Wellness

Julian's revelation of "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner things shall be well"  does sound simplistic. However,  I have come to believe this encouragement takes a great deal of courage to live into. It is both an invitation to live fully in trust, and a prayer that we can lean on. It is a reminder that the love and light of the living Christ cannot be extinguished, regardless of what we try to do to it.  

Julian was born in Norwich in 1342.  It has been helpful for me to be reminded that this time in England was mostly miserable. Famine, plague, war, and fear ruled, and much  of that despair, including the stench of dead, decaying, burned, and  beheaded bodies would pass right by her window. Yet, she learned to trust that what was also being revealed to her was eternal Divine Love. As illogical as it seemed, and yes, she struggled with it, she learned to trust the truth and depth of this statement.  She came to understand that "when God 'looks' at humanity, God 'sees' Jesus Christ (Veronica Mary Rolf, An Explorer's Guide to Julian of Norwich, p. 134)."  Jesus' blood is our own. We are that loved. 

It is pretty easy to despair.  Sin and evil can still be found in great plenitude, and there seems to be much work to be done, and undone.  Yet, trusting that all will be well can give us strength for whatever earthly and mundane task God gives us.  God does not need us to strive to be great or heroic. God needs us to believe that the way to divine wholeness and unity can be found.  It is always being revealed if we learn to look. 

So let us rejoice even further 

that we dwell within God. 

For our spirits are made to be  

God's resting place, 

and our spirits' rest is in God who is unmade. 

   

All Will Be Well 

compiled by Richard Chilson 
photograph:  the humble geranium. Mountain View, March 2019