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A World of Miracles

May 25, 2006

ph_may_sacredforest.jpg

Sacred Spot ~ Canon 30d

I made a new friend while attending a wonderful Budhism workshop hosted by the National Cathedral last month. "JZR" began her blog soon after we met, and although Rivanna River Days is just shy of its one month milestone, and she doesn't feel completely comfortable with all the technological bells and whistles that go along with having a blog, it's becoming a place of beauty with each new addition of poetry and photographs of central Virginia.

Her current post features poems written in response to a painful family experience when she was just a child. The poems are moving as is the prose which introduces them ~

"My mother turned to the natural world for her faith, believing that a flower or tree are God's creations and need to be treated as sacred. The forest became her cathedral and the sea and mountains a world of miracles."

Today is Poetry Thursday. Don't hesitate to visit a kindred spirit.

Where is holy ground? Does standing in a church ~ kneeling inside a cathedral forest made of stone ~ more sacred? more holy? than sitting in a sunny thicket of bamboo trees? If I share my deepest burdens with the weeping willow, would this, a holy confession be? If, in the letting go, I feel a cloak of air descend... like incense on my skin, would this, could this, absolve my sin? With raindrops ~ would god? could god? baptise me? Is it wrong to ask the wind to intercede for me? A wordless hour in the presence of whispering leaves ~ could this, a proper penance be?

What is the definition of holiness? What is your idea of sacred ground? A special poem? A favorite pew? Your lover's hand? Inside the wonder of a newborn's eyes? Where is your favorite sacred spot? The place where you are the most free to be free ~ the place you are fully accepted and allowed, to "just be".

Any and all responses are most welcome ~ Fluffy's out romping in the sun.

Posted by vincent at May 25, 2006 11:22 AM

Comments

Yikes, your questions remind me that I've been kind of on a tread mill and haven't paused much lately...except when I've been taking flower pictures.

Love your close up pictures. I love to look at details, especially of plants.

Posted by: LoieGram at May 25, 2006 12:16 PM

The holy ground is in each of us, see the tabernacle below (in your photo post yesterday.)

Posted by: tongue in cheek at May 25, 2006 12:43 PM

Dear Cheeky Tongue ~

Your comment reflects the singular reason why I hit your blog with such frequency. All is sacred. Everything ~ all things ~ are miracle.

Posted by: susan at May 25, 2006 01:02 PM

Susan,

Thanks so much for your compliments regarding my blog. You blow me away with your words and photos.

We all are sacred beings and therefore the places we inhabit are sacred. Even the doorway where the homeless man sleeps off his pint of booze, the refugee camps in Darfur, where people lie starving to death. Our job is to make sure that we bring compassion to the world and to recognize ourselves in all beings that inhabit the earth.

Posted by: jZR at May 25, 2006 02:01 PM

thank you for this new link. i can't wait to get a chance to explore her further.

Posted by: la vie en rose at May 25, 2006 10:39 PM

the place where I feel the closest to God is outside, creation is where I connect with the creator inside of me
over the last 5 years since we left organized religion I have started to see the sacredness of all places and peoples.
all you have to do is look closely

Posted by: aola at May 26, 2006 02:51 PM

A holy place is wherever you feel a holy presence. Reading a fine and stimulating novel or a stirring historic piece. A cemetary, quiet and peaceful, sitting under a tree or leaning against a monument. A battle ground, a cathedral of any denomination. Walking in the rain, crunching through the snow, meandering through a meadow or a woods or along the shore of a ocean or creek. Seeing your child happy and fulfilled. Making a special meal for those you love and serving it in a dining room decorated to please them. A holy place is where you meditate to ease your soul and clear your mind. And yes, a holy place is inside of you, your soul, and that is why we must tend to ourselves and our own happiness and search for joy and understanding in our lives and within each other.

Posted by: janet at May 26, 2006 03:55 PM