Zoom hosted the 2020 Janet Henton Brunch, an annual gathering of the over-16 females of my family. This is a loose tradition held sometime between Christmas and New Years in memory of my mother, Janet Henton. It’s a “loose” tradition because the family is spread across Ohio, Massachusetts, and Montana. Several years have passed since all “eligible” members were together.
Thanks to COVID and Zoom, we could get together this year. There were ten of us.
Conversation ranges across family, the previous year, stories and memories about Mom. And there is also the sharing of hopes for the new year.
This year, most of us cautiously offered hopes for the year. We treaded lightly over the word goal. A couple of us noted that we could have plans, but had learned to hold those plans “with an open hand.”
If there’s anything to learn from 2020, it’s “Hold plans with an open hand.”
Congo taught me to “hold plans with an open hands.” Rainstorms sometimes delayed the start of the school day by three hours. Carefully-planned faculty development sessions crumbled on at least five occasions that I recall. Civil unrest, the threat of military attacks, and Ebola required evacuations. The US embassy denied visas for deserving students and faculty. Taxi drivers and business leaders declared ville morte and shut down the entire city to protest the government’s lack of response to violence.
An open hand can accept the gifts of that posture.
Holding plans with an open hand invites serenity despite circumstances.
Holding plans with an open hand admits, “I’m not in control, and that’s probably not a bad thing.”
Holding plans with an open hand acknowledges vulnerability and cracks open the door to humility.
Holding plans with an open hand opens the heart to grace and the mind to what could not have been imagined.
Thank you to my daughters and nieces for reminding me to hold plans “with an open hand.”