Beside Restful Waters

by Gregory Hermann

I want to listen deeply enough that I hear everything and nothing at the same time and am made more by the enduring quality of my silence.

I want to question deeply enough that I am made more not by the answers so much as my desire to continue asking questions.

I want to speak deeply enough that I am made more by the articulation of my truth shifting into the day’s shape.

In this way, pondering and sharing become my connection to the oneness of life, and there is no longer any part of me in exile.

Richard Wagamese: Embers, One Ojibway’s Meditations

“my connections with the oneness of life.”

Boozhoo, nindawemagenidoog. This is a traditional opening to an Ojibwe greeting: Hello all my relatives.

Our first expression is one of connection to all Creation. At a meal, we acknowledge each source of our physical nutrition including the hands that have brought it to our table, from planting, harvest, shipping, selling, purchasing, preparing………. We recognize Creator’s presence in each aspect of our sustenance. We observe that the meat and vegetables present themselves without condition. They serve all races, creeds, nationalities, identities etc without exception. I have never seen a strawberry wilt before a democrat. I have never seen corn spoil in front of a person of European descent. I have never watched as the squash retreated from a person of African or Spanish descent. Have you ever seen a cow or chicken retreat from the harvest depending on whom they will feed?

We are the oneness of life. A simple meal is Divine evidence of this fact.

I tip my glass of clean, pure water to our oneness, our health, our will to live, laugh, cry, suffer, and live the fullness of life as ONE.

Namaste’