The warmth of summer always calls me out to enjoy her presence and to bask in the sunshine. We never seem to get enough of it here on the West Coast of British Columbia but then I think I am greedy - being a hot weather person I always want more of this particular season.
While the outdoors is always the most wonderful natural Cathedral, a place where I seek and find God, I find myself needing to seek very specific time, to be intentional, about places to wait and listen for the Almighty. Sometimes it means literally being still and waiting, while at other times it can be the gentle quiet rhythmic motion of moving forward.
I used to find that cross country skiing held that contemplative space in motion but I have not done that for a number of years - since I moved away from Calgary and the proximity to the mountains 7 years ago. Now that space comes through kayaking and my intention is to do much more of it this summer. Our first paddle of the season was a wonderful hot day and we quietly moved up the coast watching the birds, the seals were creating a splash while they played, oyster catchers with their bright orange beaks and their black bodies called out with their own unique cry and it drifted across the water. My body was in motion as I paddled but my soul moved into still places and rested there.
Inner stillness does not necessarily mean you are not in motion. While literally being still in the early morning is where I seek Holy Presence, I am so often delightfully surprised by Their presence when my soul is being still and I am surrounded by the motion, the natural rhythm of nature. This is still such a mystery to me -a Holy Mystery, that Creation offers such a wonderful whisper to come and be still and observe and feel how the wind in motion creates inner peace. Often simply feeling the wind, either fierce or gentle, restores peace to those spaces within my soul that get agitated. Life, vibrant life, is the message that the wind, the Spirit, writes within when I feel the wind. As I write the breeze is coming through the open door and caressing my arms and legs and causing me to stop and acknowledge the need to drink in the grace that my soul requires at this very moment.
A week long silent retreat earlier this year comes to mind - it was such a balance of stillness and motion, sitting and walking, quiet and tears. It was a beautiful blend of stillness and motion that opened my heart to experience God with healing and tenderness.
Today I seek time to sit and wait and move forward into places of motion that bring greater stillness to my soul.
“Call us, O Beloved, to spaces of solitude, and times to befriend the Silence.”
From Psalm 106, Psalms for Praying
5 comments:
This is all so beautiful, Steph.
Sometimes Erin it is overwhelming that I live surrounded by such beauty and sense of the Sacred.
Inspiring.Inviting to the sacred space within.
within - a space, a sacred space we have not honoured enough, yet it is where the Almighty waits for us to find so much more there. At least that is how I see it Desertfish.
Home.Back to the prodigal embrace of the Father after some wandering.But, oops, now and then, it's very easy to slip away from it.
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