With every leaf, a story of the divine,
Each root is a testament to love’s design.
A canopy of mercy, vast,
Beneath its shade, our fears and doubts are cast.
~ David Kitchens ~
When I was a young girl, I spent hours almost every day walking long pine needle-carpeted dirt trails through the dense woods growing down and across the street from our house. The forest trails branched off in every direction for miles, winding through towering Georgia pines and wild brush of every shape and species.
Some 10 feet below the beginning of the trail, a meandering freshwater creek bubbled and babbled, beckoning me down the steep bank again and again to marvel over smooth wet stones of every size and color, fat black tadpoles in various stages of development, tiny brown skittering crawfish, and schools of freshwater minnows.
The rest of the woods were occupied in various ways by an amazing number of chittering, chirping wild animals who made their homes there, raised their babies, and provided in some way for the perfectly-balanced life of not only the land itself but the other creatures who lived there.
I remember my first encounter being in the wild alone. I stepped out of bright daylight and onto the path my friend Lynn had shown me a few days prior, when she’d taken me hunting for muscadines. On this day, as the ground softened beneath my feet and the sun’s heat and light was filtered and diminished by the dense canopy, I sensed my burdens being lifted more and more with each step. And soon, all my worries, fears, responsibilities and pressures of being a 10-year-old girl in the 1970’s faded away, left behind in that other world, the one that lay just on the other side of the trees surrounding me.
It seemed the soul of the forest wrapped long, outstretched arms around me in a spiritual embrace. Time became suspended. Tranquility. Peace. Home. Rest. That was the spirit of that Georgia forest.
I immediately felt at home in those dark woods with the wildlife, with the natural world, with the creatures who made their homes there. And looking back, I believe that was the initial awakening of a consistent spiritual yearning that has marked my life ever since.
That was the day I was able to connect for the first time with something far more profound than the physical world and experience. There was a deeper – or more expansive – thing going on I couldn’t see but could feel, could sense. And it came from deep, deep inside my being while also coming from outside of me, from beyond me. I felt connected to myself, and in effortless tune and harmony with both the natural and spiritual order of things.
Sanctuary. I’d found, been touched by, and enjoyed, the blessing of sanctuary.
I wanted to stay as long as possible, hoping the streetlights wouldn’t come on before my stomach rumbled with hunger signaling “time to go.” Then, reluctantly, I would head back to my house to wash my hands, set the table, sit down for a hot meal with my family, do my evening chores, practice the piano for 30 minutes, do my homework, then take a bath before bed. And slowly, as the evening progressed, all my worries, fears, pressures, and responsibilities would slowly sneak back on my weary little shoulders. But they didn’t seem as big or heavy or scary as they had before — before I’d traveled to that special place earlier that day. The place that had soothed my soul and calmed my spirit.
And I was drawn to it again and again after that first taste.
What is Sanctuary?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines sanctuary like this:Â
All three of those definitions describe what I experienced and received, like a gift, in those deep, sun-speckled woods among other living, breathing life in all its forms. I was escaping the world I lived in, finding a place of sanctuary…in a sanctuary.
While alone in those woods, I’d forget there was any other place but this forest haven, where I felt surrounded and safe, quiet and at peace, held, calm, connected.Â
As I grew up I continued to find and recognize these experiences, and not just in the outdoors. But over time the wounds and weight of the world shaped me and hardened me. And that made finding sanctuary more and more of a pursuit than it should be. Because I believe it’s where and how we are created to live. I believe it’s how we desire to live. And we all yearn for it.
I know I do.
So that’s what this website and my writing will be about for a while at least. I want to explore finding and enjoying sanctuary in this world that is anything but one. Let’s see where it leads us together.
~: :~
But just ask the animals, and have them teach you;
And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you;
And have the fish of the sea tell you.
(Job 12:7-8)
Book to Check Out:Â
Winner of the Living Now Book Award, Church of the Wild reminds us that once upon a time, humans lived in an intimate relationship with nature.
Whether disillusioned by the dominant church or unfulfilled by traditional expressions of faith, many of us long for a deeper spirituality. Victoria Loorz certainly did. Coping with an unraveling vocation, identity, and planet, Loorz turned to the wanderings of spiritual leaders and the sanctuary of the natural world, eventually cofounding the Wild Church Network and Seminary of the Wild.
PS: This is an Amazon affiliate link. If you use it to buy this book for yourself or a friend, I may receive a small commission. Merci beaucoup, mon ami!Â
Pondering:
- On a scale of 1-10, how important is it to find sanctuary in your own life right now?
- What does sanctuary mean to you?
- Some people find imagery, or the imagination, to be easier than words. Go ahead and imagine yourself enjoying sanctuary, wherever that may be. Close your eyes if you need to.Â
May peace go with you from here.Â
