Really! I’m curious…
Some of you will see colors. Probably red and blue, with hints of pink and yellow and purple. Even a spot or two of orange.
Perhaps the feng shui book you read years ago is making suggestions! Things like exciting, uplifting, wisdom, spirituality…
Perhaps you see prayer dots. (Me, too!)
Possibly stars.
Many of you will see Intentional Creativity®. And, some of you will suspect you see the beginning of my Red Madonna Sanctuary painting.
All of those things are true.
And, as is so often the case… other things are true, as well!
On Sunday I began this Sanctuary medicine painting. The beginning marks on the first canvas of a year-long journey to places utterly unknown as I begin.
It looked like this:
On Monday, seven people lost their lives in a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Since then, I have been alternating between staring in disbelief at the news and avoiding it all together.
I cried. I swore. I prayed. I signed petitions online. I cried. I swore. I prayed. I texted my granddaughters, not so much older than the three 9-year olds who did not get home from school two days ago.
I also edited a couple of book chapters, went to some meetings, watched Stephen Colbert, and took care of me.
And, while all those things were going on, I listened.
And then it came.
Stars. The big dipper. And the North Star.
The one that helps us know where we are and how to get where we’re going.
And with the North Star came the big question.
What is my North Star? What do I use to navigate my journey?
I have an answer. Actually, I have several! And they all come together in a place you’ve probably guessed if you’ve been reading along for a while.
I have 2 granddaughters growing up in this world!
That is the reality which holds all the other answers together for me.
The reality which gets me out of bed on the hard days.
The reality which compels me to vote. And write. And plant my garden with signs which lean heavily toward inclusion and human rights.
I also have faith. In my version of the Divine… of the Creator who dwells, still, in and among us. Between us, even, in the spaces where our versions of the Divine may be different.
And I have faith that, while lots of days will still suck, walking the path where my faith leads beats the hell out of not walking it.
What is your North Star?
And what helps you follow it?
If you’d like some ideas, some company on your path, I can help! Just ask the calendar elves to find you some time!
For now, I have more dots to make. Dots for humanity. And sanity!
And Sanctuary.