My daughter and I have made our way to a farm once again! This is spring break week for Meadville Lombard (where I attend seminary) and my daughter is in virtual school, so we’ve taken a couple days to get outside of Lakeland, to relax, and to get some work done! This time, we are at a horse farm in Dade City– not too far away, but far enough that it feels, and sounds, like a different world.

The cacophony of animal sounds makes me laugh. Dogs, sheep, horses, roosters, peacocks, cows, crows, and some various songbirds flying about decorate our time here with a multitude of sounds. There is a steady chorus of cicadas in the background. The more I listen, the more I hear. Wait– the squirrels have something to say, too! And I can’t forget the flies buzzing around me… There’s never a moment of complete silence, not even way out here, down this long and bumpy gravel road in the country. At times it seems as if these various species of animals are talking to each other for there are moments when they are all chattering, or singing, at once. I wonder if they are actually listening to one another?

In these moments I hold so much gratitude. These moments allow me to get away from the everyday rhythms of life so I am reminded once again to do the things that really matter and that will lead us towards love. One of these things is to listen to everyone’s unique voice and to communicate with my own unique voice, as well.

When we are listening to many different voices it may seem like a cacophony, like something disharmonious. But within that chaos is where beauty lives! That is where the potential for creation and possibility lie. As adrienne maree brown writes in her book Emergent Strategy:

And notice who challenges you, who makes the edges of your ideas grow and fortify. I find that my best work has happened during my most challenging collaborations, because there are actual differences that are converging and creating more space, ways forward that serve more than one worldview (159).

There are a multitude of paths towards justice. Listen to your unique calling and then listen to others, even those that are very different and especially those from folx on the margins who don’t often have a voice. Think about how we can fit these ways together to work towards a future that embraces the reality of our interdependence.