Another unexpected path

So, I was thinking about Thanksgiving and gratitude and the sometimes daunting tasks facing those with a concern about social justice in the world today in the wake of the tragedies that have given rise to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the fight for women’s rights and reproductive health after the #PlannedParenthood shooting (and the intersection of the two in that the white shooter in the latter -- a cop-killer -- was apprehended alive when unarmed and unquestionably innocent black people have wound up dead in very much less dangerous circumstances).

With all of that to work with, I had thought that this week’s post might be more Quaker and less Shim Gum Do. But I was okay with that and was going to run with it.

Until I discovered that Sa Bu Nim wants my final edits on all 100 poems of the forthcoming book done post-haste.

So this week is the Shim Poetry Do -- at least until that’s done

It took precedence over sword training Monday & today. Hopefully with better time management on my part (especially now that I know that the deadline is Friday) I’ll be able to make it to class tomorrow and Thursday. 

Fortunately I’m in something of a holding pattern: I’ve learned all of the forms I can until I advance to Yellow Belt but the next test isn’t until the middle of January. So as I told Chong Kwan Ja Nim tonight, I have nothing to do but obsess over getting all the details correct for the next month.

In the interim, I shared with a friend a part of one of my personal daily prayers a while back and it seems appropriate to share all of it here this week. It’s a reworking of the Serenity Prayer (and subject to ongoing editing):

God,

Grant me the wisdom to know the difference,

between the things that I can change and those that I cannot.

The strength and courage to change the things I can,

and the fortitude to take on daunting tasks,

knowing that your Spirit and the people You have put in my life will sustain me.

And the serenity to accept that not all burdens are mine, as I am in this moment, to shoulder,

as well as the understanding that things that today may seem like failure may, in fact, represent great progress.