Thank You for Being There!
Jennifer Walls
[from newsletter 11]
Our Elders and Children can teach us so much about ceremony. If we make ourselves fully available we can sit with them, listen to them, and watch them as they are—playing, learning, helping, and creating together. We can see our own life and how it relates to others as it is: Our ceremony is called life. We can always enjoy supporting and participating in it. There is no appointment necessary, no scheduling involved; the admission is free and donations are graciously accepted.
In growing and giving to our heart by being in our integrity, we avoid the inclination of taking “quick-and-easy, fixer-upper” routes. It is then that we really can open ourselves up more to give to, and receive from, our ceremonies.
When we want improvement blessings in our own life, we have to be really willing to be there for ourselves. Our ceremony participation begins with our heart, home, family, community, work, and play—really our relations with everything. How can any of us be excluded? Well, perhaps simply by not showing up in ceremony (life), hiding out, expecting someone else to do it for us, and denying our heart’s connected relationships!
As we grow and strengthen ourselves, our families and relations, we can challenge ourselves to remember our interconnections and be present for the necessary time and energy to be there for ourselves and each other in our ceremony.
In looking at the sacred and primal circle that we each represent, we can find our way there. Will we ask for a road map? Can we stop and ask for directions? Will we know when to be the passenger or when to be the driver? Will we make room for others to travel along? Will we remember to bring refreshments—and our own plate, cup and utensils?
More importantly, will we remember the people who walked, laughed, cried, gave us a hard time, reached out to us, prayed with us? When we roll out the star blanket and view our life, lift our prayers up and smoke the Sacred Pipe, crawl in and out of the sweat lodge womb, dance our dance, sit up all night for healings, give birth to new life, watch our loved ones “go home,” give our giveaways – can we then wrap it all up in our hearts, carry it, and really be there in our ceremony?
Thank you to the Elders and the Children,
Jennifer Walls