“Those who love me will keep my word,
and my Father will love them,
and we will come to them
and make our home with them.
—John 14.23
When I’ve hauled away the leftovers
of our making and buying and throwing,
pulled and carted off all the invasives,
plants that seemed easy and harmless,
cleared a space, open and blank,
and fed the soil with the riches
of its own forest floor, and planted
blueberries and milkweed
and other native species, then I wait.
Soon cardinals and monarchs come,
bluebirds and tanagers throng to my garden,
because they are native, and they know
they belong among plants like these.
When I clear my mind of my greed,
haul off all the shoulds and ought tos,
and just wait, pretty soon I notice
the Beloved making nests in me,
the whole divine family of God
moving in, because they belong here.
They have for thousands of years.
It turns out, in the heart of my soul
God is a native species.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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