What was the first thing you noticed when you woke up this morning?

Mary Elva Smith, the Coordinator for Women's Ministries here at the Presbyterian Church (USA), started off a spiritual healing retreat session with CoCo last weekend by asking this question. The truth is, we don't really notice much, do we? For me, I greeted this morning by hearing the alarm, noticing that it was 7 am, and wondering how much longer I could sleep before I absolutely had to get up. I missed so much in my focus on what had to be done... the warmth of my red-striped down comfortor, the enveloping security of pre-dawn light, the photos of loved ones smiling upon me from around the room.

Mary Elva taught us a useful pattern for getting in touch with the spiritual in our everyday lives, a pattern that allows you to quiet the mind and hear God: notice, pay attention, wonder. Maybe you're walking to class on a grey, wintery day, and you see the sun burst through the clouds. Perhaps you see a particular grin on a friend's face. Notice it. Really think about it for a minute. Explore it. You may find that your day has more of the divine in it than you initially thought.

I discovered the power of noticing after taking a photography seminar last summer at Ghost Ranch Conference Center in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Every afternoon, I went out on solitary hikes and looked for photo ops. I was amazed at how much beauty I found simply by pausing to notice a particular tree pattern or cactus bloom. The reflection process opened up wells of creativity, in fact, that I hadn't tapped for years. By the end of the week, I was writing poetry to go with my photos. I wrote an essay about my own Christian feminist journey. I found a place in myself that rarely emerged in my day-to-day life.

So today, notice the situations around you. Notice, pay attention, and wonder. Invite God in to join you on the journey. You may be surprised at the healing it brings.

"From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?" --Job 39:12
Kelsey