December 12 - Expectation

In the Hebrew tradition we are taught that the wilderness is a place of natural habitat where all of nature  is in perfect harmony; quite different from our day to day lives in busy cities, workplaces, families  and, among the many differences found in our humanity. Ecologists and other scientists have taught us  that trees actually share their different nutrients via their root systems with other trees in need to build life-sustaining relationships in the wilderness.

Perhaps these are just some of the reasons we find nature so healing; the simplicity, yet strength and life lessons we learn from a simple walk among nature brings balance and harmony to a fretful time in which we all live and journey together and, wait....in expectation. A simple lesson among nature offers us another quiet, reflective moment and lesson about living in harmony, preventing  and/or correcting injustices, providing life-giving sustenance for those caught in various forms of displacement, and about patience while waiting in expectation. The blue heron teaches us much. In North American Native tradition it is said that the blue heron brings a message of resilience, and an ability to progress and evolve; an innate wisdom to maneuver through life.  

This Advent, we may ask ourselves where is balance, harmony and an ordering or re-ordering needed in our lives, communities, and among humanity? 
 
—Janice N. Meyer, MDiv, GC-C, is a member at St. George's Episcopal Church, Summerville