Easter Morning Reflections

sun breaking through

I have always been a spiritual person in some way or another – being baptized Lutheran, going to a Catholic Elementary school, celebrating Jewish holidays with my dad’s stepfather’s family, going to an Episcopal church as a teenager, and having two Muslim best friends in high school….

…but throughout my life, something more deep has always been there. I have always loved to be outside, looking at bugs and investigating sticks and plants. I have felt the simple beauties of nature deep in my soul – constantly astounded by the majesty of a sunset, or a flower, or rolling of the waves onto shore.

I have always felt home in nature, and as I have grown in my spiritual life, I have always felt closer to god–the spirit of the universe that connects us all–when I am outside, under a canopy of trees, with patches of sunlight on the earthen carpet – squirrels crashing through leaves, birds twittering – it is in that context that I feel most whole and full, and connected with the divine.

So, this Easter Sunday morning, my partner and I decided to go for a bike ride through a local park for “church.” We found off-road trails we didn’t know existed – speeding through tightly knit groves of holly, bumping over fallen branches, and sloshing through mud.

Then, afterwards, crashing down onto a grassy knoll to stretch just as the sun started to peek through the clouds.

Amen.