A Sacred Journey

practicing pilgrimage at home and abroad

Gift Guide for the Seeker of the Sacred

It’s that time of year again!

Part of the preparations during the season of Advent include finding gifts to give to loved ones. I think gift giving in itself can be a spiritual practice, because it invites us to honor the other and give from the heart—both things that draw us closer to the Divine.

Here are some ideas for the Seeker of the Sacred on your list:

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An Advent Invitation: Keeping Vigil & Waiting with Anticipation

winter in Ravenna Park

We awoke this past Saturday morning—the day before first day of Advent—to a quiet city blanketed in snow.

The forecast had predicted a few flurries on this day for over a week. However, here in Seattle, a pileup of snow is hard to come by. When they said a few flurries, I took them literally, expecting to wake up on Saturday morning to already-melting tiny patches of ice.

Despite my cynicism, on Saturday morning I opened the curtains slowly, filled with a tiny glimmer of hope leftover from a Midwestern childhood, in which the forecast of overnight flurries could mean a day (or two, or five) off from school. Nothing seemed better than a snow day then. But before we knew if the snow would come, we had to wait through the darkness.

The anticipation was so palpable I can still close my eyes return and those moments today. Once morning came, I would creep out of bed and head straight for the nearest window, whispering prayers of petition along the way. At the slightest turning of the blinds, my heart would fill with joy or sink with sadness as the window revealed either a wintry scene or the same gray day it displayed the day before.

This past Saturday morning I found myself looking out the window in anticipation once more and was surprised to discover the ground instead covered in white (with a few dry patches remaining—we’re talking about Seattle, here). With the season of Advent upon us, this reminder of such feelings of anticipation seemed timely—the perfect way to usher in a season that invites us to engage the tension between waiting and hope. 

Ravenna Park

On Sunday morning—the first day of Advent—Kyle, Sam, and I headed to the nearby forest, where patches of snow still remained, in order to collect fallen greenery to decorate our mantle. The pine branches and fern leaves we gathered along the trails would join our beeswax Advent candles as symbols of preparation and anticipation—two themes of the Advent season.

I’d imagined this moment ever since I began taking my daily walks in the forest, wooed by the symbolism of pine branches flourishing in the dead of winter and flickering Advent candles made from summer’s bounty, reminding us that Advent is a season of keeping vigil and holding on to hope.

gathering greenery for the hearth

Some might say Advent is to Christmas as Lent is to Easter, but I feel like Advent is more like Holy Week—the strange-yet-vital space in between. 

It’s easy to want to coast right on through these seasons of tension and straight on to the good news of Christmas and Easter. But the strain of Advent and Holy Week are gifts in their own way, invitations to intentionally enter into the darkness long enough to discover where new life is taking form. And yet while we courageously engage the tension, we wait with hearts filled with hope and souls filled with anticipation, making preparations for the coming season of celebration because we know of the good news that awaits. 

Advent candles

Until the season to celebrate that good news comes—amidst all the oh-so-tempting hustle and bustle of Christmas celebration that already surrounds me—I want to channel my longing into intentional preparation so that when the time arrives I can fully embrace the joys that Christmas brings.

My hope is that this Advent, the scene above on my mantle will—like a spiritual practice—call me to return to the season at hand, reminding me to embrace the strain and stay with the tension, so that I might not miss the unique gifts that keeping vigil and waiting with anticipation can bring.

GO FURTHER…

What practices help you to engage both the tension and anticipation of the Advent season? Share your response to the question or the post in the comments.

PS: Advent practices from last year and more seasonal reflections

A New Way to Express Gratitude at the Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is this Thursday here in the US, and this year I’ll be experiencing an iconic scene for the very first time.

I’ve spent Thanksgiving in Uganda surrounded by Brits, feasted on pasta one year in Rome, celebrated with new friends for the first time and close family members who have gathered together for generations. However, this is the first year I’ll be feasting with others around one large Thanksgiving table, the traditional spread laid out before us.

