Feeling Sacred

Just one letter shifted and that title would be “Feeling Scared.” Feeling Scared is that close to feeling Sacred. Sacred is simply being connected with God and dedicated to a God-oriented and faithful purpose. Feeling scared, on the other hand, is being filled with great fear or anxiety. It’s interesting then that “the fear of the Lord” is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. I read a good story that some of you may recognize because it comes out of a popular book. (You can ask me which book if you want.) The story goes that a man joined Alcoholics Anonymous and really appreciated the process of recovery except for one aspect… admitting to a Higher Power. He just didn’t believe, he said, in any higher power. So, one day, his sponsor invited him to go to the beach. They took off their shoes and walked out into the sand where his sponsor suggested they just sit and look out at the ocean. They did, taking in the pounding surf and the vastness of the water before them. Then the man’s sponsor asked, “See anything here that’s more powerful than you?” To which the man said, “Ah… yeah.” “Good,” his sponsor said, “Start there.” Knowing that there is something more powerful than ourselves, opens the doorway into humility. The grandeur of the mountains, the ferocity of a mother bear defending her cub, the hurling power of a tsunami, or the swirling movement of a pinwheel galaxy… any of this can cause us to reflect on our limitedness. It can even cause fear. Humility, that distinct touch of the reality of limitedness, is what the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.” As we become dedicated to God, humble in our experience of him and his love, we walk within the sacredness God feels toward us. This is where fear becomes life-giving and affirming. That’s something to practice, whenever we can. Blessings, Geoff