Ka Ipu o Lono shares weekly devotionals to provide spiritual enrichment to members of the Kamehameha Schools ‘ohana. For more inspiration, visit the KS “Our faith” website.
Heluhelu Baibala
Hana ihola ke Akua i ke kanaka ma kona ʻano iho, ma ke ʻano o ke Akua ʻo ia i hana ai iā ia; hana maila ia i kāne a i wahine. Hoʻomaikai maila ke Akua iā lāua, ʻī maila hoʻi ke Akua iā lāua, E hoʻohua aʻe ʻolua, e hoʻolaha hoʻi, e hoʻopiha i ka honua, a e lanakila ma luna, a e noho aliʻi ma luna o nā iʻa o ke kai, a me nā manu o ka lewa, a me nā mea a pau e kolo ana ma luna o ka honua. Lawe aʻela ʻo Iēhova ke Akua i ke kanaka, a hoʻonoho ihola iā ia ma ka mahina ʻai ma ʻEdena, e mahi a e mālama ia wahi.
– Kīnohi 1:27-28, 2:15
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
– Genesis 1:27-28, 2:15
He manaʻo o ke kahu
I ka hoʻolauleʻa ʻana o ka mahina ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, e mālama ʻia ana ka noʻonoʻo hoʻomana ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi a me ka ʻōlelo Pelekāne kekahi.
In celebration of Hawaiian Language Month, devotions will be in Hawaiian and English.
Ua piha koʻu mahalo iā ʻoukou e nā hoa lima ulu i puni ka mahina kīhāpai a me ka mahiʻai. Maopopo nō hoʻi iā kākou he mea kēia e hōʻoluʻolu ai i ke Akua ke “mahi a mālama” kākou i Kona kīhāpai honua. Eia naʻe, ʻoiai puni au i ka ʻohiʻohi ʻōpala no ka hana lei, e “ʻohiʻohi” wale au ma ka wao a ma nā māla pua o nā hoa noho, o nā hoaloha a o ka ʻohana paha na lākou ke akamai i ka mahina kīhāpai a na lākou hoʻi ka lokomaikaʻi e ʻae mai iaʻu e ʻohiʻohi maila ma laila.
Pōmaikaʻi kuʻu ʻohana i ka nohona ma kēia ʻāina momona ʻo Kāneʻohe ma Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu. He nohona lau hanauna ko mākou home nei kāhi i noho ai nā kūpuna o kuʻu wahine ma ka ʻaoʻao o kona makuakāne a ma ʻaneʻi nō kona pāpa i hānai ʻia ā nui. ʻO kēia makuahūnōaikāne oʻu, ke kūpuna mua a me ke konohiki o ko mākou home nei. Maiau maoli ʻo ia ala i kona mālama ʻana mai i kona pā hale nei. ʻOki mauʻu ʻo ia iho i kēlā me kēia pule a kope lau nō hoʻi ʻo ia ala i nā lā a pau, ʻelua manawa o ka lā hoʻokahi! Eia hou kekahi, kākaʻikahi wale nā mea kanu i ʻae nō ia ma kona kīhāpai e uluāhewa a puni kēia hale. ʻO kekahi, ʻo ia nō ke kumu ʻōhiʻa lehua a me ke kumu pua melia kahiko a Tūtū, kona māmā i kanu ai ma ʻaneʻi nei. ʻO kekahi hou aʻe, nā laʻalāʻau lehua mamo me ka ʻaʻaliʻi a nā moʻopuna i makana mai ai iā ia. ʻAe ʻia nō hoʻi ʻo ia i ka ʻawapuhi kuahiwi a me ke kī e ulu wale ma kauhale i wehi kau pua no nā pā ilina ʻohana ke pono. Mālama nō hoʻi ʻo ia ala i kēlā mau hē o kona mau mākua a me kāna keiki i nā pule a pau. Penei ua kū kona ʻano me nā kūpuna ʻoʻoleʻa me ka hoʻomanawanui e hoʻokō i ia ʻano hana kalakalai no ka hanauna o kēia au nei, akā, he hana maʻamau a koʻikoʻi nō ia no kēlā hanauna o ia wā ma mua.
Ma loko o ka Buke ʻo Kīnohi, ua palapala ʻia na Iēhova i hoʻomaikaʻi i ke kanaka e hoʻoaliʻi (noho aliʻi) ma luna o nā mea a pau o ke kai, o ka honua, o ka lewa lani a me nā holoholona a pau o loko. Ua maopopo ʻē i ko kākou kūpuna i ua manaʻo nei, no kākou ke kanaka ke kuleana koʻikoʻi e mālama i ka ʻāina e pono ai nā lako a pau loa a ke Akua i hoʻokuleana mai i nā aliʻi lokomaikaʻi e alakaʻi lawelawe i ola mau loa ai kēlā me kēia hanauna ma ka malu o ke Akua ka Mea Nāna i hāʻawi i nā pono a pau no ke ola. Kohu like kēia manaʻo nō hoʻi me ke kuana ʻike o ke kahiko i wehewehe akula ma nēia ʻōlelo noʻeau, “I ʻāina ka ʻāina i ke aliʻi, a i waiwai ka ʻāina i ke kanaka.” ʻO ia hoʻi, ma ke kaʻina kulana kanaka, he kauoha no ia a Iēhova no kākou a pau ke kuleana e mālama pono i Kāna i hana ai i pono ko kākou ola ma ke ao nei.
