Aligning with Grace

I have a wonderful soul companion who deeply relishes her time spent in the arms of the Divine as much - if not more - than I do. I say this, because for years now, I have been an empty-nester and I have enjoyed the gift and pleasure of much undivided time. She, on the other hand,  is only just now getting ready to send her child to college, so soon she will have such highly desired and coveted time as well! For years, we have referred to our quotidian quiet times for practice, as our monastery time. Sometimes our practice consists of doing laundry or cleaning toilets, or other such less than glamorous tasks. We often challenge and inspire one another to seek the face of the Divine even in such mundane things. In fact, we have often coaxed one another to experience the mundane as simply glorious! We have both had spouses who traveled at times, which also afforded us some days here and there to journey more deeply within. Often, we share insights from our practice, seek wisdom...

We have begun our journey into Holy Week with its sacred themes of surrender and unconditional love among so many others - and the commemoration of another sacred journey - that of Passover, which begins this evening... Spiritual traditions converge once again, dancing into each other, as they have for centuries, offering us an opportunity to reflect on all that unites us - rather than that which may separate us... I surround myself with meditations and reflections from various sources, and have spent Lent reviewing and immersing myself in entries posted during this sacred season in recent years, finding gems and kernels of wisdom interspersed here and there, that once more touch my heart profoundly and manage to speak again so deeply... Perhaps nothing is truly ever new under the sun... The same struggles surface again and again in my own seemingly small and insignificant life. But once more I re-learn and am reminded - that there is nothing truly small and insignificant in any li...