I’ve been thinking about Karen Bass and Rick Caruso this morning and how it must feel to have the election over but the election result still undecided.  After months of hard campaigning they finally reached the finish line on election day.  The next day, I imagine they wake up still in campaign mode, ready to ask their staff what’s on the calendar and get to work.  But there’s nothing to do.  There’s nothing they can do.  All the votes are in.  They don’t know whether they will win, or lose.  But nothing they can do the day after the election makes any difference.  Fate uncertain, but out of their hands.

Of course the same is true for all the candidates in races still undecided today.  But more importantly, the position of some crucial, potentially life-changing situation, being beyond our power to influence, is a reality we all face from time to time.  In Unitarian Universalism we affirm the power of individuals, but I always am careful to say we are “strong enough” to do what we need to do, not that we are all-powerful.

It’s spiritually healthy to recognize the limits of our power.  There is much we can do to change our lives, to help others, to work for justice, but there are also limits to all of that: simple misfortune, friends we can hold in compassion but not heal, justice that, at least for now, is beyond our reach.  Spiritual health comes is seeing where we can be effective, and doing what we can, and also stepping back with equanimity when we can’t.