Something More

In our Sunday morning class, we're reading through Barbara Brown Taylor's book, An Altar in the World. In her introduction, she wonders what folks mean when they describe themselves as "spiritual." She writes, "it may be the name for a longing - for more meaning, more feeling, more conncection, more life. When I hear people talk about spirituality, that seems to be what they are describing. They know there is more to life than meets the eye. They have drawn close to this 'More' in nature, in love, in art, in grief. They would be happy for someone to teach them how to spend more time in the presence of this deeper reality . . .Who has the key to the treasure box of More?"

I think I know the answer to that question, "who has the key?" It's Taylor's answer, too. You do.

We go through our daily lives, attending to the things that demand attention, following the routine (walk the dog, water the plants, answer email, solve problems, fight traffic, wait in the check out line, prepare a meal, do the laundry) that absorbs our energy and, due to its sameness or its hurriedness, can suck the life right out of us. No wonder we long for More.

Here's the irony: the More is in the midst of the ordinary. It's the very fact of our living itself that gives rise to that blessed sense of More. I don't know about you, but I can't plan for my experience of More. It always takes me by surprise. I blindsides me when I take a little pause and just pay attention to what I'm doing. Walking the dog, and noticing her beauty of her gait, her joy in the adventure, or the glory of the morning. Watering the plants, and seeing that the tomatoes are turning red. Answering email, and sharing a goofy joke that makes me laugh out loud. Standing in the check out line, and watching a young mother coo at her baby. In these moments, these ordinary, everyday moments, I connect somehow with that thing that is at my core, that thing that reminds me that I am a part of something larger than myself, and I am moved to awe.

These moments are just as powerful, just as spirit-filled as Sunday mornings in the sanctuary and quiet moments of prayer. What I need is to simply notice them, or as the Buddhist teachers would say, to be mindful of them. The More is all around me, when I simply awaken to it.



Barbara Brown Taylor's book, An Altar in the World, was published in 2009 by HarperOne.