Unity Center

This summer was a tough one for the plants here. We are currently 13 inches below our normal rainfall for the year. My plants have been “living off the dew” that graciously collects in the mountains each morning, and although they are not exactly flourishing, the established plants are doing OK.

However, the new transplants are looking pretty sad. While I was away traveling, nobody was here to water them to help them through their first year in our yard. Hmm.... so why can't they live off the dew too?

The answer has two parts: shallow roots because they have yet put down deeper ones, and their placement in a new planting bed where they were not surrounded by other plants to shade the soil.

My transplants had not yet established deep roots, so they could not access the deeper waters to nourish themselves. There is always water for the soul, but you must work to find it, establish the connections to it, and choose to access it.

Plants and humans both seem to grow better when we are in community. We are encouraged by the many ways a community can support us; we are challenged and expanded by contact with something different; we are enlivened by the energy of others who are walking a similar path. Community is a valuable resource that is worth finding and developing in our lives.

Community can come in many forms. Once upon a time we had neighborhoods where folks knew all their neighbors and socialized with them on a regular basis. This seems to be a rare situation these days, when all the adults in a household work long hours, or families have only one parent. Our kids are in daycare or after-school care, instead of playing in the neighborhood. We have air-conditioning instead of front porches. We have online chat rooms, instead of chats by the mailbox. So finding community in your neighborhood is not automatic... it takes a special effort to find – or be the person to develop – community this way.

Another form of community is usually your church. Now just attending the service will (hopefully) give you some spiritual food for thought and tools for living. But effort and time need to be invested to make this a rich source of community instead of just a spectator sport, wherein you show up once in while to watch the Sunday Show. If you attend every week, you will recognize people (and acquire acquaintances). If you make the effort to talk to them, you will get to know some people (and maybe make a friend). If you volunteer for a team, you will get to know more people, and to know them more deeply because you have worked alongside them for a common goal. Your level of involvement directly determines the level of human connection you experience.

As usual, what you put into something determines what you will get out of it. It's that pesky Reaping and Sowing Law again. Are you active or passive, a giver or a taker, a consumer or a producer? Do you build up... or tear down? Do you live in longing... or in gratitude? Are you waiting for someone to do it for you... or are you seeking and creating the soul nourishment you crave? The choices are always there, in every moment, for us to create the life we will experience.

Some people find community in the performing arts, by being a member of a chorus, a band, a theatrical troupe, or an organization that supports the arts. Personally, I find community in Womansong chorus and by being part of our Unity Plays Broadway show. Once again, the sense of being in community comes from investing the time and energy in working together toward a common goal. The arts have the added bonus of being an outlet to express your talents and creativity. If you have the ability, you need to find ways to express it, or you will feel incomplete. The arts demand certain skill levels, so you may not find a place to be a star, but you can always find some place to express your talents in some way. Trade in your ego for a willingness to serve, and pathways will appear.

I am learning to water my soul by choosing to invest in activities that nurture me. One of my choices was to again attend Sing & Swing Week at the Swannanoa Gathering in July. This community of music lovers provides fertile soil for my musical and personal growth... and it's just plain fun. Hey, the memories will outlast the credit card bill. When my roots are nourished, I am better equipped to survive a drought, those challenging times that may come into my life, and I bring more vitality to my daily living.

If you find that you've been “living off the dew” and you're thirsty for a deeper experience of life, examine the ways you water your soul. Make some choices that will feed you at a deep level. Enjoy the garden of life.

"Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and its too late. Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them."
~ Robert R. Updegraff, author of Be Thankful For Your Troubles

"I Wish You a Spring Day"

So today, I wish you eyes wide open to possibility, embracing and expressing life – like a beautiful spring day – all year long!

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