2/18/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Is everything ok? Your schedule is blank & you didn’t have any mentions in the WP today. Maybe that’s for the best.

According to your calendar you are at the beach in DE. Google says it’s sunny there. I hope you get to go for a bike ride & have some fun.

            I am heading off to Quaker meeting soon where I will sit in silence listening for the still small voice. Do you ever hear it?

            I wonder how to help folks appreciate the value in waiting quietly for illusive hints from the Divine. Yesterday a Friend used the metaphor of a paywall to talk about this practice, where a request for payment prevents you from learning the details of an intriguing idea.

            During a conversation with another Friend, I found myself talking about my perpetual state of seeking. Blaise Pascal’s writes about it in terms of the “God-shaped hole.” I wish I had Marilyn Robinson (MSR)’s gift for words to discuss how “the world is self-evidently miraculous, but only rarely do we pay it the attention it deserves.”

Did you know MSR wrote letters to OHB? I learned that by reading David Marchese interview with her in the NYT. By the way, she considers you a gift of God.

            Don’t let that go to your head because she believes we all are.

            When talking to another Friend yesterday I reminded her that no one is “good.” We all have that of God in us, but also that of the devil. I also shared I am not really sure who or what God is. I think MR has some confusion about God, too. She told DM, “my theological question is how to reconcile the cruelty of the world with the idea of God’s omnipotence.”

            Perhaps you share that question.

            MSR says that “our wellbeing is something that is achieved collectively by encouraging other people to do beautiful things.” So, please remind VVP, VOZ, Bibi & MAH that WINTA. It’s time to have some imagination, get creative & do something beautiful rather than drop bombs!

            BYBS,