The One In The All And The All In The One

I ambled through the field, a single human moving through a small field on a quiet morning. I was heading away from the road, away from the farmhouse and away from the ducks floating on the pond. I was heading towards an expanse of grass that leads to a marshy waterway. But mostly, I wasn’t heading anywhere. I was just ambling through the field, aware of everything and nothing at the same time. Until my field of vision shifted.

The grassy hillside ahead of me seemed to glisten in the hazy light. Looking closer, to the ground at my feet, I noticed that on each branch of each blade of grass, a drop of rain was suspended. I stooped to appreciate one particular plant and the drops that had gathered on its tips and notches. Here, in singular form, each drop rested in intimate relationship with the part of the plant on which it had landed.  By nearly impossible odds, that particular drop landed on that particular crevice of this particular plant. And now they rested in such comfort and union that, to my outsider’s view, they appear to have always been in relation to one another. The drop will remain where it is until it is released by a passing critter, evaporated by warmth and sun, dried by the wind, or swept away by another raindrop falling to the earth. The drop is singular, and also a part of a whole. Each drop will have come from a body of water and will return to another body of water eventually. It separates, returns to source and separates again, the water cycle mirroring the life cycle. 

Later in my walk, I startled a lone turkey and then a deer. Each particular individual ambling in solitude through the morning. Until of course, we noticed one another. Then we were in community.

In community, we are one. Each of us — the water droplets, the human, the turkey, and the deer  — is a part of a unified whole. Brought together in particular forms at this particular time in this particular place, we are one. I can only notice and celebrate each of these unique expressions of our singular Spirit. This is grace. The one in the all and the all in the one.

There are not any words. 

There is only awe, gratitude and responsibility to this oneness.

Rest here with me for a few moments.

4 Replies to “The One In The All And The All In The One”

  1. Hi Lisa
    I agree with Deb. Your observations are so simple and beautiful. I am very far away from Maine, but your words carry me back.

  2. Dear Lisa – You continue to leave me in awe with your observation and perception of the beautiful world God has given us. Thank you.

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