Rooted in Uprooting

I am soul-weary.

Constant fear-filled news and conversation about virus, illness, death, and economic failure. Isolation. Anger, emotional overflow, violence, shouting, protest. Conversations that are so very tense and ready to spark explosive reaction even in everyday relating. Divisive, arrogant, and dysfunctional leadership. Environmental devastation and relaxing of protections for the planet. Profound cultural impatience toward capitalism and hedonism. A changing economic work world that provides more questions than answers about how to move forward. Unemployment. Human need screaming from everywhere. Media crafted by marketing instead of real story and truth. The onslaught of information sources online. Blogs (like this one) trying to get all of our attention. On and on and on and on.

All of this on top of the struggles of what we all felt was our normal life. Life can certainly be difficult. And life this year seems to be throwing a huge tantrum! There won’t be enough metaphorical caves for us all to go crawl into to escape ourselves. And so we must face this moment whether we like it or not. We must continue to love one another as best as we can. We must find the “still small voice” of Divine whisper amidst it all. And for those who can’t find even the whisper then the rest will continue to find the way for you.

The Great Spirit of God works mysteriously to draw us homeward, each and every one, in our own way and timing. When roots give way on one tree and gravity pulls it groundward, a neighboring tree or the great Earth itself catches it and invites it to it’s new possibilities of being held freshly and creatively. When the roots of our spirit, belief, faith, or grounding falter and we tumble into the unknown, then the strong roots of others and the eternally regenerating and strong truth of the ground of the Creator will always catch us. How could it be otherwise. Gravity will always pull the tree to its neighbors or to the Earth itself. The tree will be held or will become a beautiful and redemptive part of the cycle of Earth. The same is sure and true for each of our lives and our spirit.

You will be held, and regenerated, and invited, and received as you falter. And perhaps in these days when our world seems to have become unhinged, then perhaps this truth is good news indeed.

—Kirk Webb, Director & Founder of The Celtic Center