No doubt you, like many of your neighbors, feel overwhelmed by the day’s relentless reminders of the world’s problems – cruelty, poverty, environmental destruction – that seem beyond our individual ability to solve. That’s the time to pause and look to the sky; if you’re lucky, you are rewarded with one of nature’s spectacular displays, a reminder that you, like those birds, are not alone, but part of a swirling, shape-shifting community.

The Reverend Carol McKinley is an affiliated community minister with the Olympia UU Congregation. She officially retired two years ago, but remains active in her congregation, as a guest speaker, and with Concerned Clergy of Olympia, the multifaith organization which seeks to bring people together to act with deeper understanding and compassion to potentially divisive issues in our community.