Stillness

I love the Kwak'wala translation of Matthew 5:9a. In English it reads: Blessed are the peacemakers...In Kwak'wala it reads Blessed wista da kyama kula masak nauka - The verse here is translated "Bleesed are those whose spirit is made the stillness of the ocean..." Kyama kula is that stillness that only ocean dwellers really understand. It is the stillness that is so still that birds will not land on the water. It has a quality of someone watching over all of creation. The silence almost has a taste.

Twice I have experienced this kyama kula. The first time I was kayaking near Cape Scott on the North End of Vancouver Island. I had paddled away from my companions, and suddenly I felt very alone, just flotsom on the sea. I understood in that moment just how small a part of creation I really am, just a drop of water in the ocean of life. Suddenly the feeling passed and I was surrounded by boats and by fisherfolk that had not been there a moment before. The second time I shared kyama kula was during a walk on the sea wall in Port Hardy. Everything went silent. The ocean was still and the gulls who normally crowd the waters could not seem to land. The stillness disturbed them, only the eagles soared above, rising motionless in the hot air currents. In these moments all of creation was still, standing in ABSOLUTE AWE of its Creator.

Psalm 23 comes to mind: "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters (kyama kula). He restores my soul. He leads me on paths of righteousness for his name sake, and yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me. you spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and forever."