oh be careful little ears...

Yesterday I was minding my own business and working away at my job when I received a text from a very good friend of mine...he was telling me there would be a service at so and so's house on Wednesday. I was at first alarmed because in the longhouse way, we usually only do services at someone's home if they're very sick and wish for healing prayers, or if someone has passed away from that home and they need strength...AND also, if someone just wants to have their home blessed by longhouse songs and words...

I texted my friend back and said "what HAPPENED" to which he responded "nothing Miss Drama, So and So just wants to open their home." When I first read that text I was offended which is funny because in my line of business you can't really be thin-skinned...HOWEVER I think that my process was that this was a very close and dear friend of mine...one might even call him "brother" although in the most flexible sense of the word...he had taken what he viewed as a character flaw of mine and made it into a nickname...my first response? SO RUDE...

Throughout the day (because of course I moved on and other things were more important) from time to time his words returned to me..."Miss Drama" and I began to think..."what if we all did that, pick a particular characteristic we view as a character flaw and use it for a nickname..." I began to fantasize the various nicknames I might give my friend...

Discretion got the better of me and I didn't text my friend back with the names I'd come up with...I also gave him the benefit of the doubt that he too is stressed and might not be as careful with his words as he ought...I also took this as a reminder that I should heed the teachings I know about watching our words..."be quick to listen and slow to speak" and so forth. Also took the lesson that it's not fair to hold this friend to a higher standard, he is after all, human...

This being said, let's get back to the title of this blog "oh be careful little ears what you hear..."

Sometimes you know, we are our own worst enemy...we hear tones that aren't there, we fabricate moments of offense from our own misguided sense of self and sometimes it's best to hear what we heard just as it was said...a passing comment, a tiny whisper...and just stop over thinking these moments...thing is, I'm one of those creative types and truth be told, we do have a tendency to be dramatic. It's true and I'll admit it. One of the benefits of getting older is that I hope hope HOPE I can learn the lessons necessary for gracious living!!!!!

So today instead of noticing the bad things I'm going to listen first for the wind, I love how it sounds in the pine trees up the hills...I love the whistling song it sings as it breezes through the winter wheat sprouting bravely in the cold; I will listen for the river, she sings with wisdom and joy bringing watery lfe where she goes...

this is my beloved Auntie Umatilla (Umatilla River) in the summer...