Fifth Day of Christmas

2024

This is the fifth day of the twelve-day festal tide - a sacred, festive season. I'm in Sabbath mode, spending these Twelve Days doing as little work as possible, resting, reflecting, and finding peace within.

I have a day to myself, and since tomorrow is the new moon - and I will be visiting family by then - I've decided to take my day of retreat today: I will do less talking, less business, and more personal thought and action. I plan to be present in the moment and take it one thing at a time.

Agenda today:

1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Christmas retreat brainstorm

3. Earth reading

4. Earthcare plans

5. Pick a theme for the year

6. Turn the compost

1. Kwanzaa principles:

The fourth day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to the principle of ujamaa (oo-JAH-maah), cooperative economics - the idea that when we work together, we all profit. Cooperative economics encourages us to meet our common needs by chipping in together. Imagine a world where everyone shares their wealth (even our government) and uses our economic strengths to make the world a better place!

2. Christmas retreat brainstorm:

I am again making the 12 Days of Christmas into a mini-retreat for myself - I'm doing some reading and writing every day, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. My plan is to contemplate, honor, and practice a different one of my life priorities each day, and set some goals and resolutions for 2025, based on guidance from God.

Today I am honoring my commitment to earth care and unity with nature:

What are my responsibilities to my earth and my world? What habits do I need to build in order to allow nature to thrive? What changes could I make in my buying habits?

How do I effectively witness to my community about my leading to live in Unity with the Earth, and share the Truth in a way that inspires the passion for change that I feel?

How do I nurture hope in myself and my community as the world dies? 

What earth care groups and causes do I really want to work for, be around, impact, and inspire? 

What do I need to learn?

3. Earthcare reading:

Today I'm reading from "The Serviceberry", by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2024). I got this sweet little book for Christmas. Robin says, "Serviceberry is known as a calendar plant, so faithful is it to seasonal weather patterns. Its bloom is a sign that the ground has thawed." 

I wonder what the western version is, since we rarely have frozen ground here. 

 

4. Earth care goals:

I'm finishing up the work of setting goals and resolutions for the New Year, focusing on my priorities. My theme for today is care for the earth.

Care goals might have to do with raising my level of integrity in some way, raising my energy and tenacity level for responsible action, using my talents to support a cause, growing as a leader and activist, or educating myself and others.

My ideas for earth care goals for next year are:

• Witness for the earth in multiple ways: Writing, speaking up, actions, craftivism, and example, in a way that inspires the passion for change that I feel; memorize some up-to-date information to share.
• Continue to lead the Quaker Earthcare Support Group; use my blog platform to witness to a hopeful and energizing kind of action; create synergy in our meeting to grow, and work on challenging issues together - perhaps a climate resilience and active hope group.
• Build new habits myself, to reduce my use of plastics and have more integrity with shopping and eating habits, and disposal of batteries and other toxins. 
• Learn more about nature-culture and pollinators, and other earth care habits to use on my own land. Write these in to a personal Wheel of the Year.
• Continue the work of creating a sanctuary in our yard, for my family and for wild nature; create an abundant veggie garden and an inviting butterfly and bird garden, and make it also into a teaching garden with signage and art that witnesses to earthcare.

5. Pick a theme for the year:

I've been thinking about a theme for the year: something like "my year of active hope and resilience."

Active hope is the practice of creating what I hope for, and resilience is the process of adapting to challenges, with flexibility and equanimity.

Active Hope has three key steps: 

• First, I maintain a clear view of reality;  
• Second, I identify what I hope for - the direction I’d like things to move in and the values I'd like to express;   
• Third, I take steps to move in that direction.

And resilience is a skill-set I can learn a bit at a time. I plan to set myself a couple of tasks each week, and this week my tasks are:

1. Memorize a statement of the climate reality we are in.
2. Set an intention for self-awareness: Recognizing my emotions, my triggers, and my patterns when stressed.

6. Turn my compost:

As a ceremonial way to honor the earth today, I plan to transfer the half-done compost in my large spinning composter into our smaller Darth Vader composter, where it will sit for the rest of winter. (I do this whenever the larger bin gets too full for me to spin.)

Composting - growing better soil - is one way we heal the earth. And it can also be a meditation: As I shovel out the half-finished compost, I add my thoughts to the mix - love, patience, peace - all the beneficial nutrients. I add in my thoughts of anger or remorse as well, and ask the earth to recycle them into something useful.