Connect with each moment during this special month
How do we view the month of March? The harbinger of Spring? The close of the winter season? The time when the earth transforms from fallow to fertile? March is a complicated month, full of surprises, celebrations and the unexpected.
Ramadan, Holy Week, and Easter Sunday are celebrated this year, days apart, while Passover waits for the rains of April to make its appearance. Ah, 2024, you surprise us! Big holiness in a variety of its glory.
We are always in communion with Spirit and not just when we are in church or at an altar. The resurrection of The Christ, aligned with the resurrection of Nature, greets us at every turn. Walking through the woodland paths or on the stone walkways of churches, we are in communion with Goodness.
And yet, we often continue to speed through it all. Buy the dates for breaking the fast, dye the eggs, get in the steps, count the days and purchase the seeds for planting. It seems we are on a marathon to move through this month as we hurry our ways out of it.
I am dismayed at the posts of, “so-many-daysuntil-summer” as if this passage of time was not holy and special in its own right.
What if we took time to savor the breath space of it all, to pause, to reflect, to understand that washing the dishes is just as sacred as adorning an altar with flowers?
What if we knew, really knew, that gazing at the spring waterfalls by the river was just as holy as kneeling in a pew or on a rug? What if this everyday holiness was recognized by our choices and our pauses?
I remember making ravioli and Easter breads with my grandmother when I was little. Rolling the dough, filling the tender pockets, braiding the bread and watching it take shape as it rose, I treasure the warmth of those sacred and relational moments with prayer-like devotion, incredibly grateful, to this day, for each one.
Our connection to holiness and The Divine is a devout relationship. All of life is relational and, as such, reminds us that we are connected to both Creator and creation. And that changes everything.
So, fast well, dye the eggs, fill the baskets and bake the luscious meals that will sate the daily hunger. And, through it all, enter the breath space and rest there a little. All is creation and we are, joyously, connected to it. Happy, Holy March!
The Reverend Dr. Deborah Darlington celebrates the traditions of all peoples through ceremony and service. She can be reached at GraceMatters@ TheSpaceForGrace.com