Heart Reading … Day 30
Prayer for our kin, the trees, and for the lives of future generations.
Ain’t no power like the power of the people ’cause the power of the people don’t stop.
Today I sang this chant at an XR rally in Boston which was organized because the world is burning and we’re in the hands of too many legislators who lack sufficient courage to lead in a way that is both spiritually mature and responsible to these and future generations. I answered a question posed to me by a Freedom Trail tour guide wearing an 18th century costume and started to explain what Extinction Rebellion was all about but he glazed over only interested in selling tickets to his tour.
The Indigenous leader who spoke at the rally, who acknowledged the unceded land of the tribal nations we stood on, who invoked the ancestors and future generations, and who apprised us of important policy work, let us know that — despite the devastating disproportionate death tolls from Coronavirus experienced by Indigenous people nationally — Indigenous populations in Massachusetts are growing significantly.
Indigenous people understand power and persistence — matrilineal sovereignty that is inextricably woven to the earth in all her wonders.
Before, during, and after this rally I gazed lovingly at the many magnificent trees in and around Boston Commons. Some were so tall and majestic, some were really gnarly like perfect hobbit homes, and the beauty who witnessed our rally — next to the 54th Regiment Memorial — captivated my attention in all her glorious tree perfection.
On the way to this rally I drove by a town called Braintree. What an interesting name for a town! The brain has a stem and branches like trees. This New England Braintree was named after a Braintree in England and some sources say the name goes back 4,000 years. But what struck me as I was driving through was how the intelligence of trees is so rarely appreciated. Would that we all spent moments each day telling the trees we see how brilliant they are!
This day was full and fabulous, like the flowering foliage. And what is on my heart in this moment is to share with you my daily prayer — which is ideally recited in the presence of our sister trees:
Try reading this for a few days in the presence of the trees near you and see if your heart doesn’t start feeling lighter and more radiant.
