Opportune Kinship
You can feel the land starting to reawaken. Our grass is starting to turn green. Trees are starting to bud. Blossoms are starting to rise from the ground. Birdsong greets me in the mornings and seems louder and louder each day as more birds arrive back for springtime. Sunlight shines into the evening as our days get longer and longer.
Springtime is here, and I’ve always found this time of year to be infectious.
In The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way of Raising Children and Creating Connected Communities, by Darcia Narvaez, PhD, and G.A. Bradshaw, PhD, they talk with Chief Luther Standing Bear (Teton Sioux) as he discusses the Lakota people. In an excerpt, he says, “…to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; [the Lakota] can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about [the Lakota].”
I don’t know a place that so consistently strikes awe and wonder in me as being outdoors does. From the warmth of the sun that seeps into my soul, the dynamic texture of soil underneath my bare feet, and the community of wildlife that bustles around me. So often, I feel like I hear God’s divine chuckle flowing through the wind as I sit in awe of the beauty I’m surrounded by.
Several parts of Chief Luther Standing Bear’s quote stand out to me, but as I equally find myself often wrestling with the loneliness epidemic that spares so few of us, I find I’m heavily drawn to the idea that being on the ground draws us closer in kinship to other lives about us.
There is an unmatched healing that comes from human-to-human connections. The power of empathy, specifically in combatting our shame, is a beautiful and profound connection to experience. But, I think with a focus on human-to-human connection, we forget that there are other forms of connection out there for us, different, but no less beautiful or impactful.
Chief Luther Standing Bear draws us into the community of lives around us through nature. Trees, animals, plants, and more surround us, living as beings themselves, and also offering us a sense of community and kinship with them. It can feel foreign at first, especially when our bustling culture often keeps this community in the background of our focus. But if you find yourself with some time, may you go outside with no agenda or distractions. May you settle in, perhaps in a spot directly on the ground somewhere, and may you welcome the awe and wonder that comes as you realize the vibrancy of life around you and the kinship it welcomes you into.
Every season of the year offers this kinship to us, but spring offers unique experiences that draw me outside to settle in and just be. May you find time, too, to take this opportune time to experience a welcoming kinship.
