Sacred Spaces

I was in Washington, DC this week attending the FAMILIES, USA conference. Every morning as I left the hotel to go across the street to the conference site, I looked to my left and there....I mean right there....was the dome of the US Capital building. Amazing. It didn't matter if it was early morning, mid-afternoon, in the evening I would stop (of course, first I would check the traffic) and look at that site and be moved and wow-ed.

Special places and sacred spaces have that affect on a person. For some spaces they carry a shared wow-factor. The Capital Building, the Lincoln monument, sunset over the ocean ---- those are pretty much a shared wow for the community at large.

Yet, for each of us there is, I hope, several sacred spaces that are personal to us and for what they mean to us. For example, I doubt many other persons would classify the front porch at my mother's home as sacred. For me, it remains so and is so because of the time spent there, the talks, the laughter, the quiet, the learning and the simple grace of being.

Other sacred spaces include opening day at PNC Park; the swimming hole at Ardor Rock on the Buffalo Creek; St. George, location of numerous Beale family reunions on the shores of the Allegheny River; the pulpit in churches where I preach; the Allegheny Bike Trail and the railroad tunnels.

I could go on and each of the places mentioned are sacred to me because of the moments shared and the memories made.

For you, where are your sacred spaces? Those places that hold a heart marker for you and your life journey? Make note of these places and spaces. Be thankful and, if your wise, return there frequently.