Friday, July 7, 2017

Dear God,

Your ways are not our ways.  Your way is always better!

Years ago I sensed the call to create a spiritual path in an entangled, ugly, and thorn-infested woods at the outer edge of our property.  I pondered, reflected, and prayed about the call.  After a considerable amount of time, I relented and began the arduous task.  Never having a plan other than the call and the opening to the path, I trusted you and the land to lead me.  That was about eight summers ago.

Over the course of time sections of the path were revealed.  First was the Altar, then the Table, the Sanctuary, and Secret Garden.  Ferns, trees, and a drain pipe releasing clean water all directed me to the twists and turns in the path.  The thought of a spiritual hermitage came early on but I never dwelled on it.  Now, it turns out next year we will build a small hermitage on the path, a place for sacred silence and solitude.

When a friend and I were talking recently, we discussed how the hermitage would be used.  Who would use it?  How would it be used?  The very next day in a devotional I was reading entitled, Sacred Journeys - A Woman's Book of Daily Prayer by Jan L. Richardson, the chapter was titled, The Extra Room.  The meditation came from 2 Kings 4:8-37 where a Shunammite woman prepared a room for the prophet Elisha.  Turns out the room was a room for the holy, a sacred space for God to dwell.

I never started out to create a holy, spiritual path.  I came to Maine to enjoy the ocean, the weather, and a 200-year-old house; however, you had more in mind, much, much more. 

Amazing God,
thank you
for your
constant guidance.
Thank you
for your trust
in me.
Thank you
for making me
a handmaid
for your purpose.

Love, Andrea