A Place to Sit and Watch the Path

Do you have places that are Holy for you? Places you can go and sit, places that when the path gets to long or difficult, confusing or scary that you can just go and sit? We all have to have them.  We all need a place of retreat, not to bury our heads in the sand, but to intentionally have time set aside for reflection, listening for God's movement towards the next step, and for good, old fashioned rest. This bench at Shaker Village in Kentucky is a symbol of that place for me.  I took this photo on a trip with a friend at a  time when I was in need of a quiet place to let my spirit heal.  This is a photograph that travels in my head and can be called upon no matter where I am, or what is going on around me.  

I have only been to this beautiful place twice before but for me it represents so many positive, life giving, connections with God that reentering it, even in memory, calms my troubled spirit.  I have spent time reflecting on why that is.  I think that one reason is the history of the place, Holiness has soaked into the very ground on which this village stands.  The years of worship and praise, prayer and service that saturate the property permeates the air the Shaker worship songs once filled.  Also those who now upkeep the Village add to the environment that is created, the artisans at work making brooms, boxes and barrels, those tending the land and tending to the buildings and animals,  even those who work in the shops and in the dining hall seem to serve with an integrity that is Spirit-filled.  

I really don't mean to sound like a travel agent for Shaker Village! For someone else, my experience may not be their experience of this place.  But I believe for everyone there is a place where you can stop and connect with God.  This is Biblical! God walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve, Moses went up on the Mountain to be with God, Jesus met God in real places, on the mountain with His disciples at the Transfiguration and in the Garden as his disciples slept, unable to understand Jesus' agony and unaware the events that were about to unfold.  God meets us all in places of healing, safe places in which we can sit for a while to gather strength and knowledge for the path ahead.