Lakota Instructions for Living

Lakota Instructions for Living.. in 54 seconds. It's just that simple.... GET IT.

Willing To Become a Tree
Lynn Noel
7-99- Kinsley Kansas

I had just come from within the medicine wheel with my friends.... The night moon was full and bright. It was a magical night of mystery.

I walked the roadway my bare feet touching the earth. I saw a tree stump cut just above the ground... I stood upon the tree.. As if to be a tree.

It felt uncomfortable... this bonding with the tree. Pain rippled through my feet and up my legs...

What was this pain.. to whom did it belong... To me, the tree or was it a shared pain in our knowing our scars.

We struggled the tree and I.... shifting, adjusting our weight , balance and fit....
Suddenly my arms reached out... branches of the tree my arms became.

I stood tall within the spirit of the tree... within the sacred life. Almost as suddenly as my arms had raised... the fell to my sides.... eyes closing.

Eyes open to the night moon and to the mysteries of life. I stood tall, bending, strong and sure of the tree... I could see my arms holding the moon, I could feel my arms at my sides holding my spirit.

As I stepped off the tree. I bent to touch itís scared surface with my hands..
a few more words and we parted... Each thanking the other.... For a moment we forgot the connection of balance of the sacred life.

Bless you my roots, our roots I said.... the tree replied: Beneath the scars my roots still grow and will forever support anyone willing to stand with me and be a tree.