Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Ocean of Longing

   

Last Wednesday I went to the Hood Canal to check out a place for our Awakening the Creative Spirit program we are planning to offer in a weeklong intensive form (more info on this to come, dates are Nov 11-18, 2007).  I decided to make the trip into a mini-retreat and spend the night in the area.  Tune was with me, as well as my camera and journal — three of the essential elements for a good retreat.  The Hood Canal area is a lovely place, hovering along the edge of a channel of still water.  I took the ferry across the Puget Sound from Seattle to Bremerton and then it is another 45 minute drive from there.  Gliding across the water I felt as though I were entering into another time and space.  It was a powerful time for such a brief retreat.  Much is stirring within me and still unfolding.

Being so close to the water and then taking a hike in the afternoon where all of the trees and foliage were wet with rain from the morning, I began to pray about my Lenten journey.  While desert is the more often used metaphor, here in the Northwest the desert is a very faroff place.  I resonate more with images of wilderness, dense forests of ancient trees coated thick with dripping moss, the cry of eagles soaring looking for prey, the call of the salmon to return to these rivers to breed, vast bodies of water at every turn.

I realized that the ocean and her tributaries speak powerfully to me of my own longing.  And while I am always surrounded by water where I live, taking time to be on the water itself, to touch her edges at the shore, I had an encounter with the great sea and the sacred rain that blankets this area in lushness, I felt the ocean of longing shift through me.

I was suddenly connected to the sea of grief that swims through me and through every living creature as a part of its birthright in this wounded world.  I was immersed in the healing waters of baptism, responding to that ancient call to belong to a community and be able to say this is what I believe, this is how I weave meaning through my life.  I was rooted in the ebb and flow of the tides, the cycles of the great sea rising and falling from the gravity of her sister, the moon.  I re-entered the waters of the womb and the pulsing of the great feminine through the world, waiting for my own rebirth.

I am really not sure what it all means yet except that it is a call to dive deep under the surface. For now, I continue into Lent on a journey into the wilderness of water.  The ocean of mystery that extends far and wide and deep.  So lovely, so very terrifying.

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

(photos are the waters of the Puget Sound and Hood Canal)

You might also enjoy

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sharon Fabriz

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sharon Fabriz’s reflection “A Jigsaw of Light: Hildegard’s Gift.” Spirit of Mercy and Grace, born from the infinite womb of creationteach this

Read More »

Monk in the World Guest Post: Mary Camille Thomas

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Mary Camille Thomas’s reflection “Beholding God’s Sanctuary.” My Grandma Sammie knew many psalms by heart and could quote them chapter and verse.

Read More »

6 Responses

  1. Thanks Bette! I am definitely feeling better and the retreat is still bubbling, so more will be revealed in time. :-) The end of this week I head off for a dream leader training program that I am starting and I know that will add layers of richness.

    Blessings, Christine

  2. Loved your water photos and words. So glad you made a connection with your sacred waters that surround you and your landscape and that Tune was with you. I love ferry rides, too. You sound as energetic and eager as a salmon upstream :) Anxious to hear more about your retreat! Hugs and Blessings, Bette.

  3. Hi Cathleen, I think anything really worth pursuing will probably scare the heck out of us because it runs so close to who we really are. When we move closer to the holy, there is an awesomeness to that encounter.

    Suz, I am delighted you’ll be able to join us! And how fun to have it fall on your birthday. No worries at all about your comment, I loved your enthusiasm. Details to follow soon.

    Blessings, Christine

  4. Oh, Christine, I didn’t read any farther…or think any farther, than the notice about the treat…what a stupid, shallow response to what you said…I am sorry!

  5. Yippee! A birthday retreat! I have only briefly been to your area of the country so this will be a big treat for me!

  6. I too am finding that the yearning for authenticity is both lovely and terrifying in the same breath. And that much of this is about listening deep within, and trusting. Thank you for your witness to the depth of your Lenten journey. Cathleen