Reconnecting

When I feel my spiritual connection weakening, I find it helpful to reinstate lapsed devotional practices.
I don’t know how it happens — the veering away of practices that ground me —
but it does.
I get busy,
or overwhelmed
and feel like I can’t spare the time.
Sometimes I need to escape the truths that present themselves so clearly when I’m in dialogue prayer
and distract myself with social events,
movies,
even chores.
Walking in nature and paying close attention to creation is one of the devotional practices I cherish.
Yet even that can drift to the wayside. Perhaps it’s time to reconnect…

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

The Diverse Landscape of Spiritual Practice

As I came across several different landscapes during my walk, I realized how appropriately they illustrated various forms of my spiritual practice.

In a field at the beginning of my walk, a squirrel eagerly greeted me, wanting to be fed. It even put its paw on my leg in a pleading gesture. When it realized I had no food, it reluctantly began foraging in the grass, discovering food aplenty. I was reminded how I can “pull on God’s pant leg” like a child, begging for spiritual sustenance when I have a host of reading material at my fingertips—from sacred scriptures to mystic-minded magazines. A few words can quickly get me back on track and centered.

Next, I came to a meadow filled with flowers including the cheerful, multicolored wild radish. The confetti-like colors and open stance brought to mind wordless, exuberant worship when joy fills my body and seeps out in unfettered praise.

Soon I found myself on the beach examining a group of seaweed pods punctuated by a frilly exclamation point. I’m a person who yearns to gather with others in a structured community at a set time each week—it adds a touch of excitement to my spiritual life as one can never predict what may happen when expectant people join forces.

As I approached the shore, sand gave way to stones that offered up intriguing finds from kelp roots to driftwood to crab legs. When I delve deeply into meditation or dialogue prayer, unexpected gems rise to the surface for examination, which often lead to growth.

The final landscape contained a hulking rock, pushing itself up through the ocean’s edge with muscled folds, contrasting veins. This boulder felt like the firm rock of faith on which I stand, moment to eternal moment, waiting for the waves of grace to wash over me.

All photos © Sondra Sula.

Everything is Inside

The subzero temperatures have kept me indoors with shades clamped shut against the howling winds. I’ve been wearing an outdoor scarf doubled around my neck in the house, yet my fingertips remain cold. The only place to go is inside my head—to the possibilities of spring.

When I contemplate plants, I realize they contain all that is necessary to continue life anew through seeds, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, roots. When I ruminate on caterpillars, I realize they also possess all they need for complete transformation. Everything is inside.

I also have everything I need to transform into the person I was meant to be. I may not recognize this at first. After all, does a seed look anything like a flower? Does a caterpillar remotely resemble a moth or a butterfly?

If I keep “at it”—feed on spiritual exercise, bask in wonder, continually give thanks for God’s abundance—change is inevitable. I’m even beginning to see a different person when I look in the mirror. My smooth skin now has a pattern of dots and lines. It’s only a matter of time before I feel bumps rising from my shoulder blades. By then, I’ll be ready to fly.

Photo 1: Quaking oat grass. Photo 2: American dagger moth caterpillar; great swallowtail caterpillar; yellow woolly bear caterpillar. Photo 3: Giant leopard moth caterpillar; turbulent phosphila caterpillar; dogbane tiger moth caterpillar. Photo 4: Tent caterpillars; smeared dagger moth caterpillar. All photos © Sondra Sula.