HOLY THREADS

As a military spouse, my family moves a lot which has made it extra sweet to call Germany home for four whole years. It’s the longest we have lived anywhere as a family. Or even when it was just my husband and myself. That four years includes the extra year we asked to stay but now it is time for my husband to return to his duties within the United States Army back home.

The movers have already come and gone. Our little home here in Germany is nearly empty as we enter into very transitional space as move from Germany to Anchorage, Alaska. We are very excited about the adventures that await us in this new place but there is a lot of sadness in leaving this place that has been our home. We are in a season of big transition and here are some things to expect as Holy Threads moves from Europe to the United States of America.

Practice savoring

Savoring invites us to stay with a sense of wonder, not to rush past it but to sit with it. To notice every dimension and contour. To allow that grace take hold so that it can become more than a memory but a touchpoint. Something that can be turned to when life is overwhelming again.

Military moves are nearly always in the summer season when schools release and it can feel like there is more space in the calendar. That is the idea but our lives are endlessly busy. Moving is full of all kind of annoyances and challenges that it is hard to stay present to the wonder of this season. One of my practices of this season will be to practice savoring because I know my tendency to want to available. I want to be in all the places and offer what little I can to untangle the massive knots in this life. One of my directees has a spiritual practice of saying no and I’m following their lead by practicing a digital sabbath for myself in this season of change.

Though I have a long to do list of things I imagined to do amid this transition, I am going to press pause and make space beyond the busyness so that I can be more present to the wonder and delight of creating a home and being with family. I won’t be responding to emails or creating any content for social media during this transition. I seek to savor as much as possible.

Transitions are slow

Most of my directees are based in the United States of America, though nearly all of them are on the opposite coast of my new home. We have weathered the bumps and frustrations of alternate time zones while I have been in Europe. In Alaska, some of that will lessen and some of it will persist. I am seeking to practice grace for myself as I settle into this new place.

I will hope to open my calendar to welcome more directees soon but I will need to allow space to notice what times of day are best for me to practice spiritual direction. I will be paying attention to new rhythms and noticing what spaces emerge. I know it will be slow. I’m asking for grace as much as I’m trying to practice it because transitions are, by nature, slow.

Searching for more words

While packing all of the boxes has distracted me from writing, I look forward to delving back into the book I hope to publish with Tehom Center Publishing later this year about the spirituality of the unknown. I am getting good practice at living in this space and hope to find more words about how to be here in this uncertainty.

You may see some of this writing appear on Prayer Threads as I just shared these uncertain thoughts a few weeks ago. I hope to find more words for this experience because it is so familiar for so many of us.

I ask for your prayers in all things and look forward to exploring the threads in every tangled story in the days ahead. May there be wonder and delight in all that is unknown to us.