In retirement, one of my service activities is to serve as the caretaker of the buildings and grounds of our Quaker Meeting property. I oversee all scheduled needs for repairs and routine maintenance and secure tradespeople to do work required. I recently found a new electrician to do electrical when it’s needed. He’s a “hidden gem” in my book because 1), he answers his phone and returns my texts, and 2), he gets the job done when he says he will!

Probably not the kind of “hidden gem” answer folks had in mind to today’s question. But sometimes it’s the ordinary, everyday, unflashy elements of daily living that stand out the most and ultimately do the most good.

This is a great question with so many ways to approach it. One way, which I will focus on, is how people around town and across the world are becoming increasingly alarmed and engaged in the need to protect our planet before it’s too late. From the expanding efforts to recycle, repurpose, address pollution and reduce our carbon footprint across the world, regardless of geographical, cultural, national and ethnic boundaries, people are coming together to work, protest and demand that changes are made to address these increasingly dire concerns. The work at hand may be the primary focus, but in so doing it is also bringing us as a people the world over closer together.

Such a great question today! Yet, upon reading the question I realize that I do not have any clear sense in my own head and heart if I actually have convictions that have not been given voice. It’s not that I don’t have convictions, because I do and they have already found their voice.

But today’s question is still a very good one for me to ponder. It encourages me to dust-off the convictions I presently hold that contribute to making me who I am and to see if any are still hiding in the shadows.

Today’s question seems like a near-repeat of several other daily questions just recently. That point aside, for some reason what immediately jumped into my head upon reading today’s question was the popular hymn, “Finlandia” and most especially it’s lyrics. For anyone who has had the opportunity to sing this hymn in a house of worship will understand how the melody and words touch upon the deeper meaning of today’s question. Here’s the song:

“This Is My Song” (Finnlandia)

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.