There was no judgment in this message. No sense that things should have remained the same. The land understands that change is inevitable. Seasons shift. Landscapes transform. What once was gives way to something new.
The invitation was simply to remember.
To honor what had been there before because it formed the foundation for what exists now.
As I sat with that message, I realized how often we struggle to offer ourselves the same grace.
We all have seasons of life we miss. A relationship that ended. A dream we never pursued. A path we did not take. A younger body that moved with more ease. A time when life felt simpler. We often look back wishing we could reclaim what has passed.
Yet the land offered a different perspective.
What if those seasons were never meant to be held onto? What if their purpose was to become the foundation for who we are now?
Looking back, we often think, I should have known better. I should have made a different choice. I wasted so much time. We judge our past selves through the lens of who we are today. Yet the land held no judgment for what had come before. It simply honored its own story.
What if we offered ourselves the same kindness?
What if we stopped seeing the past as something to regret and instead honored it as part of our becoming?
Every relationship, whether it lasted or not, taught us something. Every mistake offered wisdom. Every season of life shaped us in ways we may not fully understand. Even the experiences we would never choose again contributed to the person we have become.
Nothing was wasted.
The younger version of you is not gone. The dreams that changed are not failures. The roads not taken are not evidence that you somehow got it wrong.
They are part of your story.
They are the roots beneath your feet.
Can you think of something about yourself that you miss? A time in your life you wish you could return to? A choice you wish had been different?
Instead of longing for it or judging it, what would happen if you honored it?
What would happen if you thanked that version of yourself for carrying you to where you are now?
Growth is not always comfortable. Change can be painful. Sometimes we grieve what was while trying to embrace what is.
Yet gratitude softens the journey.
When we honor what came before, we stop fighting with our past. We create space to stand fully in the present. We allow ourselves to welcome what is still becoming.
The land did not ask me to miss what was. It asked me to honor it.
The land was not asking me to mourn what had changed. It was asking me to remember. To honor. To hold space for the story that came before while fully appreciating what exists today.
As I left, I offered my gratitude not only for the land as it is now, but for all that had come before it and all that it will become in the future.
Its message remains with me:
Honor what was.
Be present with what is.
And welcome what is becoming.
