A friend’s garden in San Juan Capistrano, CA
I relate to Lucy (in the Charlie Brown strip).
Peppermint Patty, “Do they have prayer in your school?”
Lucy, “No, but last year they had us observe a ‘moment of silence.’”
Patty, “How did that work?”
Lucy, “It almost killed me!”
Although, I must say, it’s not very easy to find ‘moments of silence’ these days. (In the airport last week, I had hours to “spend,” waiting for a connecting flight, and I couldn’t find one corner free of racket and din. I think a racket-free-cafe may be a great idea.)
We are, more than ever, in need of sanctuaries; those sacred spaces (places), where we stop and pay attention. They provide a way of sanctifying time, releasing time from the demand that it measure up, from the requisite questions: “Did you use your time wisely?” “Surely, you weren’t wasting time were you?” “How did you get away with that?”
Do we make this sacred space? We can. Although there are times when the weather (I just saw the pictures from the latest east coast storm) gives you no choice but to hunker down on the couch, blanket on your lap and a cup of tea in hand, and let the silence descend. It has been said that when the supports are gone, we can find where our real worth lies. Maybe not what we had in mind, but so it is. Here’s the deal: anytime you get the chance to stop, take a deep breath, listen and take inventory, you nurture your soul. And that’s always a good thing. . .
Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths. Etty Hillesum
If I had my druthers, of course, my sanctuary is the garden.
(The garden is) something you can get a sense of, a center, an intimate, organized space where you can go to get away from the world–not something thata passerby
on the road can see and then comment upon. John Mitchell The Wildest Place on Earth
One thing is certain: there are no hard and fast rules. It could be the garden. The woodland. A house nook. A chair in a bookstore. A walk around the block. And sometimes, we create that space within the frenzied time and space of a workday, as if we are inside a bubble. A child of early TV, I have the image of the cone of silence, the plastic bubble descending over Maxwell Smart and Chief on the Get Smart series. Even sitting on a crowded subway, we can close our eyes, take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and we are transported. This moment is not about time any longer. It is about refueling and reconnecting. It is sanctuary.
My week began in Cape Cod, where a nor-easter transformed the landscape to a winter wonderland, pristine and magical. I was fortunate to spend time in the sanctuary of The Church of the Transfiguration, in Rock Harbor. Now, I am back on Vashon Island, where we have no snow, but grey skies give notice that spring is still a ways off. I walk the pathways of our barren winter garden, delighting in the surprises covered by summer’s excess, with no need to come up with any answers, because none are required.
Speaking of sanctuaries, Gardens and Grace returns. This time to the desert–The Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, AZ. My good friend and collaborator, Rev. Philip Roderick will not be joining us for this conference, at least in body; but will be with us via the magic of video from his home in England.
In the “sanctuary” department, please celebrate winter and enjoy my garden, or check out the brand new paperback edition of The Power of Pause, or take heart in the PAUSE REMINDER for Today on Facebook. And don’t forget to invite your friends. Here’s one from this week:
One Comment
its funny that you are making a pretty penny off what the Catholic church has been sharing for quite awhile-eucharistic adoration.
I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, we all gotta make a buck but i have found the perfect place for my pause and it doesn’t cost a dime. And it’s not the same in all churches. Some you walk in and it’s just a building but being present, really present…it will bring you to your knees and set your soul on fire.