Following the Bread Crumbs
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This book is a collection of meditations written over three summers. I shared my photos and these brief devotions in the chapel as a weekly respite from what was going on in the world. Each Sunday morning, I would arrange a new collection of images and a one page written meditation with scripture. It was available for anyone to use during the following week. By the end of the third summer, people began telling me, "You should do something with these." I was led to create Following the Bread Crumbs as a result of that prompting to "do something." |
Excerpt:
A Meditation on Birches
I did not see the birch trees when I first arrived at the Martin de Porres Center.
I was too busy navigating unfamiliar territory – my GPS says it’s right here, but I don’t see the entrance. Where should I park? Which building is where we are meeting? I had come to a gathering for Shalem grads and friends in Columbus, Ohio, feeling the need to reconnect with my Shalem peers and rekindle my passion for contemplative practice.
When we took a brief, mid-morning break, I walked outside to bask in a few moments of long anticipated spring sunshine, and there they were. A grove of birch trees, some with roots exposed, all with bark peeling, buds hinting at leaves beginning to unfurl. It was lovely.
In the afternoon, I attended a workshop on finger labyrinths, and part of the resource material told of “releasing” as you enter the labyrinth. “Let there be a shedding, a letting go of the details of your life, let go of control or expectations, allow your mind to become quiet,” it said.
A self-directed prayer station was listed as “Decluttering,” although the handout heading was “Making Room for God.” I was invited to examine my life and notice the clutter that gets in the way of my being with God and to let it go.
Are you sensing a pattern here? Shedding, releasing, decluttering…letting go of my details, noticing God’s details, making room for more of what I truly need. The Spirit and the birches showed me what I needed that day.
Is there something you’re being called to shed to make room for something new?
What newness might fill that space?
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©Shirley K. Weyrauch, 2021