Keeping the Hearth
by Susan L. Feathers
Many of us are feeling the earth move under our feet. The wave of positivism created by Barack Obama’s Inauguration has now spread out into millions of ripples in the hearts of Americans.
If you are like me, you want to keep that spirit alive and well as we move into the hard work of a future that is less certain than any we have faced together. My life and that of my family have already been impacted by the recession. After moving to Florida to be near my family I must leave again for employment.
Many of us will have to make adjustments in our lives. I have personally struggled these last six months to find balance in my thoughts. How can I remain unplugged from the fears and strife of a world in turmoil yet engaged in positive actions and thoughts that are dynamic and responsive to the ideals Obama eloquently outlined?
In days of old the fire in the hearth was the center of family life. One warmed to it in the morning and returned to it in the nighttime. Over it a bubbling stew or concoction by the woman of the house provided the sustenance to keep on keeping on. Up until the financial crash our hearths had become spread among fast food restaurants, local diners, and places that catered to our mobile lives.
Now many of us are learning to cook once more and families are gathering at the kitchen table together again. This is good, isn’t it? It’s certainly different. We meet at the table like long lost friends who haven’t really had a good conversation in a long time.
But for me as a single woman with grown children, facing another move to a town where no relatives live, I once again have to carry the hearth within me. In the recent comfort of family, I enjoyed the hearths of my sisters and father, a more natural kind of living. Now I must carry the fire with me as the hunter-gatherers once carried a hot stone or ember wrapped in leaves to their next fire.
What I realize is how much we need each other in these times. We need the affable company of friends and the ease of family where no word need be said. This revelation came to me: as the lives we knew crumble away, the good and true can be seen in greater definition. Is this the gift of the times, perhaps even the promise?
So, dear readers, build up your hearth fires by what ever means you can. Invite family and friends to it and just enjoy easy conversation, simple but wholesome meals, and let the light and warmth endure within you.
The hearth is truly within each of us. We can reach out to each other with a helping hand, a steaming mug of coffee, and much needed humor.
The path of acceptance is graced with wisdom and open to new possibilities. Onward!