Sacred Belonging~

​Lately, I have been sitting with the question:
Where can I arrive as I am and not disappear?
It is a simple question, yet it carries a lifetime of longing. And it takes a lot of honesty to contemplate.
Looking at the year so far, I have noticed something unfolding. The reflections I’ve written have naturally followed the same rhythm as the sections of Untucked. January echoed the spirit of Stillness Speaks, February mirrored The Courage to Rise, and now, as we step into March, I find myself leaning into the theme of the book’s third section: Sacred Belonging.
This wasn’t planned. But now that I see it, I feel called to follow it. If the rhythm continues, April will turn toward Nature Heals, which feels especially fitting as the earth begins to awaken again.
But for now, I find myself sitting with this deeper exploration of belonging, not belonging as fitting in, but belonging that grows from the sacred relationship we cultivate with the God of our understanding, the presence that lives within us and within all beings.
For much of my life, belonging meant molding myself to fit. Like many of us, I tucked parts of myself away, sometimes consciously, sometimes without realizing it, because the human longing to belong is powerful.
Unfortunately, in doing so, I slowly moved further away from my true self. And when I drifted from my true self, I also drifted from the sacred connection I have with God.
What is being spoken to me now is something both simple and profound:
I have a responsibility. I have been given one body and one soul to care for. When I step back and honestly reflect on how I have lived at times, I can see the many ways I allowed myself to move away from where I truly belong just to fit in.
So a deeper question comes to mind: Where can I arrive as I am without disappearing?
Over the past few years, I have spent more time in real solitude. In that quiet space, I have discovered something sacred waiting there.
In solitude, there is nothing to prove.
There is no label to carry.
There is only presence.
In that stillness, I meet God.
And in that same stillness, I begin to meet my truest self again.
Henri Nouwen writes that solitude must come before community. Because if we have not learned to sit comfortably with ourselves, we often enter community looking for validation, reassurance, or a role that proves we matter. Without realizing it, we begin asking others to fill a space within us.
Take a moment to reflect on the “rooms” that you enter. Do you notice when people feel the need to be the loudest voice, the fixer, the doer, the one who takes charge? Is that person you?
Sometimes we step forward quickly because being needed feels like belonging. We fill the silence with activity, leadership, or responsibility, hoping it will quiet the deeper question within us. Do I belong?
I know this pattern because I have lived it.
As I have slowly untucked myself, it has become clear that striving to be needed is not the same as belonging. True belonging does not require us to perform a role or prove our worth. It asks something much quieter of us: the courage to simply arrive as we are.
Only then can we step into a relationship without disappearing inside it.
Sacred Belonging asks of us:
Where can I arrive as I am and not disappear?
And just as importantly:
How can I offer others that same sacred space?
I invite you to take a few quiet moments today and return to the question:
Where in my life do I feel most able to arrive as I am, without disappearing?
Notice what comes to mind.
Notice where your spirit softens.
Notice where you feel at home.
Sacred belonging rarely begins in the crowd.
It begins in the quiet places where we remember who we are and discover that God has been there all along.
Peace be with you,
J~