What is saving my life now…
“What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them…What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.” – Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith
This quote captures my growing awareness that the beauty of life is to be exquisitely tasted, touched, appreciated… lived. It has been noted, that I live too much in my own head. I am guilty of this charge, but I am also newly aware of the privilege and power of living in my body. I am awake to the beauty around me in a new way. The color, shape, rhythm, and light in the world has a new power to move me. I feel starved for beauty and I am grabbing hold of scraps of wonder and gulping them down like my life depends on it.
Some things that are saving my life now…
My morning commute: The stunning beauty of the sky as orange sherbet and lavender light the clouds and pour gold across the treetops. The weight of snow filled pine boughs hanging low over the road. The young moose ambling up the road, as though it were nothing. The golden glow of the sun peaking through bare trees as I round a bend. Each morning, a new delight awaits if only I have eyes to see.
White space on the calendar: The luxury of a second pot of tea on a slow Saturday morning. The delicious heaviness of a Sunday afternoon nap. The feel of steel blue wool running through my fingers as I build a hat stitch by stitch. The sense of time slowing to wrap around us as we linger in the silence.
Shy smiles: The nervous beginning of a new group. The anxiety and excitement that attends a beginning. Acknowledging the tenuous bonds that will hopefully lash around us to create new friends and strengthen older relationships. The joyous possibility of connection and life.
A new planner:The familiar heft of a notebook combines with a new process, weekly, monthly, daily. This new process pulls me in and makes me think about what matters, what I want, where I want my life to take me, and then I write it down. Pen on paper is as familiar as my breath, and yet it is new and delightful in this form.
What simple practices or precious moments are saving your life now?
