"we're not that different at all..."

 "Why can't they understand 

the way we feel?

They just don't trust 

what they can't explain.

I know we're difference, 

but deep inside us, 

we're no that different at all.."

Dateline: May 20, 2021.  Religion News Service. "Sixty years after she stepped into the jungle to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat, Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist and conservationist, has won the 2021 Templeton Prize, established by the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton to honor those who use science to explore humankind’s place and purpose within the universe."

I felt tears spring to my eyes as I read the news this morning.  Jane Goodall has had a profound impact on the way that I live my life and how I few all conscious beings. 

I remember thinking of her groundbreaking work as a primatologist, while sitting in a darkened theater with our young daughter watching the Disney's animated film, Tarzan. and I always think of whenever I hear Phil Collins' beautiful song, "You'll Be in My Heart," from that same movie. 

As Sir John Templeton's granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill, wrote of Goodall: 

“Her discoveries have profoundly altered the world’s view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity in a way that is both humbling and exalting. Ultimately, her work exemplifies the kind of humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery that my grandfather, John Templeton, wrote and spoke about during his life.”

Humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery.  Aren't these the defining attributes of every great thought-leader.  

My own spiritual heroes, Jesus Christ and Mary Baker Eddy, brought these same qualities to their desire to understand the law of Love and the impartial and universal application of that law in the lives of all conscious beings.  

I am so deeply grateful for the progress that humanity has made in recognizing that although, on the surface, we might seem so different, we're really not that different at all.  Spirituality dissolves the differences we define as race, gender, species, genus with the consciousness of God's All-in-allness. 

I have learned more about unconditional love from our non-speaking family members -- the ones who navigate this experience on four legs -- than I have from most humans.  

So today, I am deeply grateful for the legacy of respect and compassion for all creatures, that Jane Goodall has left to us as a record of our ever-evolving history of what it means to be conscious beings sharing the same spiritual landscape. 

offered with Love, 

Cate

"this bond between us can't be broken..."

"...for one so small,
you seem so strong
His arms will hold you,
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us,
can't be broken.

You will be here
no goodbyes...

'cause you'll be in our hearts
Yes, you'll be in our hearts
From this day on,
now and forever more..."

I remember hearing "You'll be in My Heart," from Disney's "Tarzan" for the first time in a darkened theater and thinking, I will always love this song.  It will always remind me of this moment.  Well, it always has...until I met Ian Forber-Pratt. 

If you don't know Ian, I hope you will get to know him, just a bit, through this post.  I say, "a bit," because the breadth of Ian's presence in our lives...and the lives of our children, and every other child who knows him...is so vast it would be impossible to encompass in one post.

Ian cares. 

Ian loves.

Ian gives of himself. 

Himself...not things, or money, or food (although he is pretty generous with whatever he has of those as well)...but himself.  His time, his attention, his wisdom, his humility, his heart...is theirs. 

I've seen photos of the day baby Ian first arrived in the United States from India.  His new dad could have held him in one hand.  He was a peanut...so, so tiny.  If there was ever proof that the size of one's body, does not define the expanse of one's affections, Ian is that proof.  For one so small at birth, he is truly a giant among men..just ask any of our kids.

Adopted from India, raised in a home filled...to the brim...with love, steeped in spiritual strength, and devoted to the lives of children, Ian makes a difference in the life of everyone he touches with his indominable life purpose.

Our daughters, like most of the teens I know, met Ian at church, and the bond of genuine love and acceptance was instant.  His spirituality is real, pracitical, fun, and they all love him.   He has given our children a lens on a living, breathing, palpable love, that I don't think they will ever forget.

Game nights at his home, Sunday School sleepovers, breakfasts at church, youth summits...have given them an inside track on what it actually looks like to love God in ways that feels doable.

So, here's the heart of this post.  A window on what...I think...makes Ian tick. 

He is complete.  And he told us about it the other night at church.  He said, he realized that since God is Father-Mother, he is not just a separate individual being roaming the earth.  He is, within himself, a family.  He is a walking family.  And I would add, that since he (like all of us) is a child of God, he is a complete family.  Father, Mother, child....all living, loving, working together, being purposeful...within one  individual. 

