A Journey

In life there is so much pain, so many struggles. I know folks who are on the ground, like an old tree in the rain forest. They are talking, feeling, experiencing, and loving. Life is here, now. We are on a journey, hoping, suffering, wondering, thinking, and taking the time to pause. We slow down enough and feel the presence of this world; what resides in it, what our place is in it. We wonder at why we feel the way we do. We visit friends in the hospital, or take the time out of our day to ask about our neighboring struggle; someone that needs love and savors our reflection. We are on a team. Be it ragged and rolling, it is ours, and we are on a journey.

I take my glass of wine across the barley field, speaking with my friend that lives close to the earth. We pause and reflect on the miracle that is around us, even though we as a race seek to destroy it. I then discover that my battery is dead, so we wander over to some shrubbery and crawl in to find a cleared out area under the trees surrounded by the brush. We sit and take ten minutes of silence. I am of the stone people; I hear an answer, and my friend the tree people. The leaves glitter above our heads and the birds chatter around us. I feel like a stone, still and solid, able to ground myself. Sometimes I am inflexible, unable to move with the breeze, but I feel it move around me. Wisdom resides in the undressed silica crystals that I am made of. I feel steadfast resting on the earth, and I have a voice. It is slower and softer than most. It is long lasting. It withstands the elements and speaks on for millennia.

I feel her, moving with the wood, with the spirit life that is in the tree trunks that surround us. She moves and goes to sit in the ancient willow that has lain out on the ground. She is drawn to it because it speaks her language; a guardian of the earth. Wood has a different kind of wisdom, more supple than the stone; soft and rooted deep in the earth. There is mobility there; flexibility and suppleness. The trees and her breathe the air and communicate with the rocks the moss, the air. She resides with this nature; it runs deep in her creation. She houses the animal life, giving protection, a home to the birds, dear, cows and horses.

We then extend a protective shield around us. Communication comes from deep within. We care about this earth. Wild ones, we are organic, tuned finely to the winds of change. There has been struggle deep in our soul because we have been feeling it all along the way. We have been asking the question, why? Is it enough? How can I contribute, how can I help? Where are we going and where have we been? What is the earth trying to tell us in her aliveness, and in her deep winter slumber? What can the cycles teach us? What can the other souls that yearn and search and journey teach us along the way? How can we help them? The answer is often ‘I don’t know’. The answer is often quiet, delicate and on the fringes. Love is like a faded sign that we miss sometimes. But it is here. It is all around us and the most forceful power in the universe. We have faith so we can work our love, so we can share it with others and so we can love ourselves. I am on a journey in this life. I have been reminded this by some fellow travelers, and I hope to keep on and travel on with this knowledge. I have more to discover, more to learn and more to share. Bless us all.