Disney made famous the song “It’s a small world.” Milwaukee is known as big city with small town environment where everyone knows everyone. Many a time talking to a Milwaukee native like myself I have discovered some type of connection. Today the small world and small town came together in an international way. Today I talked with my brother in Iowa, my nephew in Texas, my friend from Sierra Leone whose brother is coming to Milwaukee tomorrow, my friends from India who lead the Pilgrimage of Peace; Walk in the Footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi who are in town for a visit, and talked in person or by phone or emails with friends in Milwaukee, USA and around the world.

Our small worlds via the means of technological communications have become international. It is hard to be grounded in such an ever-changing small world. I mentioned in yesterday’s post Naturally Poor how I felt “painfully full of self”. This happens in a small world when one is not grounded. Besides what I mentioned yesterday, trying to live in solidarity with poor, what keeps me grounded is when I live in the present and work in the garden.

I still had a hangover of painful feeling of self today until I met at a farmer’s market a young man who had just started a garden center on the Westside, which has been my residence all my days living in Milwaukee, who was interested in the same thing as I was, Growing Renewable Affordable Food G.R.A.F. and had the means and motivation to do it. After coming home and working with the soil in my garden and compost pile my feeling of wholeness and being grounded returned.

The other way of being grounded and seeing the big picture in a busy small world is to live in the present. Preparing for our Faith In Recovery, spirituality and mental health gathering after church, I reread an extract from a book called Bread & Water, Wine & Oil. The author says: “We can only meet God in the present moment. This is an area where God chooses to places limits on His (Her) own power. We choose whether or not to live in the present moment. Because we can encounter God only in that present moment, whenever we live in the past or in the future, we place ourselves beyond His (Her) reach.” (Archimandrite Meletios Webber in Bread & Water, Wine & Oil — Concilar Press). This statement reminded me of many quotes of Thomas Merton in which he talks about the silence of the here and now.

Putting working in the garden together with living in the present moment we find a well of wholeness and a way to be grounded and healthy in mind, body and soul no matter how small or busy our world may be.

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