The eternal is a spirited child

The abundance of nature overwhelms me this year. In the last two weeks, I moved from an overdue awareness of spring to an abrupt encounter with early summer, surrounded by a wealth of new growth. The leap from spring to early summer never ceases to surprise me. For months on end, nature seems to stand still, and then, from one day to the next, everything has changed.

This past weekend, I again co-facilitated a Rooted Retreat. The Rooted Foundation aims to help people with a migration background grow new roots in the Netherlands. During the programme, we explore various dimensions of life that determine whether one feels at home somewhere.

Trusting beyond our beliefs

One of those dimensions is our spiritual rootedness. It concerns our relationship to a higher power, but might also signify our connection to something beyond ourselves. Something greater to relate to and to which we can entrust ourselves. Something that offers comfort and hope, regardless of what happens in our lives. For some, it takes the shape of God; for others, a deep trust in the goodness of humanity or the oneness of life itself.

During these retreats, people come together with roots in all parts of the world, and as a result the spiritual dimension always invites compelling questions. Despite our different religious, agnostic and atheist beliefs, we seek common ground; a spiritual rootedness that resonates with our personal spirituality.

One of the participants shared that she is a committed atheist, convinced there is no God or higher power. At the same time, she feels deeply spiritually rooted in the wonder she experiences in nature. It moved me, because I recognised the experience she described. I have a strong sense of God, feeling rooted in a rich tradition, and would never call myself an atheist – and yet we spoke, beyond our beliefs, of the same source.

We shared a sense of something outside of time. Like an eternal embrace that holds past, present and future, saturating everything with a love that underlies the irrepressible growth of life itself. And in an unguarded moment of wonder, we both manage to briefly touch that presence, even if we give it a different name.

To begin again, time and again

In recent weeks, I find myself briefly touching the eternal almost daily. The transition from spring to summer is ruled by the heart, making it easier to experience a sense of wonder. On an evening walk, I was reminded how the eternal, that which envelops time, is by definition younger than we who live within the rule of time.

Like a child who cannot get enough of something it loves, I witness the eternal testifying of itself, again and again. It invites us with that same enthusiasm, unbothered by endless repetition, to keep celebrating the beauty of creation. With every sunrise, once more, like a spirited child saying, “Again, again, again.”