As I contemplate the greenness around me, the chirping birds at my feeder, the calves kicking up their hooves in the pasture across the way, I feel joy bubbling up in me like an erupting geyser. Spring is a time for joy. Even as the world is embroiled in war, disaster, and conflict, it s possible to be joyful.
In September 1738, Quaker Benjamin Lay, a dwarf barely 4 feet tall, filled an animal bladder with bright red pokeberry juice, then tucked it into the secret compartment of a book. He donned a military uniform and a sword, covered himself in an overcoat that hid the book, and set off from his home in Pennsylvania for New Jersey, where he attended the Yearly Meeting of the most powerful Quakers. Many of these leading Quakers were slave owners.
If there is one concept that runs through all Quaker thought, it is "the Light." We hold each other in the Light; we wait for the Light; we follow the leadings of the Light. Through all the dark years of persecution and imprisonment in the 1600s, the Light protected Friends from despair and bitterness.
Sometimes the little things make a huge difference in life. With all the death and destruction in the world, many people are suffering and grieving from events they have no control over. Considering the magnitude of this suffering, it s easy to overlook the importance of little events.