When our children were small we read The Borrowers by Mary Norton. The story centered around very small people who lived in the floors and walls of regularly sized people. They 'borrowed' things they needed from the larger people to furnish their home, create their clothes, make their tools. Their biggest danger was, of course, the family cat, who could hear them moving about when the less refined ears of the humans could not. The stories were filled with adventure, fun and some fine life lessons.

On this first day of spring, I thought of the Borrowers. As I walked out our side door I caught the first glimpse of our family of chipmunks that lives under our deck in the summertime and sleeps away the winter, I believe, in our garage. I saw the small scurrying body slip under the porch fresh from its sleep, ready to begin its work of spring. I have not thought of these creatures all winter thought they have been close by. 

It reminded me how many indigenous cultures have the understanding that we are co-existing across time with those who have gone before and those who are yet to be born. Many of these people, certainly the Celts and Native Americans, call upon those unseen in their time of trial,asking for wisdom or simply companionship. I love this idea, this practice really, of these wisdom p bound people. As western humans we so often think of ourselves as the center of all that lives rather than a small part of a greater whole that is mostly Mystery, beyond our fullest knowing. The chipmunks were alive, doing what their life required of them, just as much as the humans who walk in and out over their heads.

I think of all I have 'borrowed' from those I no longer physically see. The gifts to me of those who have passed on into eternity guide how I see the world, influence my decisions, and nurture the seeds of my present relationships. Though my eyes see them no longer, their presence is still with me. In the Christian church we call this 'the great cloud of witnesses' who accompany us on our life journey and stand just in the shadows of our days.

So on this first day of spring, as the earth, the creatures, and we begin to awaken from our winter's sleep, may we remember to periodically stop and watch the movement in our peripheral vision. It could be a chipmunk or a borrower of another kind offering us a gift of being startled into wakefulness.Whichever it is, rest assured that the Holy lives in it.

"And have you brought the wisdom that we have near lost? Or have you brought the peace that we're all aching for?" ~Mary McLaughlin, "Bring the Peace"

Have a blessed weekend…………….