Waiting for Milton

Two helpful voices as the hurricane approaches Florida

From left, Sanibel Assistant Police Chief Mike Sawicki, City Manager Dana Souza, and Fire Chief Kevin Barbot

To hear the related 5-minute audio file that I uploaded today as my Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa devices, please click on the play button:

Mirabai Star and Dana Souza

At 3 a.m. today I was checking the track of Hurricane Milton.

I also reread this passage from Mirabai Starr’s new book, Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life as Sacred Ground:

Connecting to that divine presence inside you does not, I’m afraid, rescue you from the human predicament, however, lifting you to some elevated perch from which you can dispassionately observe the poor slobs suffering below. Rather, when you plant yourself in the ground of what is, your capacity to be present to all of life expands. Refining your faculty of perception allows you to feel everything, to feel deeply and even intensely, and yet also not drown in the experience. When we practice this kind of sacred seeing, we are able to perceive the world as its best, overflowing with grace. Sometimes broken grace, destabilizing and aggravating, but real and beautiful. (Emphasis added.)

You can listen to Mirabai’s reading of those words on today’s Morning Journal audio. She recited the passage during last night’s second session of her online course, “Awaken the Mystic Within.”

Her words helped me to get back to sleep.

Yesterday, Sanibel City Manager Dana Souza led a briefing on the evacuation of the island we call home and the curfew which went into effect there last night at 10.

Dana closed with this:

Our message today is not to scare you.

It’s to prepare you for a scary storm that is coming our way. The forces of Mother Nature that are related to this storm are very strong, very significant, and can cause significant damage, catastrophic damage, to our community.

So if you haven’t evacuated Sanibel, please do so now.

I want to see all of you on the other side of this storm, safe and sound, in just a few days.

So please take the time to prepare and evacuate Sanibel.

Thank you.

My plan for today is to avoid The Weather Channel and take my folding chair and Kindle Paperwhite to the beach for a while.

Seeing the real and beautiful in broken grace?

For the millions who have evacuated their homes in Florida, I am sure that’s a tall order today. One worth hoping for. And prayers, too.