Constitution Marsh

Constitution Marsh- Garrison, NY

There is much I could say about the past month and "where I've been"... but to speak of the holy, I look not to the grand narrative, but to the moment, standing on a boardwalk in the center of Constitution Marsh on the Hudson River, the moment when two mallards- one turquoise chested- break suddenly from the dim-lit waters and rise together over the swaying cattail reeds.  Ah, epiphany--  that moment when we are standing with our six and eight year old daughters, watching the graceful dive of a heron or the flash of red on blackbird's wing, surrounded by snowy mountains. We hear the chickadee cry, and answer back; we are listening, reverent and still.

I know nothing here of guns or destruction.  I do not dream of those things which haunt me, on the shores of these peaceful waters.  And yet as the sun settles in the crimson sky, a bald eagle flies above toward the tall gray walls of West Point across the river. The view from this murky swamp strikes us as mythological, like the Dead Marshes and the mountains of Mordor in Tolkien's Middle Earth.  These are the fearsome eagle-nested shores of our beloved America-- and today we stand in the midst of our own mythology, pledging allegiance to our planet.

Sunset over the Hudson River, photo by Camille, age 8

I speak of these things on Martin Luther King and Inauguration weekend, and on a weekend when Unitarian Universalists begin their season of spiritual journey for social justice-- called "Standing on the Side of Love".  But I begin to walk this journey- not from a worship hall or a protest line- but from the swampy waters of my homeland with the people I call family.

Constitution Marsh is part of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.   And so this seems the perfect place to begin a march for love-- in a place of sanctuary, a place that means protection. Perhaps in these dark times this is what we are all asking-- what will protect us and keep us safe?  And what is our symbol of freedom-- guns glowing like precious rings? ...Or bold eagles with free-flying wings?

May these days of standing for justice reveal more deeply the Love that is the antidote to fear. May we open our hearts and seek sanctuary in our interrelatedness with all living things.


*This post is part 1 of a series-- Exploring Standing on the Side of Love with my family.