"Wow," according to author Annie Lamott, is our essential prayer for beauty and wonder. For me, the "Wow" prayer comes most often in nature: hiking, stargazing, breathing the ocean breeze. Hiding away at home, carrying worries, it’s been harder to pray "Wow" lately, but Professor James Zager’s recent Mindfulness Monday meditation called my heart back to one of my guaranteed "Wow" spaces.
The Muir Beach Overlook in California, pictured above, has always been a vacation spot for my soul, and it was a gift to revisit it in my mind, even though I was physically in a dark, quiet corner of my home.
This week, with the semester wrapping up behind us, give your soul a little vacation. Try to put yourself mentally (or maybe even physically) where you can experience the prayer of "Wow!"
Walk outside at sunset. Look at old vacation pictures. Let your imagination take you somewhere beautiful. Rediscover the wonder of this world and the light still shining around and within us. Embrace that sacred gift of beauty until you can’t help but pray, "Wow."