cthewind's Blog

I am still learning to receive the world as a gift.

This work is undertaken amidst truths of so much pain and suffering—grief and loneliness, death and division, wars and inequalities. To affirm the world as a gift, even part of it, in circumstances such as these might seem irresponsible, indulgent, irrational, disconnected. And yet, in my determination to receive the world as a gift I experience wonder and joyful resistance—a small confidence in the world as it is in part and may yet be, a small confidence in my ability to be part of it.

In the journey to receive the world as a gift I have been inspired and helped by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s teaching on The Honorable Harvest. Though the protocols are ancient, in Kimmerer’s telling they are revealed anew in the details of today. With the woods representing the world as a whole, she begins: “When you get to the woods, you don’t just start grabbing everything in sight” (1:04-08). Look, listen, introduce yourself, ask permission, announce your intention, take in a way that benefits the giver, share with others, give something of yourself in return.

To receive the world as a gift is not the same as having the world served on a silver platter. Far from it, in fact. Receiving the world as a gift requires the humble posture of need, the vulnerable experience of accepting life from others, the risky offering of oneself as just such a gift to another.

The world reveals itself as a gift when we offer the gift of our attention. In many ways, attention is the main gift we offer, whatever the packaging or context. In attention we “tend,” stretching in the direction of each other, offering recognition, connecting in the dignity of mutual existence, being the world together.