Everyday Sacred

by Sue Bender

Her struggle is one keenly felt in today's intensely pressured and time-starved world: how can we experience our lives fully in whatever we are doing at the moment—whether cleaning the kitchen, faced with a situation that frustrates us, or momentarily exhilarated by some new fortune that's befallen us. Inspired by the image of the empty 'begging bowl' that Zen monks would start each day with to solicit enough food to nourish and sustain them, Bender discovers for herself—and shows us in the process—how to find that which is 'just enough' to fill our lives each day. The lessons along Bender's path of 'doubt and hope' reveal that each step is a place to learn and that 'we can seek the sacred everywhere—in our homes, in our daily activities, and hardest to see, in ourselves'.