I took this picture a few years back, struck by the trees side-by-side, one thriving and one dead. One braved the weather and environmental challenges, and one caved. Something occurred to stop one tree from growing. Something was insurmountable. What tipped the scale?

I pondered all the ways that I encourage growth in others and the times I choose not to. I thought about those moments when fear and self-doubt creep in. I err because I cultivate a critical Spirit and doubting heart. I belittle and judge instead of listening and giving space for growth and change. I prefer to complain rather than find a creative solution. Maybe you do this, too. It’s a toxin that fractures families and friendships.

In our society today, the toxins are many. Not just environmental, but social and economic toxins plague our nation and invade our politics. But I wonder… What is the antidote for sexism, for instance? Or racism? Or ageism? Or ableist thinking? What language do we use to soothe the hurt? To return power to those who have been unfairly excluded? To accept our tendencies to take over space that is not ours? If only it were so easy as a prescription for a “Compassion pill!”

Author bel hooks wrote in All About Love: “rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”

The healing acts within a community are many, from the practical to the spiritual to the compassionate. How do we, as those who profess to follow Christ, seek out opportunities to heal instead of wound? How can we hold those in positions of political power to the same standards?

I write this as I recover from a painful rib injury, one that was partly due to my own lack of mindfulness. (I also overestimated my ability to lift a heavy box onto a high shelf… and stubbornly tried to do it on my own!) Over a week later, I am dealing with the slow healing process. Every time I move, or try to reach for something that taxes my ribs, I get an immediate twinge. It’s as though my body is saying, “OW. STOP THAT.”

If only we were as attuned to how we bring pain into each other’s lives as we are to our own physical aches and pains… whether it is people we know or people we don’t understand. Perhaps the OWs would be less frequent, and the world would be one step closer to wholeness. We’d see thriving instead of dying, inclusion instead of division, unity instead of hate.

May it be so. And let it begin with me.

Blessed be.