As we prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, a message from Mother Earth through the trees …
You are each a child of the earth, deeply rooted in my soil. Now is the time to nurture yourself, to nurture each other, and to nurture our planet.
I sit on the stump of what once was a stately cedar. Sap oozes from the veins of her rings. I scroll my fingers across the irregular circles. Counting the rings suggests she was over 150 years old when the logger felled her yesterday. The smells of fresh sawdust reminds me of the pencils we used in grade school. Sifting the sawdust through my hands enhances the aroma. Piled around me are remnants of the bough of her trunk and broken limbs. Branches were discarded on the forest floor because they lack the commercial value of her trunk. My heart aches for this tree and the acres of others that have fallen this week.
Through my tears I fight back judgment but am left with the question of was this logging worth the price my neighbor will receive. If this tree could talk what would she say to me?
Deep within me a gentle voice speaks. I have fallen for you that you might feel your own suffering. The pain deep inside you, and every person who grieves for the Earth, is your own pain. The destruction that is occurring only appears to be the destruction of our beloved planet. At its roots is the piercing of your own heart; the alienation of the Soul from Self, of Self from Earth, of Self from the oneness that is life. In the depths of your pain are the seeds of love and compassion. In cultivating the seeds of love and compassion you will come to recognize that we are not separate, rather we are one.
The plow for this cultivation is listening to our own inner voice. Take the time to stop and listen … to relearn to listen deeply. We each hold the wisdom of our own truth. We each know everything we need to know.
Quiet your mind and listen… hear that quiet voice in your Soul. She is shouting to be heard, shouting to be reconnected. The destruction and agitation that is going on around us, at our doorstep, and around the world is the manifestation of our own Self. It is our own internal making – not something out ‘there’ to be attacked. Once we reclaim our innate ability to listen deeply, we open ourselves to love. We witness what in our own heart wants to be embraced. For it is only in the embracing of one’s own Self that we can embrace each other and embrace our planet.
Mother Earth is shouting from the mountain tops, the valleys, the oceans and the depths of our Soul …
Now IS the time to nurture yourself, nurture each other, and nurture our planet.
