You—
all of you
each one of you
are like us—
like people.
Or rather,
we are like you.
Except,
we don’t do life
as well as you.
You are one.
You are Zion.
One
in heart
in mind
in branch
in root
in earth.
You raise
your hands high
in praise
of life.
You shimmer
and sing
at the slightest
breath
of life.
You grow
and expand
without strife
while giving back
more—
much more—
than
you take.
Your roots—
those veins
and vessels
running beneath
skin of soil
pump life
through you—
the largest single
living organism.
A collective of capillaries
and synapse-like cells
speaking warning,
wonder,
and community
on earth.
You’ve made
your work
and your glory
work—
for every one.
Not just a few.
And unlike many of your
big-brained relatives,
you know that the
polluting
extorting
harming
ignoring
rejecting
or losing
of one of you—
any of you—
blights
all of you
making each of you
less than
you once were.
We people
too rarely
get this.
This sense
of divinity.
That being a god
is more about connection
than quantity.
More about community
than quality.
More about opportunity
than equality.
More about
ascending
by descending.
More about letting go
so others can grow.
More about a patient
slow evolution
than a revolution,
or our insisting on
restitution
or restoration
or compensation.
More about mercy.
Treasuring this one
pearl of great price—
this rare and precious earth.
Receiving its
abundance
without false intention
or extortion
Receiving its gifts
through connection
and appreciation
of all creation.
Now this is a revelation
for all time
and eternity.
Pando,
Thank you,
all of you,
each of you—
for this
theophany.
Jay Griffith is an explorer of ideas and a facilitator of dialogue and relationships. He has served as chair of his community council and on the Utah Village Square and Living Room Conversation teams. Jay cofounded and manages a monthly discussion group, Faith Again, as well as co-facilitates its sister group, Think Again. By profession, Jay helps create and market brands, products, and services and has assisted various non-profits. Other passions include trail running, writing poetry, reading, creating, the arts, earth exploring, and earth stewardship. He has served in a Latter-Day Saint African Refugee Branch since 2016. He and his wife, Jane, live in Millcreek, Utah and are in affectionate familial relationship with three grown children, two daughters-in-law, one grandbaby, two cats, an old dog, and four chickens.
