WHAT'S IN A NAME?

I never knew it would be so hard to name a blog. Just when I thought I had the perfect one, the title was already taken. Again and again, someone had already used my “clever” idea. How do you describe what you write? It’s hard enough just to write. But to characterize my words and give them a theme? That’s probably why many of us—writers and would-be writers alike—try and give up.

But there’s another reason.

Writing a blog is personal. It puts you “out there” for everyone to see, and possibly to judge. It’s risky. Once you press the publish button, it’s there for the viewing. It takes courage to write from the heart and then let the words fly, not knowing where they will land. Or how they will be received.

So why Soul Sanctuary?

Because the soul is the spiritual part of a person that gives life to the body and goes on to live forever. It is a person’s deeply felt moral and emotional nature, the part that is in touch with God, feeling kindness and sympathy for others, and appreciating both beauty and art.

And a sanctuary is a place of safety, and one of rest—a consecrated place.

Put the two together and you have a beautiful image: the deepest, most vulnerable part of me abiding in a place of safety, where spirituality, beauty, art, compassion, kindness and honesty is welcomed and protected.

That’s what I desire. How about you? Tending to our souls while in a safe place is more than a good desire—it is life-giving and eye-opening. We stop the insanity of our pace, the distractions of our days and the angst of our drivenness. It allows us to be replenished and restored, while at the same time being humbled and reconnected to the holy. We allow ourselves to breathe, exhaling the toxic and inhaling the pure.

Walk with me to that sacred place. You, like me, will be blessed, refreshed, and challenged. We will even share a laugh or two amid the tears. Because life is a mixed bag, and you never know what you’re going to get. Just like Forrest Gump’s chocolates; some pieces you savor and delight in, others you eat because they are there and some you taste and throw away.

Everyone needs a place to hide away. Come to Soul Sanctuary and glimpse the joy in the journey, the value in the pain and the absolute life in it all.

The journey may be hard to name, but it’s even easier to miss.

“Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place onwhich you are  standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5