The
Scripture ~ “Look at the birds, free and unfettered,
not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count
far more to him than birds.”
Matthew 6:26 The Message
The Spiritual Focus ~ “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” Joseph Campbell
The Breath Prayer ~ Inhale ~ All is well, Exhale ~ with my soul
The Devotion ~ Mother nature and father time came together this past week to deliver one of the coldest, extended weather experiences in recent history. It challenged even the hardiest among us and it revealed our true nature, or God nature in how we came together to care for each other. Churches cleared space for overnight guests, people shoveled neighbors’ driveways and called on their neighbors to be sure they were ok. Corporations donated food and transportation, Internet hotspots and space heaters to keep us healthy and connected. This is a peek into our true nature or God nature. This coming together for the sake of the other is a path to Oneness that many faith traditions teach and preach. It is also where we run up against the limits of language to explain it. Looking out the window, today’s scripture comes to mind. During this extended cold weather one can’t help but wonder at the red birds nesting in trees, seemingly unconcerned and trusting Mother Nature’s care for them. Our true nature is revealed when we trust our heart to beat as one with God’s nature.
A sister philosophy to yoga is Ayurveda medicine. Ayurveda means “knowledge of life and longevity.” One component of Ayurveda is personality and body typing that identifies where we have strengths and areas where we need strategies to live a healthier life. Similar to other personality studies like the Enneagram, Strength Finders or Insight, Ayurveda identifies three primary types called doshas. Doshas examine our nature as it is impacted by nurture. We all have traits from all the doshas but typically lean toward one. The theory is that when the doshas are balanced, we are closest to our true nature—our God nature—and live a healthier, longer life. All the philosophies are interesting to consider and satisfy our need to know and understand our relationship with the One greater than ourselves, but at the end of the day, we might wonder if the red birds aren’t our best teachers in how to become one with our One True Nature.
