The Gift of Perspective

May 1 is the memorial of St. Joseph the worker and also the name day of Sr. Jeremy Dempsey, who died on May 15. As I continue to reflect on her life, I realize that one of the gifts she offered me was perspective. During many of our visits, after we discussed the world’s woes, she would inevitably say, “Well, there must be something good in the world,” and our conversation would turn to the beauty of nature or kindnesses we had witnessed or the way people used their skills and gifts. Thus she taught me that while problems, disappointments, and frustrations need to be acknowledged and addressed, we don’t have to let them overwhelm us by dwelling on them. We can choose what we attend to.

I believe that Sr. Jeremy gained this ability to keep things in perspective by being rooted in the land and in the Word of God. People who grow up in farming communities learn that some years the harvest will be abundant and other years it will be stunted by poor weather conditions or disease; you have to support each other as best you can in the hard times and trust that the earth will yield its fruit again. The very cycle of the seasons teaches us that everything that lives goes through a cycle of new life, growth, harvest, and death; to resist the dying process is to delay the advent of new growth that is to come.

Likewise, the Psalms take us on a continual cycle of lamentation and rejoicing, complaint and thanksgiving. Yet we always end up at the same place: trusting in the God of wisdom and might who loves us, guides us, and won’t leave us in the pit of despair.

The current pandemic has shown us the brokenness of our world. We need to acknowledge that, but instead of dwelling on it, we can choose to place our hope in the way so many people have responded with selflessness, care, creativity, compassion, and humor. It is in our power to mend what is broken. Humans have faced tremendous worldwide challenges before and have always—incrementally and with great struggle, to be sure—been able to resolve environmental threats, quell aggression, address disparities in wealth, and improve the quality of life for greater and greater numbers of people. By keeping our perspective and drawing on the strength of God’s Spirit, we will survive this crisis and learn yet again to rejoice in the gifts of the earth and each other.