March is one of my favorite months of the year. I love the blooming of the hyacinths, daffodils, and tulip trees. Then we are gifted with the lavender and white blossoming trees, which quickly lead to the budding of vibrant chartreuse leaves. It’s all a part of the sacredness of life, the circle of life, if you will.
According to Dictionary.com, the word “sanctify” means “to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.” While, according to Charles Fillmore in The Revealing Word, “sanctification” is “putting on the nature of God and rising to the plane of dominion that gives man peace.” So, I think the reason I love the month of March so much is because nature is demonstrating “putting on the nature of God.”
Nature Springs Into Action
Unity’s 5th Principle states that “Through thoughts, words, and actions we live the Truth we know.” In Youth and Family Ministry, it has sometimes been simplified as “Action, Action, Action” or “It’s not enough to know the Truth, we must live it.” Spring reminds me of this principle, because we get to experience first-hand the Divine at work urging life onward. Nature is demonstrating this principle so eloquently outdoors.
After the long, cold nights of winter, leafless trees, and browning grass, Spring bursts forth. This is akin to our internal process of spiritual growth and development. For many of us, our real spiritual growth occurs after we move through a dark night of the soul.
Winter Is Nature’s Dark Night
Nature also needs the “dark night” of winter to spur its growth. We cannot simply bypass the natural processes. The seed won’t sprout into a seedling if we simply pry apart it’s seed coat. The seed coat is designed to protect the embryo from injury and drying out. So, if we try to “help” the seed along, it thwarts the growth process. Just as we can’t force a seed to grow in the snow, we can’t force our own spiritual growth, we have to move through the experiences that grow us. For most of us, this isn’t usually a comfortable experience.
In his book The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen tells a story of his young son. “In his first summers, forsaking all his toys, my son would stand rapt for nearly an hour in his sandbox in the orchard, as doves and redwings came and went on the warm wind, the leaves dancing, the clouds flying…the child was not observing; he was at rest in the very center of the universe, a part of things, unaware of endings and beginning, still in unison with the primordial nature of creation, letting all light and phenomena pour through.” This boy instinctively knew of his Oneness with everything. He stood there standing in the field reveling in the sacredness of all life, respecting all of life.
Sacredness Inspires Respect
“Sacredness inspires respect.” So says author Toba Beta in her book, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut. Respect. Respect for life. Respect for our connections. Respect for the Oneness we share with one another and with everything in nature. It is through our struggles that we begin to move into a place where we glimpse our Oneness with the Divine. Then as we nurture and honor our connection with the sacredness of all life, we begin to experience our Oneness. As we allow ourselves to feel our Oneness more and more often, we begin to know that we can slip into the space of Oneness with God in any moment of our choosing, simply by recognizing and honoring the sacredness of all life.
In this vibrant month of blossoming and budding, I encourage you, and even challenge you, to connect with and embrace the sacredness of life, to “put on the nature of God.” We get to choose how we live each day. I’m going to choose to revel in the sacredness of life, my connection to nature, earth, God, and every other person with whom I share this planet. How about you? What are you going to choose?