Wahi a ka moʻolelo, ua puni nō hoʻi Ke Aliʻi Pauahi i ka mahina kīhāpai e like hoʻi me kona kaikaina ʻo Liliʻu i ko lāua mau māla pua ma ko lāua home ponoʻī nō hoʻi ʻo Haleakalā me Muʻolaulani. He meʻe aliʻi ʻo Ke Aliʻi Pauahi me kona ʻohana aliʻi o kēnā hanauna e like hoʻi me ka welo aliʻi o nā kūpuna ma mua ona. I hoʻokō pono maila lākou i ko lākou kuleana me ka noho aliʻi ʻana i poni ʻia e ka Makualani e mahi a e mālama iā Hawaiʻi Nei, ko kākou kulāiwi me ko kākou lāhui i aloha pānaʻi mai a Iesū Kristo a loaʻa ke ola mau. E hoʻomaikaʻi pū kākou i ka Makua, i ke Keiki, i nā aliʻi hanohano a me nā hulu kūpuna ke pūlama pū kākou i nā loina waiwai, e mahi a e mālama i ke ao nei, kāhi a Iēhova i hoʻonoho a hoʻokuleana mai ai iā kākou e “hoʻohua, e hoʻopiha a e lanakila ma luna.”
E pule kākou. E Iēhova, e kau mai i Kou aloha e Kōkua mai ka ʻUhane Hemolele iā mākou kānaka e hoʻolohe me ka maopopo e ʻike pono a e mālama i ko ka honua a pau. E ʻoluʻolu, e hoʻoikaika mai iā mākou a pono loa ko mākou mau hewa i ka hoʻopilikia ʻana i ko kēia ao, ʻo Kou Kīhāpai i hana ai. Ma ka inoa hemolele o Iesū, ʻāmene.
I sure do appreciate all you folks who have a “green thumb” and a love for gardening. We know too that it pleases God when we “tend and keep” His garden on earth. While I love to gather greens and flowers for lei making, I can only “gather” from the forests or the gardens of neighbors, friends and family who have the gift of cultivating their own yards and gardens and who have the loving kindness to allow me to gather there.
My ʻohana is blessed to live in fertile Kāneʻohe, Windward Oʻahu. Our home is a multigenerational home that was the home of my wife’s paternal grandparents and where her father grew up. My father-in-law is the eldest member of our ʻohana and our landlord here today. He is very meticulous in his way of cleaning and tending to his yard. He mows his grass weekly and rakes it twice a day! He only allows for a few special plants to grow in his garden, surrounding our home. One tall ʻōhiʻa lehua tree and one old plumeria tree planted by his mama, two lehua mamo hedges and an ʻaʻaliʻi bush gifted by his moʻopuna and some torch gingers and lāʻī that are cut occasionally to decorate family graves. He visits those gravesites of his parents and his son weekly to tend and care for them too. Nonetheless, he is like so many of our kūpuna who have the discipline and patience to tend to such matters that might be trivial to today’s generation, but a norm and priority to former generations.
In the book of Genesis, the scriptures tell us that God gave man “dominion” (hoʻoaliʻi, noho aliʻi) over the sea, earth and skies and all living things. Our kūpuna understood this to mean that it is our kuleana as kanaka to mālama and steward the ʻāina and all its resources like pono, servant aliʻi, so that this provision from God may provide for us from generation to generation, in perpetuity. This manaʻo is in agreement with the worldview of our ancestors as expressed in ʻōlelo noʻeau. “I ʻāina ka ʻāina i ke aliʻi, a i waiwai ka ʻāina i ke kanaka,” which suggests that in the hierarchy of mankind, God expects us all to do our part to mālama His creation so that life may go well for us.
Our beloved Ke Aliʻi Pauahi, like her sister Liliʻu, is said to have loved gardening and tending to their yards at their homes Haleakalā and Muʻolaulani too. Princess Pauahi, her aliʻi contemporaries and their kūpuna before them, were role models of servant aliʻi. That accepted their kuleana and their dominion authorized by the Father to tend and cultivate Hawaiʻi Nei, our homeland and our lāhui, alongside the Son, Iesū Kristo, to ensure our salvation in perpetuity. We too can honor the Father, the Son, our beloved aliʻi and kūpuna by tending and cultivating those same values – to mahi and to mālama this natural world where God has placed us to live and flourish for now.
Let us pray. Lord, we pray for Your Holy Spirit to help us so that mankind will have the obedience and discernment to recognize and maintain pono land and resource stewardship. Give us the courage to correct and set right those behaviors that are destructive and harmful to the environment – ka honua – Your garden. In Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.
Images of various kumu lāʻau meticulously cared for by KS Cultural Specialist Hauʻoli Akaka’s father-in-law on the grounds of their home in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu. From left to right: Pua melia and ʻōhiʻa lehua planted by his mama, along with two lehua mamo hedges and an ʻaʻaliʻi bush gifted by his moʻopuna.
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