Last week Coralie reminded us that we are in the midst of celebrating the Season of Creation. I treasure her reminder to open our eyes to this beauty and to savor it; in our gardens, our observations and interactions and in our everyday living. I treasure her reminder to refrain from taking it for granted. We are indeed called to remember that this place we occupy temporarily, in all its beauty and mystery, is indeed ‘home for all’, home for generations past, present and future.
In the words of an Aboriginal Proverb: ‘We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love…and then we return home.’
In this Season of Creation, Sunday 19th September is ‘Sky Sunday’. There is majesty and awe in this vast sky space. It is easy to see the sacred in this space. In many Indigenous cultures the sky is a textbook of morals and stories, retold from one generation to the next. Stretching like a protective blanket over our entire earth, it displays its array of colours and array of temperaments. Yet it remains constant in its presence over us, connecting us all across the corners of the earth, reminding us that we all live under the same ‘roof’. Living, breathing creatures and plants and ecosystems, all under the same sky.
In my ‘invincible’ 20’s, I chose to travel and work in India. My home for the year was Mussoorie, situated at the foothills of the Himalayas with an altitude of approximately 2000 m above sea level. Some days I felt as though I lived among the heavens, being able to touch the sky with my joy. Some days illness and loneliness brought me to my knees. It was at these times especially, at my lowest, that I craved the comforts of home, of the family so intensely. It was also at these times that the sky managed to transport me back home. Sitting in those hills, and in misty days, in those clouds, I knew that this was the same sky my family would see, the same sky that stretched over them too, connecting us over thousands of miles. This sky, that connection, would drip-feed drops of comfort into my veins sustaining me in my brokenness.
The wisdom of Kanyini, as explained by Uncle Bob Randall, an Aboriginal Australian elder, teaches us that we are indeed all connected. And with this sense of connectedness to each other, the earth, the animals, the Creator Spirit, comes unconditional love with responsibility. We must be willing to care for all things equally. When we harm one, we harm the other, we harm ourselves as everything is connected in this ‘family of life’. It is our responsibility to nurture this connection, and in return, we will be sustained physically, mentally, and spiritually. We will know unconditional love. We will know true belonging.
So as we ‘pass through’ on this journey, in this time and place, let us leave the best of ourselves behind, knowing that it lives on in our connection with the ‘family of life’. What we stand for, what we love, what we action. It lives on in others, it lives on in the stretch marks and in the memory of the earth. As Jesus’ love and connectedness with us have endured, his Way guides us to creating this heaven here on earth.
This path that He has trodden, the lessons of the sky, the principles of Kanyini; may we base our foundation for greatness upon this well-worn wisdom.
Lucinda Malgas
