The Future Is Innocent
Nourishment with roots.
By Jemma
Much of modern life seems to encourage us to ask: What do I want? What do I believe? What best serves me?
What will our children inherit?
But I wonder whether our children will be so concerned with the labels we wore, the identities we defended and how many followers we amassed. Maybe their attention will be drawn elsewhere. Have they soil that’s been nourished or desecrated, have communities been strengthened or fractured and were traditions preserved or abandoned?
Will we leave them with the values, wisdom and foundations necessary to ensure their children’s children feel the warmth of the sun as they harvest fresh fruits surrounded by birdsong?
What does it mean to be in awe?
Many of the things consumed and valued nowadays lose their importance when we remember what it is to be in awe. In awe of this extraordinary planet. In awe of the body’s potential. In awe of nature and the intelligence that effortlessly weaves the whole web together.
How does soil shape the future?
Healthy soil gives rise to abundant life and food that can nourish us deeply. Beyond taste and basic nutrients alone, it carries information passed from the stars to the unseen forces at work underground. Shaped by the wind and sunlight, we need sustenance that grows because of an invisible interconnectedness that makes all life possible. That is what really nourishes us.
Break that sacred bond, replace stewardship and honour with intervention and quick fixes mimicking the magnificence of creation, and it all slowly begins to unravel.
The choices we make today affect us each for only a few short seasons, but they will matter greatly to those who are but distant dreams in the hearts of our children.
The future is innocent and dependent upon us choosing wisely. May all know a world abundant with birdsong and wildflowers, fertile soil and flowing rivers of wisdom and kindness.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”
∼ Native American Proverb