Looking through the window of my bedroom, I watch a pile of leaves as they took flight with the assistance of Autumn's wind. Once racked neatly in a heap, now all of a sudden each leaf was on its own. Nothing or no one to guide them and tell them how to maneuver. They were alone with no predetermined destination. Some didn't fly for long! Some would land and just lay dormant. Then there were the leaves, with the lucky disposition to fall for any a quick minute of rest, to be abruptly swept up again by the mighty winds of nature. Never having rest, but creating whirlwinds of entertainment for lurkers.
In life we start in one place, then the breeze of life happens, and we're spinning from one place to the other. Like the leaves, we have no control of where we will land, and we're just hoping for the best.
Then others have learned how to ride the breeze and glide through life with a specific destination en-route, never letting the wind control their destination, yet an internal navigation system, DIVINE PURPOSE.
My oldest daughter is turning 16 this weekend. She enjoys many things and is still trying to understand herself and her talents, so I asked her last night, "Why do you think you're here?" In normal teenage fashion, she just shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I don't know."
Many of us are now in our 30's and 40's and when asked this question would give the same answer. We're struggling, just trying to figure things out as we go. Haphazardly, blowing along through life. Being picked up and tossed by our jobs, and every little traumatic event we indulge in; as we watch way too much television. Our lives are purposeless!
In the Dagara indigenous tradition, of the Burkina Faso, when a mother is pregnant she must go through a Hearing Ritual. Sonbonfu Some explained this ritual in a 2009 article for Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, "The purpose of a hearing ritual is to listen to the incoming baby; to find out who it is; why it’s coming at this time; what it’s purpose is; what it likes or dislikes; and what the living can do to prepare space for this person."
Each child is born with a purpose, and it's the task of the village or community to help them remember and fulfill their destiny.
Living in a system where material gain determines self-worth, it's hard to live on purpose. Our primary objective is to make money and if we're lucky - make a lot of it! Therefore, we're still blowing in the wind, shrugging our shoulders not knowing who we are, why we came here and what we're meant to do.
I'll share a secret with you; I had a hearing ritual (so to say) at the age of 38. I was I shocked and honestly a little disappointed to learn; I volunteered to come back and be a mother to my children. As time went by, I began to reminisce about my life. With each crisis and push of the wind, it started to make sense. If I came here to be a mother to my children, then who are my children? I didn't return to amend a wrong, or to be the next multi-millionaire; I volunteered to be a mother. So who are my children? And what must I guide them to do?
To be Continued...
In life we start in one place, then the breeze of life happens, and we're spinning from one place to the other. Like the leaves, we have no control of where we will land, and we're just hoping for the best.
Then others have learned how to ride the breeze and glide through life with a specific destination en-route, never letting the wind control their destination, yet an internal navigation system, DIVINE PURPOSE.
My oldest daughter is turning 16 this weekend. She enjoys many things and is still trying to understand herself and her talents, so I asked her last night, "Why do you think you're here?" In normal teenage fashion, she just shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I don't know."
Many of us are now in our 30's and 40's and when asked this question would give the same answer. We're struggling, just trying to figure things out as we go. Haphazardly, blowing along through life. Being picked up and tossed by our jobs, and every little traumatic event we indulge in; as we watch way too much television. Our lives are purposeless!
Each child is born with a purpose, and it's the task of the village or community to help them remember and fulfill their destiny.
Living in a system where material gain determines self-worth, it's hard to live on purpose. Our primary objective is to make money and if we're lucky - make a lot of it! Therefore, we're still blowing in the wind, shrugging our shoulders not knowing who we are, why we came here and what we're meant to do.
I'll share a secret with you; I had a hearing ritual (so to say) at the age of 38. I was I shocked and honestly a little disappointed to learn; I volunteered to come back and be a mother to my children. As time went by, I began to reminisce about my life. With each crisis and push of the wind, it started to make sense. If I came here to be a mother to my children, then who are my children? I didn't return to amend a wrong, or to be the next multi-millionaire; I volunteered to be a mother. So who are my children? And what must I guide them to do?
We don't know, but this mother ain't raising no leaves!
To be Continued...
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