When we, the two-legged ones, approach our time of winter rest and completion of our cycles of living, we undergo some changes that also resemble what has happened to our Standing Nations companions.
The growth and vigour of the long-days of youth are gone. Our bodies exhibit the results of injury and abuse of years past and joints, bones and muscles ache more in the mornings. Hair loss on the top of my head has "moved south" and my metabolism too has changed. But other things have been going on in our lives that have not been obvious. We have been learning , making mistakes, trying again. We have been sharing the gifts we have been given in various ways. We have acquired knowledge and skills, and we hope that we have also acquired some wisdom with those years. We hope that our hearts have grown from the love we have received and that our own capacity to love has grown.
When the outside signs of youth and vigour fade we hope that the inner beauty is able to shine out and give joy to those who share this space with us. With the wisdom we hope we have acquired, we also need to learn the lessons of the Fourth Quadrant, the lessons of the North; to let go, to separate from what had been so important in the past, to move to the centre of our journey and the life we have been given. We have more time to speak to our Creator and open our hearts to the needs of the entire Earth. We can put together the bits and pieces of our learning's and perhaps acquire a larger vision of what is and what can still be. We also need to leave behind the regrets of what could have been and focus to what yet lies ahead, knowing even more deeply how much we are loved and how many companions we have along this life path on the Sacred Hoop. We realize that those who walked with us for a while and who have already gone to the Centre of the Sacred Hoop, that their Spirits are still walking with us and giving us strength and making our feet walk more gently on the earth, and yes, make them walk more slowly too. That slowed pace allows us to stop and look around us, and we can see the beauty that is sampled in the photos on this page and in the photos of our memories where we hold all that we have known and all those who shared what they are with us, be they of the Standing NAtions, the Two-legged, the Four legged, those that fly, those that crawl and those that swim in the waters, and those that lie and are hidden from our view, those whose Spirits are in the skies and on the winds.
The lesson to me? We are never alone. We have many companions along the way. The love I have been given in my very life and for every step along this Sacred Path, reveal a Creator so wonderful I can only look forward to the final steps with great anticipation and great confidence. Those realizations bring forth a whisper that then is spoken and then is shouted to the skies: "Thank You!" And that is my worship. That is all of my worship, and it is enough if that is all of my life.
Hoop Boy, October 31, 2014