Every chair will be filled around our Craigslist antique table; all seven leaves set in place. My inner-hostess has been asleep for far too long, and I’ve had so much fun this week planning the place settings and  tablescape (a word Kyle told me not to use any more as I attempted to imitate Martha Stewart while pretending to have my own TV show).

thanksgiving

 My walks in the forest this year have me paying more attention to nature this year, so I’m sticking with a design that’s both clean and rustic. I’m using my grandmother’s 60+ year-old wedding china and crystal alongside my own flatware, whiteware, and linens, mixing the old with the new.

My favorite feature is the dried hydrangea I recently clipped when pruning bushes in the front yard. What usually would belong on the brush pile has found its way to the center of the feast, giving it new life. I won’t deny it—I’m completely in love with the poetry of it all (and how nicely it goes with my tablecloth, too).

thanksgiving

This Thursday will mark another first: our first Thanksgiving in our new home. This means we get to start new traditions, particularly when it comes to how we express gratitude—an intimate tradition I never really had in the past, having grown up with large family holiday gatherings.

Along the theme of bringing things in to the table, this year I’m inviting our guests to bring a small object that represents something they’re grateful for. Before we sit down to eat, we’ll gather around the table and share about the objects we bring and what they represent. After each person shares they’ll place their object in the center of the table amidst the feast, turning the Thanksgiving table into an altar of sorts.

We’ll not only be feasting in gratitude—this year, surrounded by objects that represent our thanks, we’ll be feasting on gratitude, too.

thanksgiving

What will I be bringing? Something gathered from one of my daily walks in the nearby forest. Every time I enter, my heart wells with gratitude. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and I’m ready to feast.

GO FURTHER…

How do you express gratitude on Thanksgiving? What object would you bring to the table? Share your response to the questions or the post in the comments.

PS: recipes for a seasonal, sustainable feast 

The Spirituality of Daily Walks: Finding God in the Enchanted Forest

fall

My husband and I bought our first home this past summer.

The entire process was far more fast-paced than my years of watching HGTV’s House Hunters made it out to be. Though in the end we were only actively looking at houses for just over a month, the anxiety that filled of the season made it seem like a lifetime.

Perhaps that’s why what ultimately sold me on the house that is now our home wasn’t simply the house itself, but what was tucked just around the corner. Just a five minute walk away, off of the busy street where we live and down a quiet road that warns drivers of a dead end lies a veiled entry to an enchanted forest.

You might think I’m being overzealous in my use of adjectives, but I find no other way to describe it. To enchant is to hypnotize, to mesmerize, to put under a spell, and each time I cross the threshold into this world set apart, I am transported—not just physically, but spiritually as well.

I started taking daily walks to the forest in mid-September, once we were all settled in and falling back into a daily routine. I was doing a lot of writing at the time and my husband and I were also starting a home renovation project, which meant my mind was always full and often overwhelmed. It didn’t make sense to pause in the middle of my day after a long lunch break and amble through the forest. It seemed the furthest thing from productive to my list-making, task-mastering mind. And yet, I couldn’t help myself.

I’m a Type One on the Enneagram after all—the perfectionist/reformer—and I’ve struggled with a busy mind my entire life. Richard Rohr, also a One, described it best in his book, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, when he said those who are not Ones could never fathom the amount of movement that occurs inside a One’s mind. Add on a few major projects that involve a significant amount of uncertainty and my mind becomes so active I have trouble sleeping at night. This constant barrage of anxiety leaves me yearning for stillness, begging for enchantment. And so I go to the forest in hopes of falling under its spell, if only for a moment. And, might I add, it works every time.

When I enter the forest, my senses are overcome and all of the worries that filled my mind for the time being no longer hold weight. I pause on the path upon entry—desiring, yet unable, to take it all in. I feel the cool air on my cheeks as the sound of birds chirping announces my arrival and take a deep breath in, allowing the expanse of my surroundings to flood my being.

