I've been suckled on the teat of efficiency and productivity, as have most of the people around me. Achievements, certificates, milestones, deliverables... these have been at the heart of motivation for me. Even now, in my latter years, as I extract myself from a full schedule of clients and commitments, I look for "projects". My sense of meaning and purpose are tied to making things, as if only things make the difference.

But lately, I'm aware of the potency of devotion. My mother, even still at age 95, has walked, every day, in the woods. And every day, points out something exquisite -- the way the light brings out the particular cascade of greens; the tiniest of wildflowers, the colours on the back of a beetle, the way the mist settles between the hills. Lately, she's been collecting the tips of vines and plants and pressing them, then gluing them onto cards. She puts them downstairs for anyone to pick up and send to friends. Now, my sister and my sister in law walk through their days looking for fresh green tendrils, and buds to bring to her. Her devotion to signs of Life have lifted a veil for those of us around her.

Robert MacFarlane, in his book, Is a River Alive?, visits four different river watersheds around the world. He visits as a stranger... standing for and wanting to experience the fullness of the place arising from these endangered rivers. He asks specialists to guide him and introduce him to the river and its locale and to what is happening in that place. In so doing, he brings something that opens even these specialists, who are immersed in depth knowing, to realize in a fresh way, the majesty and miracle they are in. One of his guides is Guiliana Furci, who communes with fungi. She is able to move through the Los Cedros cloud forest, in Ethiopia sensing where mushroom and slime are emerging. Even she is found at times, quietly off to the side, shedding tears, as her self is opened in a different way, by the journey Robert is asking her to bring him on. By his questions. By his innocence.

When I was young, and through most of my muscular capable life and career, I discounted my mother. "How could you give up your career to raise a family?" I priorized daring, challenge, and accomplishment. But now, I see how I've been blinded by the surface of stuff. And now I see that showing up, being present, gazing as a stranger -- that this matters. And it impacts those around. Through devotion, we make a deeper belonging with what is.

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