<Prev 1| 2

Living the spiritual life is being spiritual in every situation in which we find ourselves. For example, if you come home tired and you don’t feel like cooking, and you suggest to your spouse that you go out to eat and your spouse doesn’t think you should spend the money, what is your reaction? Do you sulk, pout, fix dinner angrily, and become silent during dinner? Your immediate reaction is the barometer of your spiritual life. What if you’re at work trying to meet a deadline, feeling pressured, stressed, and somewhat put upon, and your boss brings in a new project that is important and asks that you begin working on it today. What is your response? Do you smile sweetly and feel anger rising in your throat or lower back? Do you begin a litany of the things that you are already involved in that are taking
time and energy and that you just can’t do one more thing without falling apart?

Your immediate reaction is the barometer of your spiritual life. You can begin the journey of holiness by examining your reactions and attitudes to the daily doses of life you are given, for if you cannot find your spirituality there, it is unlikely you would find it if you were free of all responsibilities and had the luxury of thinking of no one but yourself and God. It is the day to day, the minute to minute, the joy and the sorrow, the bitter and the sweet that is the training ground for holiness. So pay attention to your life.
--Renee Miller, "Pay Attention to Your Life"

A Place for Reflection
Every major religion has some form of spiritual practice of attention or mindfulness. Whether it is meditation or simple awareness, spiritual depth occurs when there is focus and singularity. The number of possessions that we have, the amount of material goods that fill our lives, the clutter that seems to gather all around our living areas, crowd out attention and focus. Our minds, thoughts, energies are dispersed in myriad directions, and in the cacophony of competing claims on us, we cannot seem to find our center, our sense of clarity, our touch with the sacred, our experience of God. One way that I have helped people begin to reclaim that holy core that exists within us is to lead them through the process of creating a simple space within their own home where what is divine may be drawn out. You can begin the process yourself by trying the following exercise:

1. Choose an area of your home that you find particularly attractive or peaceful. It might be a room, or a corner in a room. It might be a closet or a stairwell. It might be windowless or flooded with light. The size of the space is not important.

2. Begin to clear out that space until it is completely empty of everything.

3. Bring a chair or a sitting pillow into the room and sit for several minutes, feeling the emptiness of the space.

4. Be attentive to the images and impressions that float across your mind. What do you feel is missing in the space? What does the space seem to 'want'? If you were going to meet God in this space, what would you want it to look like?

5. Record in a journal your thoughts and ideas.

6. Begin to bring items into the space one at a time. You might bring such things as a candle, a favorite rock, an icon, a cross, a vase of fresh flowers, a beautifully woven blanket, a holy book, a beautiful piece of glass, a table, etc. Avoid bringing in several items at once because it is much too easy to begin to 'fill' the space rather than 'draw out' from the space.

7. Again, sit in your space being mindful of the change in the space as each item is added. If you feel you have put in too much, take out items one by one just as you put them in. You will know when you have just enough - the space will feel hallowed.

8. When it is 'just right,' take off your shoes, enter the space, and offer it and yourself to the God who is One.

9. You will find that you do not have to force yourself to go into your sacred space. The space and the Spirit in the space will call you from the busyness of your life into that inner stillness where hope and holiness meet.
--Renee Miller, "Creating a Sacred Space"