It's been a week since I gave Pine Ridge a final wave and the last campers left. Even though camp is done, it has been a great week, full of random sleepovers, fun shopping adventures, and joyful lunches with close friends. Soon I begin a new journey. Tomorrow I will begin the 22-hour drive to El Paso, Texas, where I'll step into a year-long term serving with the Border Servant Corps (http://www.borderservant.com/).
I'm not sure if it's because I have not given myself much time to think about this upcoming year, or if I'm still just overwhelmed and excited by the amazing summer I just had, but I don't feel all that bummed, nor super excited, to be leaving tomorrow. And my goodbyes have not seemed that difficult.
Don't get me wrong, it has been fantastic to spend time with so many people who have absolutely blessed not only this past week but also my entire life. But I think the contentment I have been given right now is due to what I have learned about the One we call Creator this summer.
There is a concept in Lakota spirituality that I heard a lot this summer and it always quickened my brain gears and tightened my heart muscle. Mitakuye oyasin. "All my relatives." It's the idea that everyone is your relative. Your uncle, your brother, your grandma, your best friend, your classmate...but also the trees, your dog, the wind, the sun... All of us are related. I think what I love most about this phrase is not only the idea that we are all connected, but that we are all connected by the Great Spirit who has created us.
Something God has gifted me this summer is a new awareness of the Divine in everyone--in every single person I encounter. "All of you are sacred" is something we heard every week from one of our speakers. Everyone is sacred. Everyone has a piece of the Holy in them. Whether or not a person is aware of the Divinity within them is not important; what's important is whether or not we recognize that person as sacred and holy. Can we allow the simple fact that a person is sacred--a child of God--inspire how we treat them, with respect and compassion?
How easier it would be for us to serve one another, to love one another, to actually follow the commands of the one many of us call Savior...if we could just recognize the Holy in every person we encounter, rather than judge, condemn, or cringe away from them.
God is in the dozens of Pine Ridge kids whom we hung out with every day this summer--including the young teenagers who come from confusing, abusive, and emotionally draining homes, as well as the five-year-old girl who called me a dumb ass after drawing Justin Beiber incorrectly. God is in the many old friends, close friends, and mentors that have entered my life and who I got to spend a small amount of time with this week. God is in this puppy lying next to me and who will probably have the hardest time saying goodbye to me tomorrow. God is in the people I will meet on Sunday and live and grow with for the next year or two.
So I remember that everyone I have met and will meet is my relative. Everyone is sacred. Everyone is a child of God... and these ideas are giving me an enormous amount of gratitude, joy, and peace, even amidst the goodbyes.
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