space for a couple of us to meet for drinks and munchies. I arrived at the prescribed 4:30 hour, as she did. We settled into easy conversation. She observed it was almost exactly a month since the opening of the third and final retreat. The other sister of our party arrived, having battled more traffic than either of us. Drinks, small bite plates, and conversation flowed. Laughter. Lament. Some dreaming and some letting go of stories… Time flew. I was stunned it was over three hours later, leaving for home.
I’ve been on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati countless times these last ten years. WWfaC was my destination. Tonight, I turned left, for a restaurant outing with two new friends. Resonance. Recognition. Being seen. And then my friend closed our time in prayer, right there in the bar. My heart expanded almost to bursting.
All of which doesn’t even name the walk in the woods with another Fire&Water friend, right before cocktail hour.
The vision remains in my bones, my aching heart—a world co-created anew, different from the one we know today. I didn’t cause any of the above AND I have a strong sense of receiving, of answered prayer. All weaving together, hiding in plain sight.
How does Christian scripture name it? The kingdom of Godde is here, now. Deep bow, gratitude, more than a bit of wonder.