My first few steps slowly turn into a saunter that will continue for the rest of my visit. I have walked this path so frequently this autumn that I feel like I’ve seen every leaf fall, and with them I myself find the courage to release all that is unnecessary, instead gathering nourishment for the season ahead like the forest animals that cross my path.
Not much has changed in my life since I began these walks in mid-September. Home renovations and writing projects still weigh on me at both ends, and that is simply what this season in life holds. But without this season, I’m not sure I would have found the forest to be such a refuge and teacher, and for that I am grateful. In the midst of all that is unknown, these walks have become spiritual practice, every step a prayer. Each day they call me to return and remember—to return to my true self and remember that my greatest desire is connection with the Divine—and with each step I’m enchanted once more.

GO FURTHER…

Where have you found refuge in seasons of transition? How has nature taught you about God? What spiritual practices call you to return and remember?

My Weekend with Oprah

Oprah Winfrey

If you read my recent What I’m into and What I’m Learning post, you heard that I’d soon be heading to Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend.

Well, that weekend has just passed. If you follow A Sacred Journey on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you’ve already gotten a peek into my weekend with Oprah and today I want to share with you a little more about the weekend and why I consider Oprah to be one of my journey guides / spiritual midwives.

Oprah Winfrey

My journey with Oprah began in early high school when I’d return from school and watch Oprah each day at 4pm. Mainly I watched for the celebrities, the home makeovers (Nate Berkus makes that an easy decision), and, of course, Oprah’s Favorite Things episode (usually while sitting on the floor wrapping Christmas gifts). To me, it was just entertainment, and I enjoyed the sense of kinship (okay—perhaps solely on my end) that evolved from watching someone’s show each day.

However, since the Oprah Winfrey Show ended in 2011, Oprah’s role in my life has changed from being a larger-than life public figure to a conduit for wisdom and an advocate for the holy. Most of that has happened through one of my favorite shows, Super Soul Sunday, on which Oprah interviews the “spiritual trailblazers” (as she would describe) of our day.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah has said many times that Super Soul Sunday is her favorite show on OWN and is the reason she wanted her own network in the first place. Since Super Soul Sunday began, Oprah has interviewed many of my own journey guides and spiritual midwives, including Sue Monk Kidd, Anne Lamott, Rob Bell, Paulo Coelho, Brené Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen Pressfield, and Barbara Brown Taylor.

She’s also introduced me to trailblazers who have become guides and midwives to my own spiritual journey, including Marianne Williamson and Eckart Tolle. (Find my favorite books by these trailblazers in The Pilgrim’s Library)

Oprah Winfrey

So when Oprah comes to town with trailblazers in tow, including Elizabeth Gilbert, Rob Bell, and Mark Nepo, I’m in. (I’m not too into Iyanla Vanzant—is that just me?) It was an amazing weekend and a blessing to journey deeper with 10,000 other kindred spirits—truly, a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Oprah shared her own spiritual journey and invited us to pay attention to that Sacred voice within. Mark Nepo spoke of awareness and led us in a meditation. Elizabeth Gilbert, whom I was most looking forward to seeing, shared about—what else?—quests (she deserves a post of her own). Rob Bell talked about how everything is spiritual (something you know well, right?). And my first experience of Iyanla Vanzant brought about a rousing talk on forgiveness and listening to the messages life has for you.

Oprah Winfrey

Though she never gave us a car, I left the weekend nourished, but wondering still—did I get the “life I want,” as the event’s title promised? If I was expecting everything to fall into place, the answer would be “no.” But if that’s what I’m striving for, I’ll never achieve it. Instead, what I received was a shift in perception—what Marianne Williamson would call a miracle.

It’s an invitation to a spiritual practice that I will return to over and over again, and a daily reminder that the life I want starts right where I am:

GO FURTHER…

Has Oprah’s message impacted your life in any way? Leave your response to the question or the posts in the comments.

PS: Even if you don’t have OWN, you can still watch Super Soul Sunday each week at oprah.com!

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