Belonging

We all feel a sense of belonging in this life to varying degrees, to our spouses or partners, children, birth families, friends, communities, ethnic groups and cultures.  We strive to belong, as it is a very basic human need.  It provides not only safety and security, but also the opportunity to know ourselves more fully by noticing how we are seen by others, through their own life's lenses.

The truth is that the moment we draw our first breath in this world, we belong.  As children of the earth, we join the ranks of all others who have molded this gift of life into our best vision.  We belong to that very holy family of spiritual beings having a human experience, encountering myriad paths, trials, tribulations, and joys and sorrows along the way.

From where we sit as children of the earth, the world can seem very big indeed, our perspectives divergent, and others' ways difficult to understand.  But from farther out, the worldly belonging that we share pales in comparison to the common spark we share as children of creation.  Our being here, as we know it, is as our neighborhood playground is to the entire universe.  That is not meant to diminish the tremendous joy of playing at the playground, swinging high on the swings until I'm not sure I'll be able to walk straight when I stop.  My husband and I still do that sometimes, and it's a whole lot of fun.  But our belonging is much more profound.

I told a group of friends the other night that in those fleeting moments when I completely trust the God of creation in all things, it doesn't really matter if I am here, or somewhere else.  In those moments, I am aware that as a child of creation, my existence here is only a small part of all that I am.  As children of God, we are made of the consciousness that conceived all that is, the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown, being, or ceasing to be.  We all embody the spark of light that contains all future and all past, transcends them, and just is.

May you rest in knowing yourself as the light of creation, and may this tool be a blessing. . .