What is saving your life right now

Coronavirus has been a challenging season for all of us. To preserve my sanity during this extended pandemic, I adopted a daily habit. I started keeping a list—an actual, physical, pen-and-paper list—of the things that were actively giving me life in this least lively season.

The idea comes from author Barbara Brown Taylor. In her memoir, Leaving Church , Taylor tells about a time she was invited to speak, and her host assigned her this topic: “Tell us what is saving your life right now.” Most of us know what’s killing us, and can articulate it, if asked. Some of us are overwhelmed with hurry and worry; some of us face crushing struggles; some feel utterly paralyzed.

But few of us stop to note what’s giving us life. Taylor says it’s too good a question to not revisit every once in a while: what are the things—big or small—that are saving us?
 
Saving my life right now: Making new connections and nurturing old ones to deeper intimacy–in person rather than or at least not *just* online.
 
I can’t wait to hear what’s on your list.
 
 
What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.

Barbara Brown Taylor An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith


Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation