Hey,
You.
You are alive.
You are here.
So let's take a big inhale and exhale.
Everything's going to be alright.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
It's early March here in Minnesota.
And for those of you who might not know,
We can still drop well below zero in March.
We can get hammered with two or three feet of snow in one night.
You never know what you are going to get.
Take today for instance.
It's going to be 60 degrees.
Many of us around here will be wearing shorts.
Actually,
Many of us wear shorts when it tops 40 degrees.
So when it hits 60,
Do you know what else is happening in March in Minnesota?
Mud is happening.
The snow is melting.
And so is the frozen ground.
While many of us welcome the warmth,
We might curse the mud,
Especially if you have dogs as I do.
Mud makes a mess.
And yet in Buddhism,
The shining jewel of the lotus flower must rise out of the mud and muck in order to surface and bloom in the light.
Simply put,
You cannot have the lotus flower without the mud.
The one requires the other.
And we know that,
Don't we?
Things cannot grow without mud,
Soil,
Which is full of life and nourishment for all that which is within us,
That which wishes to rise and bloom.
I was also just in Arizona,
Where there was a distinct absence of water and thus mud.
I was reminded of one of Jesus's parables,
The parable of the sower,
Where seeds get tossed into all kinds of different soil,
Some of it beautiful and fertile,
Some rocky and barren.
The idea behind the parable is that we should want to plant ourselves in the good soil.
And of course,
That's true.
Yet it isn't always that easy.
Sometimes life plucks you up by the back of the neck and drops you on the rocky path,
Maybe a terrifying path that snakes down the Grand Canyon.
Everywhere you look,
Sharp rock and jagged cliff under a burning sun.
How can one survive,
Let alone grow in a place like that?
It can be so hard it can feel almost impossible when you are there on that rocky path.
All of the good and green burned right out of you.
That's when you turn tough.
Do you hear me?
When you are thrown onto the rough path,
That's when you turn tough,
Stubborn.
If for some awful reason you land in that spot,
By God,
Become tenacious.
Will yourself to survive.
Will yourself to break through the rocks with your strong roots and grow.
Do you hear me?
When you are in the mud,
Remember that is what you need to grow.
When you are in the jagged soil,
Turn tenacious.
Root.
Rise.
Live underneath the achingly blue sky.
The blazing sun.
Namaste.
