In times of food scarcity in the village, one of the wisest Indians went to the woods. He no longer had the agility for hunting.

And going deep into the forest, he went to meditate or try, in the murmur of the woods, to hear the voices of the ancestors, protectors of the indigenous  nation.

It was there, seeking an encounter with nature, that the Indian saw a tree,  Paxiuba, lying down. It did not enjoy the sun because much taller trees covered the light that should have fed it.

Observing it, the Indian found that its roots were not fixed.  

That, lying down, it put down new roots. In this way, he realized that it lies down, but gets up again as many times as needed, until it reaches its nourishment, the sun.

It lies down but does not fall. It struggles and gets up again, going towards what it needs.

The Indian understood Mother Nature´s message. He returned to his village and told of the singular experience.

Knowing that, at that moment, food was the greatest difficulty for the people, they started to use Paxiuba wood for their blowpipes.

They concluded that, in that way, they would have more skill in hunting, as if they wanted to assimilate the symbology of the warrior tree.

Scientists watched the strange tree with a lot of admiration.

They found that it is a species of palm tree, native to tropical Central America, which arrived in South America and is found in the basin of the Amazon river, in Brazil, where it does not lack sun.

In this process of falling and launching new roots, it can, in a period of one year, move up to twenty meters.

*   *   *

Nature surprises us. A plant uses a strategy to launch itself seeking light, which it needs.

Interesting lessons for our lives.

When discouragement causes us to succumb, we may fall. When despair embraces us, for a long time, we may fall.

When the storm becomes so strong, like a hurricane that destroys everything; when everything seems to go wrong, everything is contrary to our plans, our ideals, we can lie down.

When the winds hit us, and we have to bend to the ground, almost defeated...

At that moment, faith must shine. And, if we believe that we have lost it, at some point along the journey, let us act like that father, ardently wishing for the healing of his son:  

I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.

And in the same way that he returned the son freed from obsessive bonds to his father´s heart, Jesus, the Shepherd, will come to meet us and help us to rekindle the divine spark that exists in us.

It will shine the light that we are.

Then, we will launch new roots and, like Paxiuba, we will rise again.

The fight is not over. We may have lost a fight against death, against adverse conditions, but we did not lose the battle.

The answers appear, the solutions appear, even timid, as a simple glimmer of hope.

Let us move on.

Let us pray. Even if they may seem like phrases without much sense, they will translate our desire to rise, to seek the sun of the first magnitude, which is called Jesus, our Planetary Governor. Our Model and Guide.

Spiritist Moment Team, based on article Será que Jesus ainda
ouve os homens?, from Arlete Nunes Magalhães, at Seareiro Magazine,
 number176, on July/August 2021, publ. Seara Bendita Instituição Espírita
and on Gospel of Marcus, chapter 9, verse 24.
January 23.2023.