We at Mercy by the Sea have so much we want to share with you:
You'll find seasonal photos of the grounds — vegetation, trees and winged and four-legged creatures that make their homes here. We'll capture changes in the light and colors as the seasons change. So bookmark this page and come back regularly. Or subscribe to receive an email each time a new blog posts. Just scroll down and type your email address in the field provided then click the SIGN UP button.
That limitation can become for us a sanctuary is a deep and paradoxical concept. Most of us want to feel free, to be about what we desire without hindrance. What then of the limitation we are experiencing now as we try to control the spread of a deadly virus?
I have been doing a lot of gardening at Mercy by the Sea through these weeks. The courtyard garden is a large area that has not had attention for a while and invasives had pretty much taken over. All kinds of vines and growth created massive intertwined and enmeshed webs in and through and around just about every tree and bush.
You may have heard of the “Gray Revolution”, older women embracing the aging process as opposed to fighting it with expensive hair dyes and wrinkle creams. You may have even noticed younger women who have intentionally gone gray with soft hues of silver, purple, and pink intertwined. This trend has been promoted “by style setters like British Vogue fashion features director Sarah Harris, who first began going gray in her teens, and Instagram accounts like @grombre, which reposts and celebrates women who show off their new silver growth (a.k.a. their gray ombré). What began as a resource to help women feel less embarrassed or ashamed about grays has now grown into a community of 74,000 where its followers share stories about why they decided to go gray.” (https://www.glamour.com/story/gray-hair-revolution)
During this profound moment in time as our world is shifting in rapid ways, I am finding it quite difficult to imagine what the future of humanity and our shared world is going to look like after COVID-19’s imprint has settled. Murkiness within my mind, mixed with intense feelings throughout my anxious body have been testing my trust in the unseen connections. Yearning to feel peace and comfort within my days, as well as all the concern for the future, has been making me wonder what others are feeling and how they discover the presence of God during this time.