A friend sent me this Mary Oliver meditation in their holiday letter and it’s journeyed with me in the months since, an encouragement to embrace joy even while there’s so much anguish in the world. I shared it yesterday with a women’s group at Edina Morningside and Linden Hills UCC, and post it here in case you seek permission or need the reminder: “Joy is not made to be a crumb.”

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Mary Oliver