Sharing my 'Today's Ministry...' posts on Instagram has been enlightening...
As I ponder at the end of each day where I showed up to minister... to serve...
...sometimes its obvious and its in my work... supporting women through my work at Women's Aid; holding meditation groups, women's circles; Spiritual Counselling or Havening sessions; creating and holding ceremonial workshops and ceremonies.
...other times its tangible and has 'results'... such as creating art in remembrance of those persecuted as witches or my for-the-love-of-the-earth craftivism pieces for the 1.5 mile long scarf which will be taken to COP26; even growing and harvesting fruits & veggies, making cordial, jam and chutney.
...and often its not obvious, work related or tangible... and then I often wonder if it IS ministry and is it for anyone other than me? The lines become blurred between what is my ministry in the world and what is ministering to myself!
As I've been on holiday this week, most of my ministry posts have been about appreciating and having gratitude for... nature, friends, art, exploring, autumn, mushrooms, the sea, hills, sunrises, standing stones.
Which left me questioning... am I ministering to them? Or are they ministering to me?
What I'm realising is... both!
In all cases... in whatever ways I serve the world... the world serves me...
In Spiritual Counselling, the clients that show up often mirror my deepest wounds... working together on their healing often also contributes to my healing as a kind of by-product!
When I appreciate the mushrooms, the mushrooms bring me joy... and sometimes dinner!
When I express my love for the sea by swimming, the sea expresses its love for me by holding me, by resetting my nervous system, by grounding me.
When I create art in memory or as craftivism I receive the joy of creating, the connection of honouring those women from the past, the hope of visioning a different future from the one we're heading into and of contributing to something bigger.
When I minister by creating ceremony at the standing stones, calling on the directions, the elements, the ancestors... the ancestors speak their wisdom to me... they tell me to minister by loving, by dancing on the earth, by singing, by creating, by appreciating the beauty.
When I appreciate the gorgeousness of the autumn colours, I see beauty everywhere I look.
When I open myself... my senses... my heart... to gift to the world... the world gifts back to me!
Everytime I intend to be a blessing... I am blessed!
Yesterday as I reflected on it, I thought of a quote by Susan Scott 'every conversation is with myself and sometimes with others'... and thought how 'ministry is always with myself and sometimes with others'!
It reminded me that my ministry is that which I am called to. Those I serve are the ones who find me... the ones called to me. I sometimes think I should be more 'out there'. I see my sister ministers holding lots of marriage ceremonies or baby blessings and think I should be doing that too. But on a deeper level I know if its not coming to me at the moment, it's not meant for me right now! Of course by the same token, it IS meant for them!
And so, as you read, if your intuition is calling you to work with me... maybe we have some shared healing work... through spiritual counselling or havening or ceremony or circle...
Want to work together?
I believe that each time we commit to our own healing and choose to do the work, we're healing not only ourselves, but the collective conscious... and if we're contributing to healing the collective conscious we're contributing to the healing all of humanity!
#ministry #blessing #reciprocal #healing #mirror #nature #art #beauty #appreciation #gratitude #humanity #earth