February Sanctuary

A sanctuary is a sanctum, a sacred and protected place of beauty, grace and refuge. Our home and garden is a sanctuary for body and soul; it embraces us and brings us back to center. When we take sanctuary, even for brief moments, we are re-created, recharged, healed, soothed, comforted and at peace.

This week I hope to continue to define and upgrade our sanctum; it's an ongoing discipline of inner work (seeking inspiration, and upgrading my habits) and projects (creating a place of peace that expresses who we are) .

Agenda:

1. Journal queries on home and family

2. House of Belief

3. Home simplicity

4. Our huge garden project

5. Teamwork and mental health

1. Journal queries on home and family:

These are queries from the North Pacific Yearly Meeting book of Faith and Practice--

How do we make our homes places of friendliness, peace, and renewal, where God is real for those who live there and those who visit?

How do we maintain a climate of love and trust in our meeting which invites families to be open about their satisfactions and challenges? 

How do we keep commitments outside the home from encroaching on the time and loving attention the family needs for its health and well-being? 

Does our home life support our need for both a sense of personal identity and shared living? 

What supports do we offer to the aging, the widowed, the separated or divorced, and members of families affected by disruption or trauma? 

How does the meeting assist families to improve communication, family life, and the rearing of children in a context of love?

From my journal: These queries inspire two thoughts - I need to upgrade my patience habit (have more of it) and watch the tone of my voice, especially when my grandson is present. And I want to gently and daily nudge our communication towards greater teamwork as we design and maintain our home and yard.

2. House of Belief:

I've been reading House of Belief by Kelee Katillac: 

"If only we could live nobly, walking a spiritual path, certain of our own potential. If only we could find the means to live above modern skepticism that can ice our hearts, keeping our spirits from the life giving movement of belief." 

The premise of her book is that when we create representations of our beliefs and dreams with art and crafts, or seek out and surround ourselves with meaningful objects, our beliefs become concrete - no longer abstract - and we can more easily accept them as truth.

This year I've been considering how to better illustrate our values and beliefs visually in our home. Some ideas for this week:

1. Reduce: Simplicity is an ethical concern for me. I still have too much stuff, too much furniture, too many books.
2. Update our nature tray: We have a nature tray at a low table for our grandson. I want to add some wooden animal figures and a simple word that goes with each season (Winter = Resting).
3. Family photos: It's time to find a wall for framed family photos, and a permanent spot for my little ancestor shelf.
4. Words of belief: I'm working on a sign that says Sanctuary for our front garden, and considering what words to paint at the front of our kitchen garden.

3. Home simplicity:

February is when I feel a big urge to purge and simplify every room in the house - to keep only the things I need and find beautiful, and give away the rest. I'm aiming to find a balance of simplicity and abundance. Clearing even a small space, like my sock drawer or kitchen table, gifts me with feeling of peace and joy. Last week I cleared out the excess mixing bowls. This week I'm working in the living room:

• Reexamine all our stuff, and see what else we are ready to let go of, especially books and toys.
• Find new, creative ways to store my stuff so it looks tidy and is easy to put away. Aim for "minimalistic abundance". (Can I make a drawer for under our craft table so I can get rid of the pink plastic drawers?)
• Return to the habit of putting things away immediately - no more stacking! (This is an integrity ritual: The practice of cleaning up after myself and putting everything back in its home spot!)

Day 1 of digging beds

4. Our huge garden project:
Our beloved old apple tree came down last week, and now we get to re-design our backyard and put in the vegetable garden of our dreams. The first step is to sculpt out the beds and paths from the piles of dirt.


 

Day 2 of digging beds

This week we will probably start to move the stack of concrete blocks that used to be our compost bin to the front yard where they will become a retaining wall for our new Sanctuary Garden.

And THEN we can collect a truck load of wood chips to fill all the paths!

And meanwhile, we also have to put in new fencing around the new duck yard and move the coop to its new location ... Huge Garden Project!

5. Mental health and teamwork:

My husband showed me a quote last week that resonated with both of us (and I should have written it down because we can't find it now); the writer said sometimes his depression bumps up against his wife's anxiety and the best thing they can do is maintain cold politeness and give each other space. 

But we are working together on a Huge Garden Project, and if we are going to make any progress we need to engage in teamwork, negotiation, patience, and humor.

Last week I began a practice of printing out a daily page of garden inspiration and the day's list of garden tasks, putting it on a clipboard and finding a few minutes in the morning to discuss them. I gather the visuals from online, and they are a starting place for musing about possibilities. We are both analyzers, and sometimes we can be negative ("I can't imagine that working") so the images of a finished garden are helpful.