On The Road 13: North Dakota

"On the reason for the Sweat.

Human beings sometimes forget that we are part of this nature and that we are directly connected with every living form of life on this planet. Even the dirt we walk on. We have separated ourselves and what we do from nature. In this earth realm we have come to believe that we are superior and we need to insulate suffering and flee from it. To be uncomfortable means tragedy in some cases. We as human beings forget that suffering makes us strong and proves our strengths. Honestly most of us run from the day to day things we could choose to suffer through to gain some kind of spiritual strength. Things that would bear fruit in our souls and in our lives. So we miss out on the life our suffering would breathe into us."

"When an apple tree is coming into the time to make apples sometimes they need to be hit on the stalk to shock the tree and then it will make apples. Life is this way for us too. I feel like the ability to overcome pain is written inside of everyone of us for a reason. Pain is the greatest teacher and fortifies our nature."

"The ceremony of the sweat lodge gives us the opportunity to choose a form of suffering to gain the favor of our Creator and to show the One that made all, that we are willing to do more than just speak words of prayer. We are willing to humble ourselves and be uncomfortable to hopefully be heard and considered sincere in our hearts. Although our Father in heaven knows us before we were born He loves to see our hearts beating for Him and hear our spirits sing songs of praise and gratitude for what we have been given."

"In the darkness and heat of the sweat we find the stillwater that our lives drink from. You might even say that a person is cooking away the things that don't need to be carried with them. Even for a short time, so short of a time, we can get close to ourselves again. What are hours of being uncomfortable and suffering in comparison to how we live day to day in the arms of this comfortable life we live? Is it not right to bring ourselves lower than we think we are so we can see ourselves clearly?"

"It's a blessing to make the choice to strip down to almost nothing and crawl into that sweat lodge with them hot rocks we call grandfather and let some of the junk that's in us go up into the steam. Like how precious metal is purified by the heat of the furnace our spirits can be cleaned the same way. What is not pure will not remain. Every ceremony is a free will choice made to show reverence to the one true creator of all."

"The sweat lodge is a place and space designed to make use of suffering and to strengthen us human beings through the free will choice to offer our willingness to suffer so our prayers become the prayers of a true heart. To God be all the glory."

--Derek Redfeather Poitra