Native American DNA

The first day of fall brings with it the promise of quiet and peace. A stillness permeates the woods and about the only sounds are woodpeckers drumming on a hollow tree and blue jays squawking at squirrels they cannot tolerate. A sweet peace that connects with us and helps us relax. The hills are rose-beige and rounded on top with horses grazing quietly along the sides. Deep ravines where water has eroded the dirt are dark marks such as a child would make with a crayon, and most likely have housed a bobcat or two. This is the season when we do not hunker down and endure but we enjoy to the utmost. The color, the fresh air, the fall fruit and vegetables and smell of earth turned up by the plow. If something is not right, fix it, and don't let this pleasant time go to waste!

Coming home is near to being a gift of the spirit. Hours have passed and duty has been performed. It is the hour of return - the hour when the circle is completed and coming home is the hour of grace. Sometimes the circle is just a little one - a time of going out and coming back. It doesn't take long. But years can lie between the going out and the coming back. It is the innate compulsion in an Indian to return to his beginnings - the essential completion of going back. Indeed, of coming home. And he can hear the voices, catch the fragrances, and feel the presence of his forebears and it is a thing of grace that renews and restores his spirit. ~ When I look upon you I know you are all big chiefs. ~

It is easy to have faith God and love everyone on days when the world is all in order. There are other days that seem to require more effort than any normal person can possibly muster. Each step seems to be an obstacle to overcome. Every hurt and thought of resentment presents itself in a clamorous roar. Weariness of body, soul, and spirit will nag the strongest beings into dark moods unless they can find a time away from all that plagues them. That time may be hard to come by, but even a few moments can bring a problem to light. Twinges of jealousy, feelings of anxiety, all scatter in that light. When the attention is turned from those things that make life all too ordinary they immediately, like a procession, march toward the God-self. To spend only a few moments counting our blessings will tell us that life is well worth living....the satisfaction of a job well done, the companionship of good friends with whom we share the lighter side and the ones who understand our darkest moods are all blessings.

Life equips us in many ways for very special purposes. Some never catch the high vision as to why they may be the objects of ridicule or the witness of cruelty - while others bear the brunt of many heartaches and still are capable of knowing compassion for those who cause it. Jesus was such a man - He withstood more than we are able to comprehend, but He asked that his tormentors be forgiven for they knew not what they were doing. It is our individual decision whether we choose to be one of the throng of agitators who see only to confirm what everyone else is doing, or we can catch the vision of greater things and walk firmly in paths we believe are right. To fall into the roll of just another face in the crowd is an ill-chosen path, but to lead others to follow is the essence of parasitism - the need to have others be just as nameless and even more dependent.