You may find it surprising that a student minister would recommend a book called Leaving Church! But the book, written by Barbara Brown Taylor, describes a rich spiritual journey of finding the holy in surprising places. I wanted to share some of it with you today. Here is an excerpt, from the chapter called Finding, that takes us back to the author’s childhood and her first encounters with the divine….
She writes, “As hard as I have tried to remember the exact moment when I fell in love with God, I cannot do it. My earliest memories are bathed in a kind of golden light that seemed to embrace me as surely as my mother’s arms. The Divine presence was strongest outdoors, and most palpable when I was alone. When I think of my first cathedral, I am back in a field behind my parents’ house, with every stalk of prairie grass lit up from within. I can hear the entire community of crows, grasshoppers, and tree frogs who belong to this field with me. The smell of the grass is so sweet. If I roll over and think only about the places on my back that are touching the ground, then pretty soon I cannot tell whether I am pressing down on the earth or the earth is pressing up on me. There is more in this field than I will ever be able to discover. I am floating in this field, held up toward the sun by the black dirt under my back. I am this earth’s child, and I know it.” (from pages 22-23)*
"I am this earth's child, and I know it" ~ Barbara Brown Taylor
Do you remember your first encounter with the mystery of life? (The mystery that is sometimes called God, or the Divine, or the Spirit, or has some other name). Maybe you were a child or young person, a parent or an older adult? I would be interested to know about it. Encounters like these are like spiritual seeds. They stir us to new growth with ancient wisdom and wonder about ourselves and the world around us.
The holidays have provided us with memories of youthful wonder... and seeds for lives of peace, gratitude, generosity and kindness. Now that January is here, let us ponder on how we might grow these seeds—with the aid of the mystery of life—within us and in the world. To open up our imaginations, here is a short video of seeds growing in slow-motion. I hope you like it :)
VIDEO: Time Lapse of Seeds Growing, to watch click here
Blessings in your week, little seedlings.
From, your student minister,
Aaron
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