This flower was picked during a retreat a few years ago during a labyrinth walk. After the walk, I placed it in my journal to take my intention home with me. Now it sits by my beside, calling me back each day to my true self through the memory it holds.
Here’s a travel tip for you next journey:
Collect found objects from nature to remind you of the Sacred Encounters on your journey.
It’s free, which is always nice, but there’s also something mystical about a stone or a leaf that has inhabited thin places, bearing witness to your own Sacred Encounter and that of the many other pilgrims who have gone before you.
Bringing one of these natural witnesses home with you can symbolize your desire to invite the Sacred Encounters from your journey into everyday life. As natural objects brought indoors into your home, they stand out more than a trinket found at a corner shop, calling you to remember.
This honeycomb is from my husband Kyle’s beehive down the street. It reminds me to store up spiritual nourishment so that when times are dry, I still have something sweet and rich to feed my soul.
Because of their uniqueness, these found objects have the power to bring you back to your intention as you pass them each day. And on days when life is so chaotic that you pass by without noticing (days that often come too frequently, unfortunately), your found objects can say your prayers for you, for they are a physical manifestation of desire and represent a prayer uttered on some other shore for this time and place.
Something else I love about these found objects? They’re secret-keepers. Only you know what they represent, and to be honest, not many people will inquire further. Those who do? They’re your soul friends—keep them close.
This moss attached to a stick is from a a retreat a few years ago spent with a group of vibrant, fierce women. It reminds me that there is a vibrant, fierce woman within me, too.
IDEAS FOR FOUND OBJECTS
- press flowers or leaves inside a book or journal
- collect a shell from the seashore or a rock from the bottom of a holy well
- gather acorns or feathers that catch your eye
Like the practice of lectio divina, choose whatever speaks to you, inviting you to set an intention and calling you to remember. And you don’t have to be on a pilgrimage far away to collect these natural witnesses. You can gather things in your everyday life, too, reminding you that the Sacred is especially present in the ordinary—we just have to make the space for Sacred Encounter.
GO FURTHER…
Do you have any found objects—natural witnesses—that you’ve collected that call you to remember?