Altars right where we are

08/06/22

Today I felt a stirring. It began with impatience. Then mild depression. Then anxiety as I considered distracting myself from the task of paying attention.

I've needed to go get quiet again for a few days or even weeks. Grieve a few changes. Open my heart again to what is new.

Usually the longer I delay this kind of activity, the more stuck I get.

Finally I surrendered to walking outside in the grass and perusing our yard which always surprises me with its beauty. The maturing trees grow in character and appeal every year.

I have found a lovely invitation to Spirit through these trees over and over. Right. Here.

One of the crepe myrtles has grown especially big and has created a secret hideaway under its arcing boughs. It's heavenly and you can't tell unless you step through the veil it has created.

I felt the beckon and stepped in through the branches, resisting in my discomfort the spider webs and wondering whether I would really sit down in this grass that was surely riddled with things that bite. But the call was there: please sit. Why am I always so comfortable being detached?

Teary now at the beauty this tree has provided, I am aware that the refuge I've been seeking is just waiting for me to discover it in my own backyard. I've been longing to venture off to foreign places and forests, but I was actually just called to go deeper into where I already am. You could fit a large blanket or a little table under this tree.

Or an altar.

It's a serene place to come weep or dream or rest or want.

What's especially striking about the secret garden is that the bark is peeling away and has revealed a flame red trunk of the tree.

Spirit knows I'm drawn to red and flame right now. A burning tree. A fire tree. A radiant revealing. The other crepe myrtles are not losing their bark right now. Just this one.

You've heard me speaking about my rocks from North Carolina. Well I had forgotten about a few large ones my husband brought back to build an altar a few years ago.

He never did build it but it wasn't the right time.

As I told him about my tree he thought exactly like I did: let's get those rocks and you can make an altar under that tree.