Good morning, friends, and peace to you—body, heart, and soul —in this new week….
I’ve written here before about Potawatomi professor and Botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and her tremendous book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants,” and I want to return to this rich work and its resonant themes. I had already been thinking on this challenging book a lot recently, and then, in a sweet Spirit synchronicity last week, found a portion of her book shared in Richard Rohr’s daily emails. It’s always amazing, isn’t it, how God and the universe work things together to bring us what we need to learn?
A foundational and convicting current of her book is its call back to the relationship we share with the earth. It speaks powerfully and prophetically into our climate crisis with science and stories, shedding light on how fractured most of our connection to the earth (especially for western white people) has become. We have so much wisdom to receive and act upon from the traditions of our Indigenous siblings.
The drive for more….
This is one of the most potent messages for me from the book, and the one that’s continued to needle me in recent weeks. I’ve recognized with refreshed clarity how while I say I want to live by the gospel of Jesus, much of my living, worldview, and wants feel more shaped by capitalism. It’s this belief that more is always better—from what I have to what I get done in a day to the people in my life to the places I go, and on and on and on…
But as a mentor once said to me, “I don’t recall Jesus ever once saying do more. Or be more. Or take more.”
Robin relays the Anishinaabe story and character of “Windigo”—a legendary monster always lurking, “in the shape of an outsized man, ten feet tall, with frost-white hair hanging from its shaking body, arms like trunks…and yellow fangs.”*
What’s more terrifying than how it looks, though, is its insatiability. Windigo is always prowling, howling with hunger, looking for more to devour. Windigo seeks its own survival above all else. It is never satisfied. But the continual consumption is also a form of self-destruction and suffering for Windigo. There is no belief that limits are good or such a sacred thing as “enough.”
Getting back to the words of my mentor, the truth is, I sometimes see a lot more Windigo in my thinking than Jesus.
I keep thinking about the story Robin shares of an engineering student from Europe who was excited to go ricing in Minnesota with his Ojibwe friend. The European student, though, quickly found himself frustrated with how his friend’s family harvested the rice. They spent all day in the rice bed using long poles which frequently knocked half the rice back into the water instead of their canoes.
The engineering student thought this seemed painfully inefficient, with so much rice being “wasted.” As a thank you to his hosts, he offered to design a grain capture system that would get much more rice into the canoe.
His hosts listened respectfully, Robin writes, then said, ‘Yes. We could get more that way. But it’s got to seed itself for next year. And what we leave behind is not wasted. You know, we’re not the only ones who like rice. Do you think the ducks would stop here if we took it all?’ *
We have Windigo in us, but so, too, is the deeper, Spirit-dug well of our soul’s true desire.
Actually, I think much of spiritual formation is about accessing and shaping and living from those deeper desires — desires rooted in a relationship of reciprocity and generous gentleness. An approach to life Robin calls “the honorable harvest.”
What feels especially paradoxical in this approach to life is how free we can feel when we take Jesus at his word here. That the choice to refrain or give, rather than acquire and maximize, brings the steadiness and security of soul we actually want.
When you hear the howl of Windigo this week, go deeper. There’s a still, small Voice inside who has the true answer for what you want.
*Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed Editions, 2013. pp. 304, 181-182.
A Prayer
On this theme of listening for the deeper desires and living afresh into them, here is a prayer from my book, Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life, Second Edition…
When I need to breathe and live into something new
Spirit of Life,
Teach me to breathe…
to gulp with desperate surrender
your life-giving energy,
not out of fear,
but because I am listening
to my primal hungers
and rejoicing in them.
The breath you give me in
this moment is a messenger,
telling me how right now
I am reborn.
I am cared for.
I am called…
Charged with the call
to channel my breath,
your life-force,
toward a gasping world.
Your breath is eternal –
never stopping,
never returning empty.
It continuously flows to
spread life and promise
if I will be a river rather than a dam.
If I listen, I will learn.
I will ride the wind of
your breath now filling me,
letting it carry me away from
my middle anchor to the
edges where I’ll grow and glimpse
the purpose you have
for ever-evolving me.
Amen.
Genesis 2:7 * 2 Corinthians 5:17 * Philippians 1:6
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation…
see, everything has become new!”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
Something that nourished me recently…
*This beautiful deck of cards by the “Nap Bishop,” Tricia Hersey, has been such a daily blessing to me in recent weeks. Each card holds a mantra to free your mind from grind culture and a meditative exercise to restore your sacred energy. If you need something to immediately quiet the Windigo push to do more, this is it.
*This is probably the most inspiring podcast I’ve listened to in months, and was perfect for preparing for the Boston Marathon next month. Even if you don’t run, but especially if you do, you will love this interview with Des Linden so much. What a class-act. She sought to help support others during the race and then ended up winning herself — the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years.
*It was a musical day yesterday with the kids’ musical at church in the morning (the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000) and a piano recital in the afternoon. Filled my heart.
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Amazon link!
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ You can view previous Monday Manna reflections here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website. 💛
Love and Light,
Arianne
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