Inner Sanctum

text by Carolyn Felderman

Savoring the Sacred Within the Ordinary

Dedicated to sweet baby Emma – I wish you always, a garden in bloom, a symphony held in your heart, and a kite that catches the wind as you soar. Spring arrives with a new song waiting to be sung. Sun-kissed daffodils dance with tightly hugged tulips, while tall bearded irises take center stage. Song birds dressed in colorful choral robes take their places high above on tree branches. Harmony in nature is a symphony.

Picking up a twig as though a baton, I believe, for only a moment, that I am as brilliant a conductor as Maestro Falletta.

Volunteer seedlings are welcomed as visitors to the garden. I plan my garden with more ease than I plan my life. Surely, there will be some disappointments, but the unexpected surprises will make me rejoice in awe. Do I dare dream of six foot tall delphiniums?

The earth wakes much like a newborn after napping.

Beginning with a quiet yawn, it begins to stretch arms of green growth, and wiggle legs of roots. Waking hours are growing hours. A mother’s breast nurtures her child, as do the hands of a gardener in her garden. I breathe in a deep whiff. The earth smells of sweetness and I answer myself, yes, it is time. Time to savor the sacred within the ordinary – to savor life is to take hold of the minute you are in, acknowledge it with all of your senses, making it part of your soul.
I’ve always appreciated this quote from G.K.

Chesterton: “To let no bird fly past unnoticed, to have the mind a storehouse of sunsets, requires a discipline in pleasure and an education in gratitude.”

Allowing the mind to focus on the negative rather than to relish the positive is like seeing through a veil.

Today as I walk the two mile circumference of the lake near my home, my purpose is not the exercise it will give me, but the need to move the negatives aside and dust a few cobwebs. I walk at a brisk pace until I find my steps slowing naturally. How long has it been since I have seen a kite appearing to be an appliqué on the sky blanket?

As I approach a bench, I sit, observing a father teaching his young son how to fly a kite. “Let the wind catch it, then let the string out slowly as it goes higher, run with it, let it soar,” the father says to his son. “It’s all about timing son.” I repeated the words to myself: It’s all about timing. This refers not only the height a kite can soar, but life, as well, is all about timing. It’s where we are, who we are with, and what we are doing, this minute in time.

As the kite takes to flight I see the sacred within the ordinary unfold. A father, a son, a windy yet sunny day, and the smiles of pride they both wear as the kite sails higher and higher, lift my spirit. The tails of the kite writhe in the wind. Suddenly they form rolling waves, snapping loudly, catching up to the kite then backing off again. Much like life, their motion symbolizes the catching up and the falling behind. The kite begins to descend, flowing gracefully to its return. Its journey this day comes to an end.

We have but one chance at this journey of life we are given. How is it made extraordinary instead of ordinary? By accepting defeats as new challenges to learn from, by following dreams, by giving more than is expected to be received, gratitude is born within the soul. Our experiences in life are always two-fold.

To experience sorrow creates the ability to recognize joy. To be loved teaches one how to love, and so on.

I return to my garden after my walk with a new perspective.

I will pull weeds, but not all. Without a few weeds of life as reminders I might not be as grateful for blooming meadows. I will trim the rosebushes, being cautious of the thorns. Without the thorns of life, beauty like that of the rose would be taken for granted. I will plant seeds beneath the soil, patiently waiting. In the months ahead I will enjoy the harvest; however, I will not forget the tiny seed that made possible what I reap.

Whether it is tending a garden, an evening at the symphony, flying a kite, or wherever life finds you this day, take time to savor the sacred within the ordinary, with gratitude.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Visit joannfalletta.com to read the accomplishments of JoAnn Falleta, conductor of the VA Symphony. A calendar of upcoming performances is there or viewing. Be sure to click on Writer, where she shares her beautiful poetry.

(Carolyn Felderman is a Virginia Beach-based writer.)

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