This morning while reading the new posts and after reading Harv’s post about the Great Spirit; a memory from my childhood came back to me. Let me share it with you.
While my grandfather was cleaning a house with burning tobacco leaves (getting rid of evil spirits) he said to me “Tobacco is a gift from the Great Spirit and is to be used only for spiritual purposes—never abuse this principle”. I said “Yes Grandfather!” Remembering this after so long (I was only 4) caused my heart to feel tremendous grief because I didn’t honor what my Grandfather said. But today I will honor my Grandfather and now I understand that what he said next was true—“For if you do not respect this gift, you will never be happy and your health will fail”. My Grandfather was so wise.
This journey, that I have been on, has brought me back to my childhood and I now can see the wisdom of so many people that I thought were just trying to control me. Parents, grandparents, teachers and those who took an interest in my welfare all told me never to smoke.
Judy
