“Joy is not in the circumstance, but in the response. The sun rises every day, like it or not. Being entranced by it is a choice.” Rev. Peggy Clark.
Peggy’s life and ministry is all about justice. Every kind of justice from climate justice to racial justice to economic justice and everything in between. She marches, protests, writes her representatives, plans actions, shows up as an ally for other group’s actions, preaches about justice making, and will be the first to sound the alarm. She is also a wife, mother, and a deeply religious person. Her work and her life are not partitioned. They are all woven together.
I found her words about joy being a response to be profound words. I trust them given the work and life Peggy is committed to. The world will always break our hearts into a million little pieces. And the sun will rise every day. Beauty will shine right alongside the heartbreak.
In today’s world when so many things break our hearts and leave us despairing, so many things have to be a choice. “Joy” is one of those choices. As is being entranced by beauty. The choice is yours. Choose joy.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev. Lo