Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sacramental Living

I've been reading Crunchy Con at last, and though Viking Man and I agreed that we don't really like the title so much, we are resonating with the content. The theme of the book is about living sacramentally. In Dreher's words, "for people who adopt a sacramental way of being, everyday things, occurrences, and exchanges provide an opportunity to encounter ultimate reality, even, if you like, divinity."
Leigh Borteins talks about this important concept in her book, Echo in Celebration, or maybe it was in talking with her, that I heard her share this concept about how true education is sacramental.
I came across some cool blogs this week, mainly by orthodox Christians, who home school. They appeal to me because they incorporate the seasons and sacraments intentionally into daily living.
I realized today, talking with Viking Man about the above that I've been having a beauty deficit this past 1/2 year. Usually by this time in the year the kids and I are out in the "yard," spending hours a day gardening, puttering, swinging, taking photos and cropping them and reveling in our odd assortment of picturesque outbuildings, tumbling down by most standards, buy which create great back drops for photos, soaking inthe sun and warmth and creating spring food and places inside and outside of the house.
But we've been disrupted on so many fronts and we've dealt with a lot of ugliness the past 1/2 year in the form of burned, soiled, stained, smoked. It's a season that will pass soon enough but the lack of a quiet, peaceful corner of beauty in our temporary lodgings is beginning to wear on me. At least it's named and identified. There is so much power in the naming. Which is another reason I'm enjoying Dreher's book. A nice change of pace from Lipstick Jihad, which was more of the same, oppression and anxiety on a cultural level.
Sorely looking forward to Next Things and being settled.

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