Ian seeks no one to complete him.  He loves without need.  He gives without expectation of being reciprocated...because he is already aware of his completeness.  Whatever you give Ian, he appreciates, but not because it fills in any blanks, or meets any needs, but because it furthers your understanding of how well-resourced you are as a generous giver.  He loves watching each of us discover that we are..one, and all, a complete family within ourselves.

Ian's journey is taking him back to India on Tuesday.  Tomorrow our church family will gather to send him off with more love than our little bulding can possibly hold within its brick walls.  I am so thrilled for all the children in India who will be blessed by Ian's presence in their lives.  For the foster care program he will initiate there.  And for the orphanage he will take under his wings.   Just think of how much it will mean to each of those children to learn that they are complete...within themselves.  Complete enough to have so much love to give that they can bless the lives of others.  It makes me weep with gratitude.


But I don't think I will be alone when these tears of gratitude and love continue to flow like a river...for a long time.  Ian' GPS may say that he has gone to India, but he will always be in our hearts...from this day on, now, and forevermore... always...always, and always.

We love you Ian...

Kate, Jeff, and the girls...

Just in case you missed the link to "You'll be in My Heart," above...here it is again...it is so beautiful. Happy Mother's Day...

"Her eye is on the sparrow, and She watches over me..."

"'Cause you'll be in my heart,
no matter what they say...
You'll be here in my heart
always,
always, and always..."

I love Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart," from Disney's Tarzan. 

Every mother who has spent a sunny afternoon sitting at the edge of a park playground, knows how important it is to know where your child is at any given moment.  You can be talking with another mother, tying your shoes, looking for that box of baby wipes buried in your tote, and still you are aware of exactly where your child is...slide, jungle gym, playing in the sandbox with the little redhead in pigtails and an apple green parka...every moment...you know, you always know.  

What your child doesn't realize, is that this practice doesn't stop when they think they no longer need to be watched.  It doesn't even stop with you think they probably don't need to be watched.  It has become a "sixth sense," part of your awareness DNA,  It is an integral part of your being, and it kicks into full gear whenever he/she is within your purvey. 

Author Elizabeth Berg wrote:

"You are always in my thoughts. When you were little, I knew your whereabouts at any given moment. Now that you are off on your own, I still always know where you are, because I keep you in my heart."

This isn't just a fascinating human phenomenon.  I believe it is an indication of our inherent oneness with the divine.  We have this skill, because on some very deep spiritual level, we have witnessed it in the way our Father-Mother God cares for, and is aware of us...and our whereabouts...at any given moment.  We know it, we feel it, we sense Her divine eye on us.  And we model this divine love in our love for our children and those we care deeply about.

In this clip, Lauryn Hill sings from the old spiritual, "His Eye is On the Sparrow":

"His eye is on the sparrow,
and He watches over me..."

No matter where we are, He...She watches over all of us.  Sparrow, child, world leader, prisoner-of-war...sleeping softly in our beds, gripping the gunwales of a storm-tossed sailboat, on a suburban playground, or trapped beneath the earth in a collapsed mine shaft.  Her eyes are on us, and we are safe.

We have learned well from our divine parent.  I remember a summer, not long ago at camp, when one of my daughters told me, "mom, every time I look up from what I am doing at dinner, you are looking at me...please stop."

I tried to explain that I was completely unaware that I was doing this at the time, but when I thought about it, it made sense.  I had spent her entire childhood watching her, making sure that I knew where she was at the mall, at the park, on the soccer field...you name it.   Deciding to not be aware of where she was when we were in the same space...was nearly impossible.

I realize now, that this is why I am aware of my own mom's eyes on me, whenever we are in the same room, kitchen, church, hallway, park...yes, even at the park.   Even though I am 56 years old, my mom is still watching over me.  To her, I am a little girl swinging on the swingset trying to reach the sun by reaching my toes higher and higher into the sky.

e.e. cummings once wrote: 

"...i carry your heart with me
i carry it in my heart
i am never without it
anywhere i go
you go, my dear..."

This is how God loves us. We are never out of Her sight, never out of Her range of vision.  We are in Her focus, in Her periphery, in Her heart...always, always and always.

with love,
Kate
Kate Robertson, CS