Tending Heart Soil — GoT Logion 9
Week 8:
Logion 9
breathe in + breathe out
*
logion 9
A farmer went out to plant;
seed in hand he scattered it everywhere.
Some fell on the surface of the road.
Birds came and ate it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground
and could not take root in the earth,
or send grain heavenward,
so never germinated.
Still other seed fell among the weeds
and brambles which choked it out
and insects devoured it.
Some, however, fell onto fertile soil,
which produced fruit of high quality
yielding as much as sixty
and one-hundred-and-twenty percent.
**
Reflection: If you have a history in the Christian tradition, maybe you recognize this parable. I remember times in my life hearing it with ears caught up in fear of judgment. There was this angsty, “What kind of soil am I?” Was I this one or that. Good enough, productive enough, receptive enough, or not?
I hear — and am learning to hear — these words differently now.
What grace comes in realizing that all of these types of ground exist within me simultaneously! What grace we extend when we honor this plurality of conditions existing others as well!
We are always in process… amidst a cosmos always in process…
Let’s be diligent and patient as we learn and tend and are tended with care.
I am also learning of the generosity of the farmer. Seeds are scattered everywhere, abundantly.
Each moment. Every mistake and make-up. Sunrise and sunset. Every breeze that touches my body, an invitation. An opportunity. A gift.
Wake up.
Germinate.
Draw from deep roots, and send the shoots of the True You heavenward. Be the fullest, creative, forgiving, laughing, and weeping expression of yourself that you get to be. Bear love’s fruit!
And care for all the other configurations of seed, weed, rock, soil, water and sun that you encounter today.
Peace and breath and the wisdom of enough be with you
*
Intertwine is going inward. As cooler weather moves in and quarantine persists, let the be a season for developing our inner life. To aid us on the journey, we’re engaging the wisdom contained in the Gospel of Thomas, an ancient mystical Christian text. Lynn Bauman’s translation and commentary are the primary source for these reflections. Those of you who want to dig in even deeper, consider purchasing his books: Find Lynn’s basic GoT translation (in The Luminous Gospels) and his exceptional commentary (In Trouble and In Wonder) here.
Also key to this work is to address trauma within our bodies and systems. We continue to engage in the body-work presented in Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands: Raciialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies. It’s not too late to get involved in this work. We have a few copies of the book available, and triads or small groups are still forming to work through the practices and material together. Find out more about this work here
Request a book and connect to a triad by emailing info@intertwinene.org
