Leap of Faith

A day like today is a gift, and I'm sure you all know why. Every four years we get an extra day with which to make what we will. Some will take no notice of that 24 hour bonus and others will do something special. Today I decided to take a walk in a different part of the woods at a different time of the day. The morning was dazzling and cheery. Small branches twinkled with frost and be-jeweled snowflakes winked without caution. This was a road more trodden, although thankfully we didn't see a single vehicle during our walk. All was calm, all was bright.

This part of the road is host to a quiet sanctuary tucked into the cascading Canadian Shield. It's a place I'd been meaning to go for awhile, although the heavy snow had kept me away. Today, on this most "extra"-ordinary day, I decided to wade through the knee deep stuff and see what the place feels like close up.

 

Birch pillars lend this cathedral a stately feeling; their shadows stripe a floor that has been repeatedly whitewashed since November. Only a very few parishioners happen upon this place during the cold months, and those who do are rewarded with a unique feeling of reverence.

This is a religious place; a Catholic place more specifically, but for its birch tree pillars and snow-white banners it is also a spiritual place in a more natural sense. Worship is not reserved merely for a Virgin Mother and her saintly offspring; here too we can revel in the sun, the snow and the sky.

A pulpit or a communion table? Difficult to say, but either way there is a ceremony observed here. Up Here in Northern Saskatchewan the world is largely Cree and Metis. It's inhabitants are spiritual naturalists by ancestry, although some have parted with that heritage in favour of a God-centred faith. Many would criticize this and give it terminology. Christianization. Despite Christianity's dark history in The North, a fair number of those Native to This Land have embraced it as their defining creed.

 

The cross is a symbol rife with pain and sacrifice whether or not you consider yourself part of The Flock. All related to this most simple emblem: crucifixion, a crown of thorns, documented abuse and residential schools. All with the intent to purify through punishment...surely misguided attempts, but part of Our Human History nonetheless.

Funny how a few beads make this coniferous tree seem more divine. The string seems clutched around the small trunk as though as a sapling it had to say a few prayers during its ascent towards the sky.

This pew has been subjected to everything the weather has to throw at it Up Here in The North. Stoically it persists, waiting until the moment that it may be called to use. It'll have to wait awhile before that much snow can melt from its wooden seat.

Could DaVinci himself have painted a more beautiful ceiling than the natural sky? No clouds today, just the most pristine colour of blue to outline the spindly, heaven-reaching fingers of the birch and the spruce, also children of God.

 

An extra day to be alive. 

Not really, of course, but what better reason to seize the day! 

And O, was it a beautiful day!