Thursday, August 3, 2006 at 1:01am
By what can you claim to be God's child?
Column: Our Place in the Universe
I was talking to my son about life. Life is not a question or an answer. Life is not a belief or a doctrine. Life is a flow, like what we see around us in creation. In New York, on my parents' farm, my mom and I went walking. We followed the border of our property through the woods and the meadows. Along one edge of a reconverted meadow was a barbed wire fence.
This fence must have been there for at least 50 years, when there were no trees, only pastureland. Now the trees have grown thick again. In one spot I pointed out to my mom an amazing fact. The barbed wire fence hadn't moved. A tree grew up right next to it, and in all its 50 years, it had just embraced that barbed wire. Now the wire runs right through the center of the tree.
And still the tree is tall and strong, reflecting its very tree-ness is every single way, with the additional unique factor that it has a strand of barbed wire running through its center. A reflection of the Creator, the tree has not allowed this fact of life to subtract from its essence as shade-giver, or bird-home, or even caterpillar-dinner.
The tree has the blessing to not have to think about it! Unlike we humans, the tree does not have to decide to be a tree or not, to embrace the barbed wire or not, to see this fact as damaging to ego or psyche or self-esteem, or see it as a redeeming quality that makes it unique in all the world.
We humans, on the other hand, have the blessing to be able to think — about our life, our love, our direction, our purpose, our place in the universe. What do we usually do with these thoughts, these dreams, these imaginings, and these facts?
How many of us see ourselves as a role or a position in life? I'm a mother, a daughter, a wife. I'm an employer, an employee, a wreck. A doctor, a lawyer, a carpenter. A servant, a factory worker, a failure, or a success
Perhaps we see ourselves in what we are not, because: I am waiting . . . for the kids to grow up, for my degree, to retire, for prices to come down, for my salary to go up. Or because I can't because: I'm too busy, too poor, too stressed out, too tired.
And how many of us claim to be God's daughter, but do not claim to be "I Am" — my very own uniqueness?
How about answers? With all this thinking, do we have the answers to all of life's questions? How many of us don't move until we get the A-okay from up above, but the answer must be what I want to hear? We're looking for answers, but demand a one-size-fits-all kind of response that doesn't allow for growth, or change or compromise or relationships. Tell me what I want to hear, or else I won't believe it!
And how many of us claim to be God's son, but cannot claim to be "I Am" — my very own me-ness?
Then, with all that I do have, I'm not content with it — the car's too small, the house too crowded, the job too stressful. The wife's too fat, the husband's too lazy, the kid's too selfish. And in all of this I hate myself, and my life and the direction I'm going. Is this the framework we have chosen as Homo sapiens — the ones who "know it all"?
With all of our thinking, have we given enough importance to thinking about ourselves as birthed from the Creator, the Source, the Ntr Nu? We have been given the awareness of all of creation, have we accepted it as our birthright? Do we carry out, or reflect, this inheritance with the same unconditional love and support that we have been given? Do we see ourselves as "I Am" in the same way as the tree sees itself as "Tree"?
Sometimes when I find myself up against some barbed wire I just sit down and remember that "I Am."
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Anne E. Ulvestad is a freelance writer residing in Maryland. She has her masters in earth literacy, and is available for public lectures and group presentations on Spirituality and the Environment. Anne can be reached at {email anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com}anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Anne E. Ulvestad
— — —
ReligionAndSpirituality.com is a big tent for all expressions
of faith and spirituality, neither excluding nor favoring any.
All opinions expressed belong to the writer alone, and are
not necessarily shared by ReligionAndSpirituality.com.
This fence must have been there for at least 50 years, when there were no trees, only pastureland. Now the trees have grown thick again. In one spot I pointed out to my mom an amazing fact. The barbed wire fence hadn't moved. A tree grew up right next to it, and in all its 50 years, it had just embraced that barbed wire. Now the wire runs right through the center of the tree.
And still the tree is tall and strong, reflecting its very tree-ness is every single way, with the additional unique factor that it has a strand of barbed wire running through its center. A reflection of the Creator, the tree has not allowed this fact of life to subtract from its essence as shade-giver, or bird-home, or even caterpillar-dinner.
The tree has the blessing to not have to think about it! Unlike we humans, the tree does not have to decide to be a tree or not, to embrace the barbed wire or not, to see this fact as damaging to ego or psyche or self-esteem, or see it as a redeeming quality that makes it unique in all the world.
We humans, on the other hand, have the blessing to be able to think — about our life, our love, our direction, our purpose, our place in the universe. What do we usually do with these thoughts, these dreams, these imaginings, and these facts?
How many of us see ourselves as a role or a position in life? I'm a mother, a daughter, a wife. I'm an employer, an employee, a wreck. A doctor, a lawyer, a carpenter. A servant, a factory worker, a failure, or a success
Perhaps we see ourselves in what we are not, because: I am waiting . . . for the kids to grow up, for my degree, to retire, for prices to come down, for my salary to go up. Or because I can't because: I'm too busy, too poor, too stressed out, too tired.
And how many of us claim to be God's daughter, but do not claim to be "I Am" — my very own uniqueness?
How about answers? With all this thinking, do we have the answers to all of life's questions? How many of us don't move until we get the A-okay from up above, but the answer must be what I want to hear? We're looking for answers, but demand a one-size-fits-all kind of response that doesn't allow for growth, or change or compromise or relationships. Tell me what I want to hear, or else I won't believe it!
And how many of us claim to be God's son, but cannot claim to be "I Am" — my very own me-ness?
Then, with all that I do have, I'm not content with it — the car's too small, the house too crowded, the job too stressful. The wife's too fat, the husband's too lazy, the kid's too selfish. And in all of this I hate myself, and my life and the direction I'm going. Is this the framework we have chosen as Homo sapiens — the ones who "know it all"?
With all of our thinking, have we given enough importance to thinking about ourselves as birthed from the Creator, the Source, the Ntr Nu? We have been given the awareness of all of creation, have we accepted it as our birthright? Do we carry out, or reflect, this inheritance with the same unconditional love and support that we have been given? Do we see ourselves as "I Am" in the same way as the tree sees itself as "Tree"?
Sometimes when I find myself up against some barbed wire I just sit down and remember that "I Am."
— — —
Anne E. Ulvestad is a freelance writer residing in Maryland. She has her masters in earth literacy, and is available for public lectures and group presentations on Spirituality and the Environment. Anne can be reached at {email anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com}anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Anne E. Ulvestad
ReligionAndSpirituality.com is a big tent for all expressions
of faith and spirituality, neither excluding nor favoring any.
All opinions expressed belong to the writer alone, and are
not necessarily shared by ReligionAndSpirituality.com.