To Be

By Christine Rose © 2007

I was walking along in the woods today, watching the ground as I went along. I was avoiding the usual roots, sticks and stones, and I walked along like that for some time. Suddenly the thought occurred to me, “Stop thinking about where you are going, and look at where you are.”

I looked up and realized that for all of the careful steps I have been taking, I was missing the beauty that surrounded me. The golden sunlight danced and streamed through the autumn leaves on the tall thin trees, creating sunny and shadowed patterns in the light of the morning mist. The sight warmed my soul; it was beautiful indeed. However, it was the thought itself that remained with me throughout the day.

I pondered the statement, “Stop thinking about where you are going, and look at where you are.” So often we focus on the journey but miss the moments of our lives.

It starts when we are children, and every grown-up asks us what we are going to be when we grow up. School is a process we are forced to endure; we look at the clock and wish it would move faster, all the way from kindergarten to college. Then, it’s “When do we get that promotion, when can we retire!” We end up wishing our whole lives away.

I am guilty of the same, I have goals I work towards and someday hope to see them come to fruition. Yet every once in a while, every few years, I get tired of the work, get in my car and drive without a plan, a map or even a specific destination.

As soon as I hit my first lake or mountain, a sense of peacefulness settles on my soul. I sat today in Arkansas and watched minnows in a creek, observed them, their very way of Being. The simplicity of watching animals gives us so much insight into our own existence. All the little critters are living according to their original instructions. They bask in the sun, protect their young and their territory, and they scurry to hide when danger approaches.

But have you ever thought about your own original instructions? They are pretty much the same as the animals, except they take time each day to bask in the sun. How often do we do that? Once, maybe twice a year, on vacation? Maybe more, maybe less, but very few of us honor that as much as we need to.

I have been told that every time God shows up in the Bible, God says, “I am.” I am is from the verb To Be. I am. You are. Be. I believe that a very important part of our original instructions is just To Be.

A few years ago, I sat at the water’s edge one day with a gentleman who was in a desperate search for God. He had read everything there was, from the Bible, the Koran, to Buddha, Ghandi, and more. But he said that as hard as he looked, he couldn’t find God. I told him to stop looking. Only when he stopped looking, would he find God. He was perplexed, so I told him, “Just Be.” He said he didn’t know how to do that, and I found it very difficult to explain, but that was years ago, and maybe I can do a better job of that now.

In Genesis it says, “God moved across the waters like a spirit.” If you are quiet and peaceful and can experience the sheer joy of the beauty of God’s creation, you will feel your heart open and you will feel your joy soar from yourself in appreciation of all that is.

When we were children our parents told us that God was everywhere and in everything, including in us as well. What an amazing concept! How could it be true! Like Santa Claus, it seemed incredible, impossible and yet we believed it simply because that was what we were told. And it is true, and when we let ourselves just Be we will begin to feel that spirit move through us as well. We will feel that incredible peacefulness that recognizes that we are part of everything and everything is part of us.

If we look at a large rock, does it ever occur to us that the rock is doing something? It is. It is Being a rock. Society has removed us so much from our connection with nature that we admire it, but how often do we experience the feeling that we are part of it. We Are!

After my Near Death Experience, I had such a strong sense of being actively involved with everything of creation. When the birds sang as I passed, I took it as a greeting, and sang back. The rocks on the beach purified me, dogs and horses followed me, the wind was like a friend.

I went to a river with a friend one day, and collected several smooth stones of a similar size. Later, my friend showed me his collection of stones and when I told him that I could frequently feel a vibration from stones, he told me to close my eyes. One by one, he gave me a stone to hold and asked me to describe it. The longer we played this game, the more able I was to describe certain properties of that stone. In my gut, I could see fireworks, and he told me was mica. One stone had so much energy in it, I had to drop it. He told me it was citrine and was a very powerful stone. The next, all I could describe was a chopping sensation on my arm. There were no words, I just kept hitting my arm with a chopping motion. He told me that rock had been split from another. When he gave me the next stone, I told him it didn’t want me to hold it, it wanted to go back to him. He told me then that it was his personal stone, one he never let anyone touch. From that day, I have recognized that just because the stones are lying around does not mean they are not doing anything. Stones are to energy what trees are to air. They purify energy. I keep many in my house and my house feels lighter for their being there. They are Beings, too.

I was highly sensitized at that time, because I had only recently encountered God. My spirit was stronger than my physical senses and I often reacted to things unseen. The eyes are physical and see what is in front of them, but the stronger your spirit becomes through a deeper connection with God, the more your vision will not need to rely on your eyes. At that time, I understood that I could sense things that perhaps we all could if our lifestyles had not removed us so far from our original instructions.

While teaching Sunday School, I asked the group of nine-year olds how they felt when they lay in a field and looked at the clouds, or when they saw the breeze move like waves through tall grasses. The most difficult boy in the class said quietly and with reverence, “I feel Him.”

Children know how to just Be. They don’t yet carry the responsibility of adulthood and the disconnection from nature that our busy lives force upon us. But the possibility lives in all of us and the more we take the time to nurture it, the closer to God we will become.

Imagine sharing the company of the rock. They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, when in the company of trees or rocks, imagine Being as they are; still, silent, observing, Being. Remove yourself from the world of the doing, and join the world of the Being.

When we can sit still long enough in the place of beauty of our choice and God’s creation, when we can just Be, forget everything and become everything, we will know God, the God in us, around us, of us. And determine just exactly how much (I cannot resist saying it!) you will choose To Be or Not to Be.