As I write this many of us are metaphorically holding our breath, praying that a fragile ceasefire may come about in Gaza, that hostages will finally return to their loved ones and relief aid reach those who are starving. For two years we have lit a candle for peace in the Chapel at the Spirituality Centre, and for more than three and a half years we have prayed for peace in Ukraine. During that time we have also held in the Light and our prayers many other situations of conflict and violence, especially in the Sudan.

It's very hard to keep hoping and praying for peace as years pass and situations become more desperate. What is asked of us is faithfulness, and a willingness to not avert our eyes or our attention, but to keep speaking out and acting where we can to encourage those who seek peace.

These words from a poem by the Arab American poet Naomi Shihab Nye speak of the need to be able to hold both kindness and sorrow together in order to live in hope:

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

You can read the whole poem on this website, alongside a poem by the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai.

· What kindness do you notice today?

· What sustains you in times of sorrow?

Alison