Back to School for Us All

I love a new school year.  After Summer’s freedom and fluidity, going here and there, and being a little more lax with almost everything, I enjoy returning to a more consistent rhythm and routine.  Growing up as a kid, I loved selecting all new school supplies, wrapping all my new text books in brown paper bags (Does anyone still do that?), and getting all the important dates on my new calendar.  And I couldn’t wait to reconnect with friends and teachers after missing them all Summer. 

A fresh school year always felt so full of promise and possibility.  Having honored a different rhythm of rest and leisure, I felt ready in my body and mind to recommit to school work, extracurricular activities, and friendship. 

Our family spent last week at the beach with dear friends from Candler days.  I did not work or think of work.  I unplugged from all email, news, social media, podcasts and the like.  We feasted on amazing meals and each other’s company.  We swam in the pool and in the gulf, did yoga, stayed up late, and took our sweet time drinking coffee and getting moving in the morning.  We told stories of the past and present, shared about our years--what had been hard, and what is saving our life and giving us hope.  We sang and laughed as hard as we could.

I returned with a heart and soul brimming with gratitude and wonder, and a body and mind ready to recommit to my work, to our family, to the people we love in our lives.

I also returned to Delta variant alarm and new mask mandates, a disordered house and unfinished landscaping mess, pressing work and volunteer needs, and heartbreaking updates from beloveds bearing great pain.

Even with the renewed energy, there is a lot to hold, to bear, and to do. I know my soul’s cup will need regular refilling.  So I am hungry for a new Fall rhythm that keeps me grounded and centered in Source, connected in friendship and community where we can share and bear all the gifts and struggles of being human, listening for wisdom and guidance for what is mine to do to heal and help and bear witness in these challenging times.  I want to get back in a flow and stay in it.

Are you also hungry for a fresh start, for a new or reinvigorated rhythm that steadies and sustains you amidst all that is pressing in?  I invite you to join me and other seekers as we engage spiritual rhythms that help us live more mindfully and meaningfully.  Y’all, we need each other and we need More - that ever flowing Grace, unconditional Love, eternal Wisdom, Peace that passes understanding, that fills and renews us again and again and again.

I cannot wait to reconvene (masks and all when necessary) for our Tuesday night Contemplative Prayer Circles, starting LIVE tomorrow August 10, and VIRTUALLY on September 7.  I look forward to the End-of-Summer Sacred Pause retreat on Sunday afternoon, August 29.  I have a few spaces left in this year’s Women’s Spirituality Group, beginning mid- September, excited to pursue the theme A Monk in the World, how we balance our spiritual yearnings with the calls of our times.

AND new this year, I am super excited to offer a subscription option for those seekers who want a little bit of it all.  FLOW - Spiritual Rhythms for Soulful Living is a menu of spiritual practices and community gatherings curated for those who want to stay centered and nourished on a weekly basis.  In addition to the Contemplative Prayer Circles and Sacred Pause retreats, FLOW participants will receive a Soul Care basket, a complimentary spiritual direction session, discount on other Deep Waters offerings, and a special, brief Soul Tuning each Monday morning to help you start your week centered, connected and open.  We’ll also enjoy monthly meals together when it’s safe for all to return to indoor tables.

I hope you will check out the menu of soul nourishment here on the website.  Let me know if you have any questions.  And call or email me to sign up for the Contemplative Prayer Circle, Women’s Group, Sacred Pause Retreat or FLOW.  Let’s gather our fresh “life school” supplies, put these important soul-filling dates on our calendars, and recommit to the inner journey.   I would love to get back into rhythm and community with you!

Eagerly,

Kimberly