A Sacred Space

This summer we traveled up to the northeast side of Canada and visited Nova Scotia.  It's tag line on the license plate reads "Canada's Ocean Playground".  And that, it is!  While up there we learned that the Bay of Fundy hosts a number of whales during their summertime mating and feeding season.  Among them is the beautiful and huge humpback whale.  It can grow up to sixty feet long!  One foggy morning we signed up for a whale watching tour and waited for the boat to 

arrive.  We boarded with about 50 others who were from all different countries and spoke different languages.  Together we rode out about six miles into the middle of the bay of Fundy and looked around the still water as we waited to spot a whale.  We had to be quiet because the fog was so dense that you couldn't see anything past the boat.  As we waited in silence it wasn't long until we heard the water spout of a whale.  We drove close to it and then in front of us was not one but two humpback whales that had just surfaced and were feeding on kelp before they went back down for another deep dive.  It took my breath away.  These creatures were so large and seemingly unafraid of us.  If they wanted to they could have pushed our whole boat over with the slap of their tail.  To imagine that they have a whole world below us that is deep and wide and not very accessible was mind-blowing to me.  The captain shared with us how the humpback whales are very social and curious. They are as eager to see us as we are them!  They swam around the boat just feet from where we were and kept coming back to us.  Several times they popped their heads out of the water with their eyes peering out at us.  Every person in the boat was mesmerized - totally captured by these huge gentle beasts.  We were all suddenly one as we shared in this sacred moment that was so much bigger (literally) than us.  

These experiences we take with us.  We get filled full of something that is bigger than us and also so intimately for us.  I was left giddy the rest of that day as I recalled what I had witnessed.  It was like I had come close to a liminal space where the sacred or divine was close and I could  palpably feel it.  Everyone on that boat did. It didn't matter where we were from or what religion we did or did not identify with.  It was something outside of all of us humans. And I could sense my best self arising quickly and easily as I took it all in.I think everyone on that boat did. That was a pretty extraordinary experience but we can experience this in ordinary ways as well.  When we take a walk in nature or look closely at the intricacy of a spider web or the petals of a siberian iris, we come in contact with something "other" - a sacred space where our best self arises and we are freed, if only for a few moments, to see more clearly and maybe love more fully.  In this season of winter where it is quiet outside, I invite you to put on your winter wear and go listen and watch and wait for something sacred to show up.  And then wait for your best self to emerge as you are invited to live and love just a little more deeply and fully.