Rev. Nancy Ballinger has lived in Morro Bay with her husband Ron Schow since 1993. As an educator and Marriage, Family and Child Therapist she taught internationally for 10 yrs. with Quest International, consulted with alcohol treatment programs, served as Children's Bereavement Counselor for Hospice of SLO and had a private practice until 2000.
In 1996 Nancy entered an interfaith seminary, and in 2000, graduated and was ordained. Since her ordination, ministry has been her full time work - offering counseling, classes, worship services, retreats, meditation, weddings, memorials, and more.
As the Spiritual Director and founding minister of AWAKENING Interfaith Spiritual Community in Morro Bay, she brings a rich background in Eastern and Western spirituality and philosophy, and an inspiring message of living an authentic life to one's fullest potential.
AWAKENING Interfaith Spiritual Community is located at 1130 Napa St. (old Morro Elementary)
Weekly meditation offered :
Mondays 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Sundays 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
ALL WELCOME
Mural & Peace Pole at Awakening
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Finding the Sacred in Everyday Life
Nancy Ballinger
"If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything."
Thich Nhat Hanh
The bedroom filled with candlelight and awe as the midwife skillfully attended to my precious first-born, Cassandra, who was giving birth. As my daughter labored through the night, I sat with her - as before an altar. There I witnessed in silent wonder, the miracle before me, as my grandson Ryan was born. After time with his exhausted parents, my daughter brought Ryan to me. Time stood still in that holy moment. Nothing else mattered, as I prayed "thank you" and rocked him in my arms until dawn.
Nine years later in another small house there were candles again burning through the night. This time it was our home, and the culmination of days of hard labor of another sort, as my husband Ron and I helped mid-wife our elderly Aunt Norma from this life. When we said our last good-bye to her, in a night suddenly filled with silence, there was nowhere to go, and nothing to do. All that was left was to be grateful and present to the sacredness of the moment.
When we visit a cemetery, we see rows of headstones with names and dates; the date we are born and the date we die. Between the two there is a dash - that represents our life. It symbolizes our first day at school, the summer we fell in love, the night we saw a shooting star, and the early morning we drew our last breath. When I look at a headstone I always wonder - were they present for their life, or just going through the motions?
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist teacher says: "If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything." In this regard, I find children and elders the best teachers and mirrors for me. They are so much more in tune with the sacredness and preciousness of life.
For example, one morning last spring, while sitting at the kitchen table with Aunt Norma, I realized she had a genuine relationship with the birds at the feeders and birdbath outside our window. She could identify which birds were new and even the feeder they preferred. I saw with some sadness how much of life I was missing right in my own front yard.
Then, several months later, I had a similar experience with my 9-year-old grandson, during an afternoon at the beach. Ryan showed me a whole new world in the tide pools, just beneath the surface of the water. Once again, I realized that I have missed this simple pleasure, always there and waiting for me to enjoy it.
Life is a magnificent gift, filled with such beauty and mystery. I don't want to miss one sacred moment in the short time I am here. I commit again and again to fully living the "dash" in my life, and paying attention like Mary Oliver writes about in this excerpt from her poem, "The Summer Day."
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
I close this month with this question and invitation to you…tell me, what is it YOU plan to do with YOUR one wild and precious life?
InterFaith Community Gathering
Celebrating Sabbath
Friday, October 16
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Come together in community to enjoy a time of gratitude, peace and quiet reflection. Learn about Sabbath as we join together in celebration for a dinner of soup, challah bread, grape juice and dessert. All welcome, however not appropriate for young children. Free will donation. For information or to RSVP, go to www.awakeninginterfaith.org |
