We were sleeping, but we have awakened. Our ears have opened to the sacred teachings, our hearts have become attentive, and our spirits have begun to remember what our souls have always known.
We have been touched by the love of Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, and we have come to recognize the living presence of our Creator within ourselves, within one another, and throughout the whole Sacred Circle of Life.
This awakening is among the greatest gifts that can ever be bestowed upon our Human Family.
This is the Sacred Breath moving within us. It is the breath of faith, spiritual assurance, courage, and remembrance. It is the breath that awakens our spirits from forgetfulness and calls us back into right relationship with our Creator, with Mother Earth, with the Human Family, and with all our relations.
This is eternal life, not merely life continuing beyond the passing of the physical body, but the awakening of our souls while we are still walking together upon our Mother Earth.
This is one of many spiritual births: the moments when we begin to see with new spiritual eyes, listen, even deeper, with the ears of the heart, and walk with a consciousness growing larger than the separate, limited self.
It is a reawakening into sacred responsibility. It is realizing again that our lives do not belong to us alone, but have been entrusted to us for the service of our families, our communities, the generations yet unborn, and the entire Sacred Hoop of Creation.
The Great Mystery has prepared this spiritual station for every soul. The way has been opened before us, but we must recognize the value of this sacred bounty. We must give time each day to remembering our Creator, offering gratitude, speaking words of thanksgiving, and listening deeply for spiritual guidance. Gratitude keeps our hearts open. Prayer strengthens our spirits. Service transforms our spiritual understanding into living action.
Therefore, let us live in the deepest happiness, not a happiness dependent upon possessions, comfort, praise, or outward circumstances, but a sacred joy rooted in the knowledge that we are loved, guided, and never separated from the Source of Life.
This joy is not shallow, nor does it deny the suffering that may come into our lives. It is the quiet inner fire that continues to burn even when the winds of adversity rise around us.
Troubles and changes will surely visit every human life. We may experience difficulties of health, livelihood, family, vocation, or uncertainty about the road ahead. There may be times when our hearts grow tired, when our bodies are burdened, or when the path becomes difficult to see. Yet we must not permit these passing conditions to extinguish the sacred light within us. The storm may surround us, but it does not have to enter the innermost sanctuary of our spirits.
We must remember that our Creator has placed within us a happiness that the outer world cannot give and therefore cannot take away. Wakan Tanka has prepared spiritual nourishment for our journey. The Great Mystery has surrounded us with teachings, helpers, visible and invisible relatives, and opportunities to grow in wisdom, compassion, courage, and love. Even within times of hardship, sacred gifts are quietly unfolding around us and within us.
We have been given an eternal inheritance: the capacity to know our Creator, to love, to forgive, to heal, to serve, and to become instruments of unity. This is an everlasting dignity that no worldly circumstance can diminish. Our true glory is not found in status, wealth, titles, possessions, or recognition, but in the purity of our hearts, the truthfulness of our words, the kindness of our actions, and the good that our lives bring to others.
Let these glad tidings lift our spirits like the Sacred Eagle rising upon the winds. The Eagle does not deny the storm. The Eagle opens its wings and uses the powerful currents to rise higher. In the same way, the tests of life can become spiritual winds that lift us beyond fear, doubt, separation, and attachment, carrying us toward greater vision, wisdom, and understanding.
Let us walk, therefore, in joy. Let us walk in gratitude. Let us walk with humility and spiritual confidence, knowing that we are sacred children of our Creator and inseparable relatives within the Great Circle of Life.
Let us give thanksgiving continually, not only when the road is smooth, but also when the way is difficult, trusting that every sincere step we take toward love and unity opens the door to further guidance.
As gratitude fills our hearts and service guides our actions, the confirmations of Wakan Tanka will encircle us. We will recognize them in unexpected assistance, in the wisdom of an Elder, in the laughter of a child, in the strength of our relatives, in the quiet voice within our own hearts, and in the living teachings of our Mother Earth.
May we remain awake. May our ears remain attentive. May our hearts remain informed and guided by love. May the Sacred Breath strengthen us, unite us, and carry us forward together.
May our shared lives become a continual offering of gratitude to the Great Mystery, the Maker of All Good Things, from whom we have come, within whom we live, and to whom every soul shall one day return.
We are awakening together. We are healing together. We are learning to walk again as one Human Family, within the greater Family of all Life