This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16 NIV)

My husband and I left Virginia to go to California to help my elderly parents. At their request, we left our new home and everything we had accumulated during our then 29 years of marriage. We both felt that this was the Christian thing to do. As things don’t always work out as planned, we ended up living in their unfinished basement for over two years. It was there I met “Grandmother”.

I don’t know if it was the love I’ve always had for the Native Americans, or the land calling out to me. We were living where the Miwoks have lived for thousands of years, near Yosemite National Park. I felt a strong connection to the land and to the Native Americans. I began to search the Scriptures. Feeling a deep burden for the Native Americans, I desired to “lead them to Christ”. Through Scripture, I found out that the Native Americans knew the Creator before the white man came to the Americas.

All the Native Americans had to do was to return to their Ancient Ways, the Ancient Path, and they would return to God.

I realized that the Native Americans were actually living their religion more than I was; and the way they lived their religion was the closest to how I wanted to live my life, in worship to my Creator. My problem was I had no one to teach me, no Elder to guide me, no one to call “My People”.

One night, as I sat in the middle of my bed praying -- praying for guidance, praying for an Elder to teach me -- a vision of an elderly Indian woman appeared before me. She wore a tan, fringed, belted hide dress and a necklace made of small shells and one small abalone shell hanging down in the middle. Her hair was white, parted in the middle, with braids framing her kindly, weathered face. Her white braids reached down to her waist. She carried a rather large, shallow basket. I understood that this was a winnowing basket and somehow I was going to be winnowed, that the chaff would be taken away from me, leaving the pure seed. She said to me, “I am Grandmother. I want you to follow the Ancient Path. I have come to teach you. I will be your Elder. I will always be with you and never leave you.”

From that time on, “Grandmother” has taught me many things.

The Ancient Ones knew the Creator, for the Great Spirit was inherent in their being. They knew the Creator in every flower, in every bird, in every sunrise, in every mountaintop. The Great Spirit is God for every nation. We are all one people, and there is but one God for all. Whatever color the Creator made you, you were made to honor Him. Follow the ways of the Ancient Ones, who honored and revered the Great Mystery of the Creator.

Our Creator, let us take time to be silent, listen to Your voice, see and honor You in all things.