Sanctuary, Stillness and Shooting Stars

Last night I sat down by the fire pit in the forest and saw four shooting stars. It happened over the span of about thirty minutes. They were gloriously, breathtakingly beautiful.

When I got up this morning I did a search to see what meteor shower is happening in the sky right now. I discovered that it’s a bit early for the Perseids, which comes to full glory in August.

So these were just random moments of beauty, streaking across the dark sky?

It’s no secret that I love the night sky. I love looking at the stars and the planets. I love tracking their progress through the heavens and the seasons. I have even been known to set my alarm for a ridiculously early hour to try to spot a falling star. But never have I seen four in one short period of time.

It left me musing on the sense of wonder that seeing this sparkling spectacle inspired. We have precious little wonder these days. I suspect a lot of us are tired and short on feelings of transcendence in general.

What is it that wonder does to us and for us when it strikes?

It shakes us out of our reverie of daily life. It jolts us into the present moment. It reminds us how blessed we are to be in this time, in this place, living this life right now.

I get caught up in the details — running my household, my business, juggling a thousand things a minute. Wonder runs thin under all of that. So when it shows up, unbidden, it’s a gift: it pulls me back into alignment with who I am, back into connection with something bigger than myself.

The writer of the Marginalian newsletter Maria Popova, shared this perspective: “An indestructible sense of wonder is our mightiest antidote…the fruit of wonder as well as its fulcrum is not knowledge, but love.”

This is what sanctuary is for. Not just peace, not just rest — but a clearing wide enough for wonder to find you when it comes. I didn’t summon those four streaks of light. I only had to be sitting still, outside, unhurried, looking up. That’s the quiet work of sanctuary: it doesn’t manufacture wonder, it just gets out of wonder’s way. Peace around us inspires peace within us — and sometimes, peace around us simply cracks us open enough to feel wonder again.

With love and gratitude,

Lisa