I can across a bumper sticker recently that said Plant Seeds & Sing Songs. I loved it so much I bought it and stuck it on my journal. What a great reminder of how to live in this world - nurture life and harmonize with it.
There are people in our community who truly live this way, including Bill and Lisa Kerr whose garden takes the form of a dental clinic. With a vision to provide care for those who can’t afford it, they rallied friends, politicians and associates together - like a good old fashion barn-raising - and within a year created a fully functioning office manned by professionals who volunteer their expertise and time. It’s amazing – no, it’s exciting what we can do here.
Haliburton is one of the poorest counties in the province yet there are so many who lend a hand to help others, and it’s not always to those less fortunate. Some of the givers don’t even have that much of their own.
What is it to be rich or poor? Is it strictly a financial calculation? Of course not. I think it not only has to do with close relationships but also with a feeling of liberation. Nelson Mandela, for one, has shown us that freedom is strictly a state of mind. A man can physically be in prison and still be free if he doesn’t let hate and fear enter. And that can only happen, I think, if his heart’s desire remains focused on nurturing all life.
When our focus is to nurture, our heart overflows and everything in its path flourishes. When our focus is on taking care of our needs, it’s overwhelming how they can continuously arise and never be satisfied.
Nature abhors a vacuum, so if we are generating patience, kindness and imagination, there is no room for despair or neediness to settle in. Funny, I never thought in these terms before: nature abhorring a vacuum. But it makes so much sense. If you’re not generating love, or even fear for that matter, you’re open to whatever comes your way. Sometimes that may be beneficial and other times it may be detrimental, there’s no telling, and that can cause a lot of anxiety. If you are generating love, tragedy may take you down but it will never sink you because the knowledge of life’s goodness will always float you back up.
Generating love aligns us with the creative forces of life. It’s not about being optimistic and choosing to see the good in all; it comes from a deeper place of belonging, of knowing who you are and where you come from. My nephew just had his initiation into the Jewish faith, and this is how I expressed some of these ideas to him.
Geoffrey, in becoming a Bar Mitzvah Boy you have learned that with hard work and determination you can stand on your own two feet.
You count now, and as you come face to face with the many obstacles Life will put in your way, look down and see that those two feet are firmly planted on your ancestors’ shoulders. With their help, every stumbling block will become a stepping stone, not to perfection, but to wholeness.
Remember, Geoffrey, our People have endured through millennia of suffering because we have embraced all that life has to offer with patience, kindness and imagination.
Our path is rich. Our path is lively. Our path is home.
Our path is now yours to dance on.
Plant seeds and sing songs: what a succinct way to sum up the simplicity of a sustainable and joyful way to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment