FROM HOLY GROUND TO HOLY GROUND

This post is dedicated with love to my nephew, Lee Barrientos.



Today is my nephew's 17th birthday!

Because of an unresolved family estrangement, I have only seen him once since the day after my father died on St. Patrick's Day in 2003.

"Most of us primarily find the sacred within the circle of those we love and find holy ground in our own backyard. Remember the Buddhist monks who go on a three-month retreat during the rainy season? It must be dramatic for them when the retreat ends. For a long time they have been confined to a temple, with strict instructions to destroy no new life. They carefully watch where they put their feet lest they trample a sprout of grass pushing through the cold earth. Then comes the day the retreat ends and they leave. They are given new robes. At the gate they take their final step out of the temple and their first step into a sunny meadow. It is the same step.

In our own backyards, the leaves may be gone and the tree limbs bare. But tiny new buds are beginning to swell. A time will come soon to step between two seasons. Just as with the monks, it is one step. From holy ground to holy ground."

From A Winter Walk
Copyright 2006 by Tolbert McCarroll

Today is also the 12th day of Christmas -- the day of the 12 drummers drumming and, in Christian tradition, the visit of the Three Wise Men from Persia.

Happy Birthday, Lee!

Love always,
Aunt Amanda