Ordinary Holiness

"the ordinary events of daily life become our practice...the routine of daily life is the path to holiness for lay folks"

-Father Thomas Keating - Open Mind, Open Heart

So often we search for holiness outside of ourselves - in some sacred place, in ritual, in worship, in a person or in a denomination. Can it really be so basic that the path to holiness is the repeated routine of my every day life - the waking, stretching, journaling, reading, eating, working, gardening, emailing, blogging, idling, sleeping routine of every single day? If so, then every day, every breath, every movement is sacred.

(photo: Therese rose, Charlie Maedel - June 2007)

* o

Ordinary Holiness

On turning 43

Art journal collage entry I created today in honor of my birthday.

Art inspired by Violette.

Words (which are hard to see in the image because the scan did not turn out so well...) inspired by this quote from Rainer Maria Rilke:

"You are indeed carrying within yourself the potential to visualize, to design, and to create an utterly satisfying, joyful and pure lifestyle."

(the page looks a lot brighter than it turned out in the scan) * o

On turning 43