Celebrating family life | Seasonal Reflections
We are looking forward to spring as it brings so many inviting days for taking nature walks.
We recently happened to pass by a shoreline nature preserve where we had walked over a year ago. The memory was vivid as the day was bright with sun, windy, and cold – a perfect winter day for walking.
We stayed on the trail and followed along the path through a salt marsh to a rocky expanse of beach with magnificent views of the bay. Salt air and crisp wind encircled us. Sea birds darted everywhere, and the marsh grasses whispered in the breeze.
We stood there, weathering the cold, savoring the view, drawing on the sounds of earth and ocean. As with other nature walks, we left with a renewed awareness.
Protected natural spaces are sometimes called sanctuaries. In our faith lives, when we think of sanctuary, we think holiness and the presence of God.
Our humanity connects us to the earth. The creation story in the second chapter of Genesis places humankind in a garden (Genesis 2:7ff).
I think the natural world can offer insights into our experience of faith.
Creation’s vitality, its constant movement and energy, seasons and tides, wind and calm, sun and clouds remind us of the glory of God, ever-present, always loving, alive.
Often we think of words like path and journey to describe our faith life. We naturally embrace the themes of growth, trust, and openness. We try to keep to the path on which the Spirit of God guides us. In our families, our prayer, our work, we weather storms and droughts, wind and waves, heat and cold. We faithfully move forward.
“At dawn let me hear of your kindness, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for to you I entrust my life.” (Psalm 143:8)
As we anticipate Holy Week, I think it may be helpful to consider it as “sanctuary time,” a sacred environment of inviting days—to pray for a deeper awareness of God’s redemptive presence in all the ways He guides us, steadies our path, and expands our awareness. We are in His holy presence—all our days.
“So I look to you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.” (Psalm 63:3)
Let us pray with our families for a Holy Week path that leads to the glory of the Resurrection of the Lord.