I’m not an angel.  I don’t have wings, and yet there is a section of my back which holds pain- as if it is being pulled down by the weight of some invisible, cumbersome, heavy attachments. ”Have you been trying to carry the weight of the world?” asks the compassionate body-worker, as she places her healing hands on my shoulders.  In her sanctuary there is a small sculpture of a weeping, or weary angel.  Between the nurturing touch of this healer, and the inspiration of this weary angel, I am learning to loosen a lot of things. Has this ever happened to you? 

     Our culture, habits, excessive consumption and destruction, familial demands- the fate of the earth – can feel overwhelming these days.  I want to give to every charity; go solar; restore Eden; protect my children; ride a donkey; save the world.  Don’t you?

 I wonder if this angel is weary because she made the mistake of going it alone- of thinking she had to do all of the work herself of healing, nurturing, loving and fixing humanity and the planet.  I wonder if she forgot, the way I sometimes do, to have some faith in the greater force of goodness that is holding us, loving us, working through all of us, and sometimes saying “Enough.  Time to rest.” 

The other day, while having my tired and aching shoulders rubbed, the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebur entered my mind,

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

If you are a weary human angel, I hope you will make time for some healing and some rest.  Take care of your human body! Be compassionate with yourself.

Love to you, Ingrid