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Putting God Back in the Center
"Well of Mercy is the future.” That is what came to me as I turned onto the gravel road leading to this sacred, gorgeous place.
And then I started thinking about the world we live in. It is easy to become distracted by all that is not right: how freely insults and ugly words are thrown around, how quickly we choose sides, how often fear drives our interactions and decisions. And, to put the cherry on top of this big, depressing sundae, many of us genuinely want to do better.
We just don’t agree on what “better” looks like.
Some say we need more tolerance. Others say we need to be louder about what we believe. Some say we need to talk to people who are different from us. Others say we shouldn’t fraternize with the “enemy.” Some say we need to learn to listen. Others insist there isn’t much worth listening to.
So how in the world do we navigate these charged and complicated times?
I am certainly no expert. But I do know this: when I am whipped up over an issue, politics, or anything else, I am in no position to have a faithful conversation with someone who sees things differently than I do. I am not even in a good position to faithfully express my own point of view. And I am certainly not in a good position to bear the pushback that comes when we try to live as compassionate, merciful people.
So, for perhaps the first time, when someone asks me, “How can we all just get along?” I find myself compelled to answer:
We can’t. And, maybe “getting along” is not the goal. Maybe healing is the goal. This is where Well of Mercy shines!
Here, instead of using our mouths to speak our minds, we use our ears to listen. We listen to the birdsong. The crickets. The creek. The wind moving through the trees. And, occasionally, the hum of whatever earworm has taken up residence in my head.
The silence gives us room to step back from our own chatter and our need to make a point. It helps us loosen our grip on the things that constantly try to lure us in—even our phones.
And somewhere in that quiet, we can begin to let go: our opinions, our egos, our frustrations, our certainty that we already know the answer. Then we can return to the spiritual basics.
Prayer. Meditation. Scripture. Spiritual reading. Worship. Silence. All those things that take us out of the center of our own lives and put God back in the center.
So if the state of the world is leaving you in a state of despair, perhaps our best response is not to add more noise to the noise but to return to the truths we practice here:
All are welcome.
God is love.
Mercy matters.
Silence has something to teach us.
And we are not the center of the universe.
And, for goodness’ sake, get outside and look up. Look at the sunshine. Look at the trees. Look at the sky. Look long enough, and you may discover that while you are looking, you are being seen.
God is there. God will meet you in the quiet, shape your heart, soften what has become hardened, and calm what has become frantic. Not because everything is suddenly fixed. But because you are no longer facing it alone. Let the healing begin.
That is the future I believe in. And it starts here, on a gravel road, in a sacred and gorgeous place called Well of Mercy.
Lea Slaton
Executive Director
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