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On Saturday afternoon, I went to the grocery store in town to buy the ingredients for Bear’s food. Because the grocery store is 30 minutes from my home, I buy enough for two weeks at a time.
After I checked out, I stood aside, watching other shoppers. I’ve long had an interest in what groceries people buy.
But after a few minutes of watching food on conveyor belts, I began to notice the people standing next to their groceries. And I realized that I’d gone up and down the aisles of the store not really noticing anyone. It gave me an appreciation for how our lives can slide by when we don’t notice that the world is made up of billions of individual lives. Each of us seeing the rest of the world through our own eyes, our own experiences, our own stories.
This notion has become especially vivid now that I live in a rural community. It has an economy that is historically agricultural, and now trying to decide whether or not to embrace a tourist economy, which would bring more revenue, but would change the small town. Like many post-pandemic communities, new people have moved in and it is now a community in flux.
But communities in flux and the tensions over territories that arise is nothing new. Isn’t that what we’re seeing in the thousands-year old struggle in Israel, or in Ukraine?
People don’t go to chain restaurants because they don’t exist, yet. They go to a restaurant where farm to table is not an aspiration, but a reality, because the restaurant’s meat is supplied by a farmer who is a half mile from the restaurant’s front door, but that farmer also teaches high school, and is a wrestling coach.
Living in a rural community has helped me to see the world through other people’s eyes, not just my own. To realize how interconnected we are, how important things like shopping local stores and buying from local farmers, really is not just a fashionable choice but the means to support my neighbors and help my community thrive economically.
But when I also begin to see the world through the eyes of other people, the world itself begins to look a lot different. I see national and international conflicts differently. I see that there are farmers and teachers and students in every country, on both sides of a conflict.
That’s terribly important at a time like this when we stand on the precipice of what could become a greater war and I hope before it does, we will take a deep breath and realize that we are all neighbors.
Here’s a few words from today’s book selection:
First keep peace with yourself; then you will be able to bring peace to others. A peaceful man does more good than a learned man. Whereas a passionate man turns even good to evil and is quick to believe evil, the peaceful man, being good himself, turns all things to good.
Direct your zeal, therefore, first upon yourself; then you may with justice exercise it upon those about you. You are well versed in coloring your own actions with excuses which you will not accept from others, though it would be more just to accuse yourself and excuse your brother.
If you wish men to bear with you, you must bear with them. Behold, how far you are from true charity and humility which does not know how to be angry with anyone, or to be indignant save only against self!
What I’m cooking now…
Creamy Tortellini / Minestrone Soup
The best thing about this soup is that it doesn’t have or need a recipe! It’s honestly just made with whatever you have in the fridge. It is a collection of vegetables, lightly sautéed in EVOO, a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, a 15 ounce can of beans, two handfuls of cheese tortellini (omit if you don’t have and call it minestrone soup), a quart of chicken or vegetable stock, and a cup of half and half, a tablespoon of corn starch to thicken the soup.
Here are the vegetables I used:
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
1 zucchini
1 small onion
1 bunch of kale and 2 handfuls of baby spinach
That’s it! Bring it all to a gentle boil and then simmer. And then enjoy.
What I’m reading now…
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
Here’s another short excerpt:
Book 2, Chapter 3
It is no great thing to associate with the good and gentle, for such association is naturally pleasing. Everyone enjoys a peaceful life and prefers persons of congenial habits. But to be able to live at peace with harsh and perverse men, or with the undisciplined and those who irritate us, is a great grace, a praiseworthy and manly thing.
Some people live at peace with themselves and with their fellow men, but others are never at peace with themselves nor do they bring it to anyone else. These latter are a burden to everyone, but they are more of a burden to themselves. A few, finally, live at peace with themselves and try to restore it to others.
Now, all our peace in this miserable life is found in humbly enduring suffering rather than in being free from it. He who knows best how to suffer will enjoy the greater peace, because he is the conqueror of himself, the master of the world, a friend of Christ, and an heir of heaven.
This newsletter encourages self examination and other compassion in a humble and encouraging manner. Excellent!
I've also come to appreciate a small town where neighbors know each other. When one comes to Church, there is also that sense of community. Thanks for sharing your reflections! By the way, what a lovely soup. Maybe we'd try the recipe one of these days.