A Holy Moment...

A Holy Moment…

Posted December 17, 2024

“We live in a world alive with holy moments. We need only take the time to bring these moments into the light.” —Kent Nerburn

One evening last week I experienced a holy moment so powerful; I could feel its energy flowing through me, transforming stress and worry into peace.

It didn’t come through an encounter with nature, reading a sacred book, or a conversation. It happened with a text message. But like a red bird reminding you you’re not alone, this message conveyed the truth of the way will be shown.

Male Northern Cardinal Sitting On Tree Branch

This season of light abounds with opportunities to open to and receive the gift of holy, sacred moments, if we will pause to acknowledge them. What are the holy moments you’ve experienced so far this year?

The image I chose of a red cardinal was deliberate because I think of Paula D’Arcy’s book, The Gift of the Red Bird, whenever I think about encounters that remind us that guidance and support on the journey can be found everywhere. After a harsh storm displaces her from her camping spot to a bunkhouse during her wilderness retreat, Paula awakens to find her friend is still with her:

“I…push open the creaky bunkhouse door. As I am about to step out, a flash of color at my foot startles me, and I look down. There on the doorstep, waiting, is the red bird. Tears spill from my eyes and I can barely breathe. How could he possibly know where to find me, or that this very doorstep was mine? …The storm was one display of power. His waiting for me, another. Such a moment is a gift.”
—Paula D’Arcy, The Gift of the Red Bird

Such a moment is a gift indeed. How might holy moments like these remind you that you’re not alone, that a higher power is available to you through a text message, a red bird, a song on the radio, and more? How can you make space for welcoming in more of these sacred moments?

May you be blessed with the gift of holy moments throughout this season of light. And may you carry the beauty of those moments with you into the new year.

The Infinite, The Limitless

“Life must have its sacred moments and its holy places. We need the infinite, the limitless, the uttermost — all that can give the heart a deep and strengthening peace.”
—A. Powell Davies

Sacred Moments

“There are sacred moments in life when we experience in rational and very direct ways that separation, the boundary between ourselves and other people and between ourselves and Nature, is illusion. Oneness is reality.”
—Catherine Ponder

Your Birthday Hike At Pedernales Falls State Park

Under gray morning skies, we walk Coyote
Crossing and Wolf Mountain. Listen, black
and white warbler’s persistent call defending
his new territory. Look, tiny powerhouse bounces
branch to branch in this deciduous forest,
early Spring breeding stop. It seems to me he is wishing
you Happy Birthday. As do fields of fire wheel
and four-nerve daisies stretching toward the sun,
or are they waving to you? Later these stars shine brighter
than city stars, just for you. Spring is when branches
go from bare to bud to leafed out in a matter of days.
Perennials we thought lost in the freeze sprout hope
as only they can. Like the courting warbler, Mother Earth
flutters its wings, urges us to flutter ours.
—Dee R. Susong

One of top ten finalist poems of the Thriving Today Poetry Contest. After sharing with you the five winning poems, we’re thrilled to close out our year of focus on Thriving Together with the remaining top ten finalists of our poetry contest. Enjoy!