“May 29, May 29, May 29,” I have been singing naively in my head since about, well, since about January.

Monday was “Sine Die,” the last day of the Texas Lege regular session, their 140 days of what has often felt like brutal assaults against our religiously pluralist society and most especially against our trans members.

But on Monday, the governor announced that the end was in fact NOT the end, and he was calling a special session not for a couple of issues that didn’t pass, but for many.

The Lieutenant-Governor sent to the governor his own list of priorities for the special session, including bills concerning prayer time in public schools, and drag queen story times.

And on the national level the Supreme Court of the United States is poised to give their verdicts on several cases that have many of us worried.

Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind

I will admit it, folks: I feel tantrum-y. I am exhausted by worry and the effort it takes some days to fight off despair. I want lazy days of summer where our politicians seem to disappear for at least a bit, and where I don’t feel that my attention is constantly required, lest worse litigation will be passed without a fight.

What this means, of course, is that I’m arguing with reality, wanting it to not be what it is. But you know what? In a fight between me versus reality, reality wins 100% of the time.

There is another reality though, that exists simultaneously with the reality of life in Texas being really hard right now. As Unitarian Universalist minister Rev. Wayne Arnason reminds us, we can take courage because we are not alone.

If you are also feeling tantrum-y or heartsick or exhausted … you are not alone. We have each other, and we have a vast network of others who support the same things we do, like human dignity, bodily autonomy, and respect for religious diversity. Last week, I met with a minister in a blue state, who wants to find a way for our two congregations to be partnered, so that we don’t feel so alone in our particular reality.

Our intern minister, who was already great when she got here and who has grown even more in her ministerial instincts, knows the weight that all of this is putting on us, and has planned something special for this Sunday:

Things are so hard right now because we care so much. We are struggling because we have answered the call to build a better world where everyone is seen and valued. I do believe we are called to do this work and to care but we aren’t called to hold so much. We aren’t responsible for the pain being caused or the harm that is felt. We alone aren’t holding up the world. We have each other, we have the earth, and we have that which transcends self. This Sunday we will hold space to honor all that we are carrying and to ritually release that which is not ours to hold.  — Carrie Holley-Hurt

Take courage, Friends. And join us Sunday.