Our Stories as Sacred Texts.

Blessing

"That you may know your life

as a sacred text. 

That God will lead you

to read your story anew.

That you may see how the holy

inhabits each line

and breathes across 

every page. "  

Jan Richardson 

Today I walked into the gym.  That was the first act of discipline.  I heard a couple of years ago that it takes 3 months to form a habit.  This was actually very helpful then and continues to be today.  At that time I was beginning the journey back to fitness and the discipline of just showing up, proved to be very helpful.  Before long, I looked forward to it.  Before long, even the days I didn't really want to show up, I just did.  Before long I felt really good about the physical discipline and about how I felt in my skin.  

As with so many things, life got in the way.  In the last year, I have let some of those habits go by the wayside that helped me feel so good and allowed me to be a healthier me.  So the end of January, I began the discipline again of showing up.  I began working my way back to the healthy habits that I know are good for me.  I also began doing what I know is the only way I will maintain my practice, and that is to ask God to help me.  Over and over again in my life, I have been reminded that God is able to do and want for me, far more that I can do or want for myself.  

Today, I decided to shake things up.  Yes, this was big, I got on a different treadmill, in a different room.  I know, I just don't do change easily.  I got the phone on the right app.  I got the machine all programed for my work out and I just so wanted it to be over.  But I also admit, that at this point, I am starting to look forward to it.  Don't tell anyone, I don't want to jinx it.  As I began running I look up, and in front of me, across the room is a door.  Wait, listen, the boards of the door form a cross.  Ok, so I see a cross, not everyone would, but I did.  It reminded me again as to why I was there, and that I was not alone.  I have help and I am stronger than I feel at this moment.  

Lectio divina, sometimes known as sacred reading, is a way to pray with scripture.  I would suggest that it is also a way of being present.  

"Benedictine monk Father Luke Dysinger describes as "a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the  Bible, the Word of God, to become a means of union with God.  "Lectio invites us to take a small bite of a text-a few verses or perhaps just a few words-and slowly chew on them, ponder them, and pray with them until they give up something that will provide sustenance for our souls and nourishment for our work in the world."  

Jan Richardson

Over the years I have found that this form of prayer can be expanded to other forms of texts and literature.  But what would it be like if we looked at our lives as sacred texts.  Jan Richardson in her book, In the Sanctuary of Women, suggests this and calls it,  Lectio on life.   

"Such a practice helps us remember that as with a written text, our experiences rarely contain just one meaning; much more often they contain multiple meanings or deepening meanings that only reveal themselves with time and attention."  

Jan Richardson

When we have the experience of telling someone else some part of our story, the world opens up.  It opens up in ways we could never have imagined.  If we are really blessed the other person shares some part of their story with us.  We realize that we are part of a great story, that we are not alone and we are not unique.  There are so many different things to learn from the stories we are living on this day, in this time.  

When I looked up from my running, I saw a cross.  Some would have seen a door.  I saw a symbol that for me, in a very simple and sacred way, reflected that God was with me.  That my life is not my own.  Even on the treadmill, we can see the sacred.  Who knew?