In 1971, I was without a job or apartment, living with friends in Boston. A friend told me about a place on the south shore that was hiring, so I got a ride there. This place was an old abandoned... [more]
Our Collective Journal
June 2017/ Oct. 2017
"I have often felt a motion of love to leave some hints
in writing of my experience of the goodness of God."
--John Woolman
Chapter 29
When has saying yes taken
you in a surprising direction?
Burning Bush © Jan Richardson. http://janrichardson.com/
Him for Her
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with parenting. I knew that I wanted children, but I didn’t NEED to be a parent. Parts of it sounded nice. Sharing knowledge, a sense of pride as they grow older, someone to keep me connected to... [more]
Yes, My Lord
You know I get so weary, Lord,
And I lose my way,
But then I turn and see
You smile at me, and
I can hear you say,
“If you want me to, I will
Walk with you
Down this lonely road,”
And I said, yeah, yeah,
Yeah, yes,... [more]
Are You Serious?!
Sometimes it takes an insightful friend to change an “Of course I won’t! Are you serious?” into a difficult “yes”. My friend Georgia helped me to see clearly during a difficult time with another friend, Teresa.
Teresa and I had... [more]
Getting To YES!
Recently, when one hurricane after another was making landfall on US soil causing widespread devastation and human suffering, I was wondering how I could help. How could I possibly make a difference given the enormous scope of these disasters? The... [more]
Military Recruiters
Sometimes I've said what has to be said. The organization Veterans For Peace had mutual friends to Women's International League for Peace & Freedom. I attended a small meeting at Veterans For Peace and volunteered to speak at the public... [more]
Wait For It
Last month I was given the opportunity to be a traveling minister for Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), to visit Jamaica Yearly Meeting. The committee that receives requests for traveling ministers had discerned that this request from JYM was... [more]
Saying Yes by Saying No
Contemplating this query, I couldn’t think of a time that I had said an unlikely yes. Looking back on the yeses in my life I saw unwarranted yeses, self-betraying yeses and unexamined yeses. There were rash yeses, self-harming yeses and... [more]
Blessing at the Burning Bush
You will have to decide
if you want this—
want the blessing
that comes to you
on an ordinary day
when you are minding
your own path,
bent on the task before you
that you have done
a hundred times,
a thousand.
You will have to choose
for yourself
whether you will attend
to... [more]