📩 From 2024: A Reply

Re:

Sidewalk chalk on a misty afternoon in front of the UWS Pizza Collective

Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
No one was there.
—Irish Proverb via Rosamunde Pilcher

✍️ January 1, 2024

Dearest Jenny et al,

Thank you for writing to me, and more importantly, thank you for hosting!

You know me too well: of course, I come bearing surprises. I can’t just give you the good ones, because they are all part of the fabric of life. So, yes, I will bring some chaos, as my friends and I do, but I will bring gifts as well—don’t worry.

I will bring clues too; I heard you loud and clear. I’ve got you. Don’t worry too much. The worry doesn’t help. Have faith. I know that’s your word for this year, and it is going to be that kind of year . . . again.

I understand you are not exactly eager to meet me. That’s okay. I know these last few years have disappointed you a bit and challenged you in ways you didn’t see coming. I’m part of a phase that has required everything you—and everyone else—has got, and much, much more. Only at the point of exhaustion can people give up their old ways and embrace new ones.

I know it has been a tough few years, four to be precise. I know your responsibilities increased significantly, and that I only just barely equipped you with the skills to meet them. But you have come this far, and you have been doing a beautiful job.

Yes, you have been down, but I see you doing your best to pull yourself back up. I thank you for doing that out loud so others can too.

While I can’t promise to bring you ease or abundance quite yet, if you hang on until my friend 2025 arrives, which I know you can, good things will follow.

Haven’t I always shown you what to do next? I have. The phrase, “Everything happens for a reason” has gone out of fashion, rightfully so, given all the tragedy and suffering in the world. We can take a page out of

Kate Bowler

’s body of work and simplify to Everything Happens.

That we know for sure. So, no, I won’t tell you everything happens for a reason, but I can tell you that there are many things to learn about yourself, from everything, if you don’t judge the events or people I’m bringing prematurely. It’s more important than ever to be kind to yourself and others.

I feel good, and I want you to feel good too, in spite of it all—alongside of it all. You shared a mantra your brother passed along, “survive ‘til 25” — that’s a good one!

I want to tell you things will get easier this year, but I am not so sure that is the word I would use. Things will be this year, as they always are. I hope you can find a sense of humor in it all, a sense of play, a sense of delight, and even light. Keep working on your craft. Continue following your creativity. Shine.

Have faith. And hang on tight. Or rather, don’t hang on at all. Surrender, and let yourself be carried. Lift the oars. As Mary Oliver wrote, “Lift the oars from the water, let your arms rest, and your heart, and heart’s little intelligence, and listen to me.”

Drop things that no longer fit you or your life or your home frequency, as your dear friend

Penney Peirce

taught you.¹ It’s okay. It’s all okay.

I love you, and I hope you will love me too.

“‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well’ . . . This was said so tenderly, without blame of any kind toward me or anybody else.”
—Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (1373)

Yours,
✨ 2024

P.S. Remember these favorite songs of yours? Listen when you need to, and trust where this year’s wild horses and I are taking you.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

1. Listen to the full 12-episode Penney & Jenny series on Spotify for more of Penney’s brilliant wisdom on topics like intuition, flow, soul groups, embracing liminal space, leaving toxic relationships, and the highest home frequency of all—self-entertainment: