A Sacred Journey

practicing pilgrimage at home and abroad

How to Create a Brick Garden Labyrinth

brick garden labyrinth

I’ve envisioned having a labyrinth in our back garden ever since we bought our house nearly two years ago, and I’m excited to say that now we have one!

Two months ago, some friends who had journeyed with us through our miscarriage gathered together on the day that the baby we lost would have been due to mark the occasion by installing a labyrinth in our backyard. Given that I’ve written here about this experience feeling like walking a labyrinth, I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to spend the day—a day on which, for us, the journey still continued.

In preparation for installing our labyrinth, I searched the Internet for instructions on how to create an easy, affordable labyrinth in a backyard and was surprised to not find many tutorials. Because of this, I decided to document our experience and make my own. Below you’ll find instructions for installing a brick garden labyrinth (we chose brick so we could easily mow over it and use the space for other purposes), though you could also make it out of stone or even plantings. It could be neat to do a seasonal one out of flowers that spring up in summer and fade in the fall! Here’s what you’ll need…

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My Struggle with Centering Prayer and Why I Return

photo-1445510861639-5651173bc5d5

I don’t like centering prayer, which is to say that I struggle with it daily.

I’m not a fan of struggle, of tension, of staying put amidst discomfort when the rambling voices within are doing their best to keep my mind occupied. I don’t like feeling out of control, and the practice of centering prayer shows me just how out of control I really am.

Truly, it can be maddening. You would never imagine the amount of thoughts buried deep within, chugging along like a steam engine—my ego shoveling coal to keep the train running in an effort to avoid any moment of inner stillness. He knows that when I reach that place, he’s out of a job, if only for a second, and so he keeps piling on fuel for the fire—to-do lists, insecurities, future plans and current musings. Thoughts like What should we make for dinner tonight?, followed quickly by Note to self: take the broth out of the freezer, are accompanied by an a thumbs up from my ego engineer—Way to think ahead, Lacy. You’re so on top of things. Gold star!

But as that gold star fades away, making way for another productive thought (we’re on a roll, here!), I catch myself, remembering my centering prayer practice and returning to that place of inner silence and stillness where the Divine dwells. Planning, thinking, rehashing, imagining—I label each thought that held me captive, disarming their power and releasing them from my ego’s desperate grasp. This manner of labeling thoughts is a mindfulness practice, and I began incorporating it into my centering prayer practice long ago as a tool to help me return and remember in the moments when I need help most.

This is why I practice centering prayer. Not because it’s easy (it’s not), not because I look forward to it (I’ don’t), not because when that sweet bell chimes after twenty minutes I feel as if I’ve touched the heavens (though I do breathe a sigh of relief for making it another day). I practice centering prayer (with practice being the key word here) because of its continual invitation to silence and still the mind in order to simply rest in the presence of God.

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Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast, S1|E7: Lent + Prayer

Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast, Season 1: Lent

While fasting is the most common spiritual practice associated with the season of Lent, it’s not the only one—prayer and almsgiving are common Lenten practices as well.

This week on the Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast we’re continuing our conversation on the season of Lent with a discussion on the practice of prayer—what it was like for us growing up, how we experience it in our current seasons of life, and what practices and tools have become meaningful along the way.

Listen/download below or through iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and catch up on past episodes here. And if you like what you hear, would you mind sharing it on social media and leaving a review? Here’s how.

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A Prayer for Valentine’s Day (and every day)

Valentine's Day Prayer

I just returned from my annual pilgrimage to the post office to pick up a book of stamps decorated with hearts, which can only mean one thing: Valentine’s Day is almost here.

(I buy Harry Potter stamps otherwise.)

I’ve always been a fan of Valentine’s Day. My family has celebrated the holiday with small gifts and Valentines since I was young. Plus, here in the northern hemisphere it’s always a bright spot to look forward to in the midst of a winter slump.

However, I come across disdain for the holiday year after year—it seems that there are just as many people against Valentine’s Day as there are for it. More often than not, this frustration with the holiday has to do with romantic love and broken hearts. What if we started to think of the holiday it differently?

As my interest in the liturgical seasons in the Christian calendar has grown, I’ve also started to notice the liturgical seasons and feast days we participate in as a culture—summer vacation, the Fourth of July (in the US), the onset of autumn (and everything pumpkin spice), Halloween, the Super Bowl (apparently), and of course Valentine’s Day (the list could go on). Sure, they’re often cloaked with consumerism, but just as with the liturgical seasons of the Church, these cultural holidays offer annual invitations for our everyday lives if we choose to listen.

What if this year you made this Valentine’s Day a celebration of love—not simply romantic love that might come and go with each year’s passing, but rather the Love that brings healing and draws us closer to our True Selves and the Divine?

A great invitation, right? However, as with liturgy, it’s always nice to have a written guide. The prayer below has been pinned above my desk for many years. May it help you celebrate and surrender to the Love that never fails to bring Life—this Valentine’s Day and every day.

THE LOVE PRAYER

Today I remove all boundaries and walls,
Once used as a means of defense,
I forgive those things from the darkened past,
That in love’s divine realm make no spiritual sense.
Releasing all worries, all burdens and doubt,
I bring light to the shadows of fear.
By centering myself with a loving thought,
Harsh judgments I no longer hear.
The greatest experience that life has to give,
Is love from an open heart,
For it moves me to appreciate all there is,
And I’m one with it all, not apart.
It’s love that brings me closer to God,
And leads me according to God’s way,
Love’s light warms my spirit, it nurtures my soul,
And assures me everything is okay.
I am one with God and never apart,
As I live this day with an open heart.

(Poem from a card distributed by Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO)

GO FURTHER…

How can you celebrate love this Valentine’s Day (and every day)?

When I Discover All of My Desires Being Met (+ pictures of our new house)

Stained Glass on the Front Door

morning glow through the stained glass on the front door

Abundance.
Valued.
Settled.
Energized.
Ease.

These are the Core Desired Feelings that emerged when I revisited The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte in April. (Read my Core Desired Feelings from my first time working through the book here.) When I named these desires as my season of asking “What’s growing?” came to an end, they seemed so accurate and filled me with hope of the new season to come.

front of the house

front of the house

And yet, with house-hunting and many ten-hour work days these past few months, they became the furthest things from my mind. In stolen moments where I paused to breathe, I often wondered, “What ever happened to ease?” But before I had the chance to clear a path to pursue it, life’s tornado would come by, sweeping me up again into it’s ever-twisting funnel.

living room, with stained glass and leaded windows on each end

living room, with stained glass and leaded windows on each end

Last week, though, after signing the final papers for our house, saying good-bye to The Seattle School staff as I left my role as Content Curator, and packing up 25 boxes of books, I decided to take a final pause in our tiny garden—one of my favorite places over the past six months—and intentionally revisit these Core Desired Feelings in this season of change.

Are they being met? I wondered. Am I choosing to seek them? Where am I making choices against them?

the dining room, with a view of the kitchen in the back and a curious puppy getting acquainted his new home

the dining room, with a view of the kitchen in the back and a curious puppy getting acquainted with his new home

Right now I am indeed at a threshold. It would be easy to miss it, though, if I instead focused solely on my growing list of to-dos, which is an ever-present temptation (along with its neighboring itch, figuring things out). What surprised me, then, despite my continual distractedness, is that as I brought these Core Desired Feelings out of the vault in which they had been kept these past many months, I realized that things have been falling into place without any conscious action on my part.

New House: Bedroom 1

first downstairs bedroom

I stand at this threshold—between working part-time at The Seattle School and returning full-time to A Sacred Journey; between nine years of seemingly nomadic living and my very first house of my own; between what has been and what will be for my family, my vocation, and my life—and as I take the time to sit back and truly see, I’m surprised and humbled to find all of these Core Desired Feelings already being met.

second bedroom on the first floor

second downstairs bedroom

As this roller coaster of a summer began to slow down and I revisited these Core Desired feelings, I at first felt guilt that I’d missed four good months of pursuing these feelings. But then I began to wonder—if prayer is truly communion with God and the sharing of your delights, doubts, and desires with the Divine, then perhaps these Core Desired Feelings emerged four months ago as a prayer of the soul, released into the heavens and captured by the One who sows life. Perhaps God has been tending to these desires all along, even without my constant vigilance. (Imagine that!)

first floor bathroom and second floor bathroom

first floor bathroom and second floor bathroom

Or, perhaps the realization that these Core Desired Feelings are being met is simply a shift in perception, brought to the surface in the slow, silent moments when I finally choose to pause. Could the two be so different? After all, A Course in Miracles (popularized by Marianne Williamson, among others) defines a miracle as a shift in perception, and finding these Core Desired Feelings met without much effort on my part undoubtedly seems like the work of the Divine.

second floor master suite (formerly an the attic)

second floor master suite (formerly an the attic)

Whatever it is, I’m starting to take notice, and I think that’s the part of the equation I’ve been missing all along. There’s so much value in setting intentions and choosing to make changes when circumstances are getting in the way of your True Self, but it can also leave a future-tripper like me always striving for what’s next and never sinking into what is.

the backyard

the backyard

As I cross this threshold, I want to practice awareness and continue to set intentions and make changes as I pursue my Core Desired Feelings, but I also want to add a new practice into the mix so I’m not missing the work of the Sacred Guide as I’m caught up in my own master plan. I want to name the things that bring me life, count my blessings, and recognize the areas in which my desires are already being met—resting in abundance, being valued, feeling settled and energized, experiencing ease. Because if their source is Sacred, I’ll find them there, waiting—every last one.

GO FURTHER…

When have you been surprised to find your desires met without your effort? When have you found prayers answered that you didn’t even know you had? Leave your response to the question or the post in the comments.

PS: Discover your Core Desired Feelings with The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte.

PPS: I’ll be engaging in the Sacred practice of nesting over the next few weeks, and I’ll be sure to share with you pictures of the finished product when I’m done, as well as tips to make nesting a Sacred practice for yourself, too.

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