Thank you, Wendell Berry.
I have not had opportunity to write since Berry’s September death. One of my literary mentors, his writing has taught me much, not only his essays but his fiction, a fiction that is laced with his insightful (and Biblical) environmental philosophy. So with gratitude for his life and work, and praying peace to his memory, I lead with one of his more famous poems, “The Peace of Wild Things.”
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
I deeply need this perspective; how about you? No doubt the world has often seemed ‘going to hell in a handbasket,’ yet it is certainly as true now as ever. Racism, political polarization, environmental degradation, breakdown of community, systemic injustice, incessant war, preventable hunger, homelessness, philosophical estrangement, refugee displacement, poisoned air, overflowing prisons, glorified misogyny, poverty, infidelity, drug abuse, gun violence. It tires me out just to list them, and that is just a beginning. Misplaced priorities, corporate greed, civil conflict, corporal punishment, GMO foods, consumerism, untruths touted as truths, health care deserts, xenophobia, fear of AI run amok, suicide, lack of care for the mentally ill. May I stop now? Please? How can one not believe in evil? I cannot tell you how often I have had people ask me, “What are we to do in this difficult time?” or “What is a faithful response as moral people, let alone as followers of Jesus?”
Wendell Berry’s poem provides an answer for those courageous and open enough to find it. Because the truth of the matter is that while all this is going on, nature can help sustain us, can steady us to persevere in hope, strengthen us to keep serving and loving others, and recreate us to find meaning in the context of an evil and difficult world. While all mentioned in the above paragraph dogs us, the ‘music of the spheres’ still resounds, God’s gravity still holds us to the earth and the sun still shines and the good rains still fall (on the righteous AND the unrighteous, as Jesus reminded us -- Matthew 5:45). The earth does not swallow us up, birds still sing, beauty still takes our breath away, oxygen flows throughout our bodies, flowers still bloom for us and plants still do their remarkable nourishing work. In spite of all that works against it, goodness can prevail.
What are we to do in this difficult time? Three Bible verses help me and give me great courage of late, ones I find myself often sharing with others:
Be children of God in this warped and perverse generation so that you might shine like stars in the sky (Philippians 2:15, alt.).
Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to justice will shine like the stars forever (Daniel 12:3).
(Jesus said,) “You are the light of the world… Let your light shine (Matthew 5:14-16, alt.).”
~~ Be Light, RGM,
November 14, 2026
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