A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.

When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.

Herman Hesse

This story speaks to me in such a profound way. I am reminded that I often look externally for feeling at home and feeling comforted – or even trying to determine what “right” is. That is, I look externally for peace and comfort. Ironically, it because I do this that lose my peace and contentment. I think because I am am such a visual person, I open my eyes and look for a solution to my problems. I look for comfort. I look for a place to feel at home. But it is when I close my eyes that I realize that I already have everything  I am looking for within me. I no longer need to look because it exists within my soul.

A meditation for September 12, 2013

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