Not long ago, I was having a conversation with an astrologer I work with, and we were comparing notes about how we were doing in these times; what it was that was serving as a sacred and healthy foundation for staying steady in the midst of so much upheaval. So much fear. So much uncertainty.

He summed it all up in two words. Sanctuary Living. The phrase literally caught my breath. In the moment it felt like I had never heard anything so beautiful. So poignant. So hopeful. And so very, very needed. By all of us. Everywhere.

Sanctuary is defined as a consecrated place. As a place of refuge and protection. Living is defined as having life. Being full of vigor. True to life. When we put these two glorious words together they offer us us an image, a model, a possibility.

Can you imagine your life, your home, your schedule being imbued with the energy of consecration? A kind of refuge that honors what is true to the needs of your life. A protection placed on the value of your life, all of Life, that is filled with the vigor of respect.

On one level, it’s so basic. So obvious. On another level, it is so complicated and confusing. And yet, beneath it all, it is something we all yearn for. That being, a life where we feel valued. A life where our outer circumstances hold and nourish how sacred and precious we are.

What if we imagined ourselves and the lives we create as churches, temples, mosques, alters, sacred groves of trees, ancient hermitages? What things would we allow into our sacred space? What things would never be allowed in?

And what if more of us began to see ourselves and our lives through this lens?