Wild chamois in middle of flowers in the Aletsch Forest Nature Reserve, Swiss Alps. Image by Giles Laurent, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. [1]
Dwelling too much on what needs fixing can get you down. Each week I try to find a source that brings smiles to our faces and joy to our souls. I found a story [2] on a SCOTUS decision that favors the environment and increases the chances for planetary survival (at least the planet as we know it). The story influenced my selection of the above photo.
The story is based on the failed petition by the Republican-led states to maintain the neurotoxin mercury in the air that we breathe and to continue to pump methane, the potent greenhouse gas global-warming agent into the atmosphere. The EPA made its case in opposition, and the SCOTUS, with no dissents, effectively stopped the misguided states from continuing to destroy the environment.
Coal plant operators must now use the latest technologies that make it easier and more efficient to monitor and limit pollutants.
And then on Sunday, I read the daily meditation [3] from the cac.org. This meditation raised the bar on joy, so to speak. These words captured my attention:
“Suppose that at the entrance to heaven there is a scale—not a scale to weigh good and bad deeds—but a scale to measure joy. Suppose our passage into the next life will not be determined by the number of souls saved, sermons preached, or holiness pursued. Just joy.”
—Dr. Barbara Holmes
There is much richness in the meditation that merits reading.
As Dr. Holmes says, “No matter the circumstances, we’re called to joy”.
I'm down with a scale that only measures joy, a true aim and challenge in a daunting world
I recall a story from El Salvador. A volunteer criticized a family for growing flowers as well as food when food was such a need. The family responded that the volunteer was only there for a short time but the family lived there. The food fed their bodies but the flowers fed their spiritts.