EARTHLY KING, HEAVENLY KING

 

It's almost time for the next No Kings Day, Saturday March 28.  I wouldn't miss it.  I hope you can participate too.  Not that what we have is a King.  Kings can be benevolent, wise, concerned for the good the their country.  But not dictators, or the Mad King, the wannabe tyrant.  

We are at the coast and will be for No Kings.   I will attend in the neighboring Town of Beaufort, on the Newport River alongside Beaufort Inlet.  Being here changes one's perspective.  Vastness does that, doesn't it?  Far horizons, dark skies, eternity all around.  Go outside any night and look up.  It's a comfort, like an embrace.  A feeling we need these days. 

From time to time I read Robert Reich on Substack.  Professor, political commentator, and former Secretary of Labor, Reich reminds us that tyranny cannot succeed where people refuse to submit to it.  And that's what we're doing, day-by-day and each time a No Kings comes around--refusing to submit.   We rally, we find joy in knowing that we are millions.  

We gather to show that our communities won't submit to a police state.  We won't tolerate anyone who protects pedophiles.  Or tolerate arrest without due process.  We gather because the opening words of our Constitution's Preamble are "We the People," not "I the President."  We gather so that those who follow Mr. Wannabe become more worried about losing our support than his.  

We gather out of respect.  If we are people of faith, we gather because our faith asks that of us.  If we are Christian, we honor one king only, our Heavenly King of Kings and Lord of Lords:  the One who keeps His promises, who asks those who need help to approach boldly, who changes not.  The Heavenly King who every spring sacrifices that we might be saved.  Our resistance says, "You may be a greedy billionaire who thinks to rule by fear.  Not me, not my neighbor, not today, not ever."  

I ask God to help and guide me.     In Peace, Nina Naomi

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFRESH PART II

 This is a different kind of refresh.  Over the years I've written about museum days, those days when you can join any century mid-stream and hang out with Dutch Masters, French Impressionists, whomever you want.  What about today taking a break with Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986).

Earlier this spring we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico and visited the O'Keeffe museum and sights.  On assignment for LOOK magazine (anyone remember LOOK?), photographer Tony Vaccaro took this picture of O'Keeffe in 1960 in her Abiquiú house.

Most of us think of O'Keeffe as the person who painted large flowers.  The artist disputed male critics who saw the blooms as depictions of female genitalia. They're flowers, she said.  I make them large so you can see them.  We must agree.  What great female artist wants Freud as her muse?  An interpretation that is gendered and outdated.  Although for me as a woman, the idea of our bodies flowering can also be quite lovely. No contradiction, I think. 

Red Canna, 1919

Untitled Abstraction, 1970s

But her range is much wider.  This abstraction was painted when O'Keeffe was in her 90s and apparently reveals small hand tremors in the movement of the brush.  Then, years before, Geranium Leaves in a Pink Dish, 1938, so clear and round where the other shapes in Abstraction add curves and verticality.  

Oil on Wood Panel

Today we went to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh and found another O'Keeffe.  Art, poetry, music, the wind in the trees, orange and yellow leaves covering my back patio, chili in the crock pot, family coming to dinner--so many ways to refresh ourselves.  

 

Yesterday was NO KINGS and 7,000,000 people across America protested the authoritarian policies of Donald Trump.  Our demonstration in Durham was a wonder.  We were 7,000 marchers--one out of every 1000 demonstrators was right here in my city.

 

Thank you world.  I am refreshed.       Nina Naomi 

 

OH TREES. "I WOULD ALMOST SAY THEY SAVE ME, AND DAILY" Mary Oliver

OH TREES.  "I WOULD ALMOST SAY THEY SAVE ME, AND DAILY" Mary Oliver

 "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."  Ecclesiastes 3"4

Winter Trees

We learn in Mindfulness that all emotions are valid.  How we feel counts.  Many of us feel sad about America.  Sad about our future and sad about the two men at the top, Musk and Trump.  Sad too about the lovelies they have appointed to our most sensitive posts: health, education, budget, defense, state and national security.

Sad that park rangers are being let go.  Sad that Federal workers must resign or be fired.  Sad that grants for cancer research are blocked in universities in every state, from Mississippi to Maine.  Sad that funds from USAID are no longer feeding victims of famine, war and genocide.  Sad that children are being punished for their gender, over which, God help us, they have no control. Sad that Trump, in trademark projection, called Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky a dictator. 

We need to resist.  On President's Day--what protesters from every state called No Kings Day--I saw a sign that read "They're eating the CHECKS, they're eating the BALANCES."  Another, "FIRE ELON."  And a third, closer to home, "Fake Christians, REAL EVIL." 

But we also need antidotes to sadness.  My antidote is to go outside.  Poet Mary Oliver says about trees, "I would almost say they save me, and daily." 

On 'No Kings Day' the trees saved me.  I went into the woods to move wild Hellebores from where I can't see them to right by my door.  Often called the Christmas or Lenten rose, they bloom near Holy Days to remind us of birth and resurrection.

Hellebores

That afternoon it was 60 degrees and muddy.  I fell to my knees and dug up as many as I could from deep in our woods where they flourish without fear of hungry deer, since root, stem and flower are all poisonous.  Even the squirrels leave them alone.  

What does this mean?  If they survive the deer and squirrels, maybe their beauty is meant for us, we with minds and hearts to look for consolation in the beauty of creation that lies at our door.

Maybe while we do whatever we must to protect our democracy, we can go outdoors and be sheltered by the trees.  We can gain strength from the roses presaging Easter and the beautiful white snow surprising us today.  All of us need comfort.  All of us need faith that while it is a time to mourn, sometime it will be time to dance. 

For such a time, let us pray to the Lord.  Until then, Lord have mercy.

In peace, Nina Naomi.