What is sacred?
Is it only reserved for those times when we're sitting at the altar or in the temple or in a site of religious beauty?
Is the sacred reserved only for those times that are blessed with tradition or celebration or ritual where we call forth our entire being?
What can the sacred be?
Something much more simple,
Much more profound,
And found in much more simple moments.
Can the sacred be present when you wake up in the morning remembering your fears and doubts and instead of letting them overcome you,
You take a moment to breathe,
Put your hand on your heart,
And remember that you are worthy of taking another breath?
Is the sacred found in a moment where you need help and a dear friend calls asking how you are in just the exact moment you needed to be helped?
Can the sacred be found around the table of friends gathering from far and near celebrating life together,
Nourishing their body,
Mind,
And souls with a celebration of food,
Music,
Connection?
Can the sacred also be present and found in the mundane tasks of washing dishes,
Sweeping the floor,
Doing yet another load of laundry?
Can the sacred be found in watching your dog sleep and dream and wondering what she dreams about?
Can the sacred be found in reminding your child once again to pick up their clothing,
To do their homework,
To take a shower?
Perhaps the sacred can also be found in the hallways of a hospital where those incredible nurses and doctors heal and hold hands and in the tiny hours of the morning reach out to someone who is lonely and afraid and alone.
Perhaps we can find the sacred on a walk in a city street when we look down and find a flower or a weed making its way through the cement.
Can the sacred be found as we walk through each day again and again and again wondering why we're here,
What it's all for?
And perhaps that's exactly where the sacred is found in the noticing,
In the questioning,
In the wondering,
In the stepping into but not away from the difficult,
The awkward,
The mediocre.
The sacred is within each of us in each breath,
In each sunrise,
In every single opportunity to see with new eyes,
To hear something you have not heard before,
To witness something that you have never thought of before.
I invite you to search for the sacred.
I invite you to wonder about the sacred.
I invite you to see the sacred as you walk past another human being eye to eye without averting your gaze.
I invite you to seek the sacred in the solitude and in the gathering.
Ask yourself what is sacred to me?
And I wonder what is sacred to others.
If we can expand our heart's capacity to envision sacred in the tiny moments of despair,
In beautiful moments of life growing,
In the gatherings for celebrations,
In the sadness of celebrations gone uncelebrated,
We can decide that sacred is present.
We can decide that sacred is breath.
We can decide that we are worthy of sacred and that in fact we are sacred.
I invite you to overlay sacred onto your day,
To understand that you are the altar,
That you are the magic,
That you are the wand of creation,
And the mundane,
The mediocre,
The so-called things that we don't waste our time on are as much sacred as what society might tell us is worthy of being sacred.
Decide for yourself that you are the sacred giver and receiver,
That you are worthy of pausing to notice the tiny beautiful moments right now and now and now.
I invite you on a journey of sacred.
