A Garden of Hope | Sister True Dedication

For me myself, I think my life has become a lot richer.

The more I feel connected to the Earth, the more I am able to recognize

and cherish the Earth and all her wonders, great and small,

and to feel awestruck, to feel amazed by simple things, by trees, by animals,

by the changing seasons, plants, flowers, insects, mountains.

And to fall in love with these elements of the Earth.

And that fills me up.

It is fulfilling to be in love with the Earth,

and then we don't need to chase after

consumption, money, power, careers, status.

We don't need so much when we are fulfilled with our love for the Earth,

and when we are fulfilled by the joy of being in community and living simply and deeply.

I think there is nothing more beautiful than to live simply and deeply in contact with the Earth

and living in harmony with fellow human beings.

But it's incredible how hard that is to do in our modern society.

We somehow have to step out.

We have to diverge from the mainstream in order to be able to do that.

And I think on our retreats and being here in Plum Village, we want to give many young people a chance to diverge,

to be a little bit radical in our way of seeing things, in our way of understanding and our way of loving,

and to have the courage to choose another path for ourselves.

And I think when each one of us can choose a path that is more in harmony,

that is more in harmony with our own wishes,

it is naturally in harmony with the Earth and with other people.

And.

One by one, drops of water when we can live differently,

and we can show it is possible to live differently,

then I believe as a species we will be able to live differently.

We are a garden of hope.

We we do what we can,

and we we take care of the seeds of hope and the seeds of love,

and the seeds of joy and brotherhood and sisterhood.

And when we have a community of young people that is

climbing the hill of the 21st century with hope, with joy, with peace, with simplicity, and with brotherhood and sisterhood,

then we will have a community that can face the challenges ahead

with nonviolence, with openness, with fearlessness and with compassion.