Pause+Pray

In writing about a South African Women’s March for Freedom during the era of apartheid, poet June Jordan concludes a poem with the affirmation, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

Jesus came to the well on a hot day, tired from his long journey. He encountered a Samaritan woman and began to tell her personal, private details about her life no one else knew.

Think about the words of Mechthild of Magdeburg: “The Holy Spirit is our harpist/And all strings/Which are touched in Love/Must sound.”

While I am often goal-directed, I try to do something each day that neither toils nor spins, that doesn’t accomplish anything, that is simply joyful and fun. I believe God wants us to enjoy.

St. Augustine got a few things right, others spectacularly wrong. But his mother, St. Monica, never gave up on him.

For all the strides that have been made for women’s equality and protection, more work remains to be done. May we continue to amplify the voices and experiences of women everywhere.