This post was supposed to be yesterday’s—apologies, as I’m still rather gradually coming out of a long hibernation due to too many commitments—but as promised, I’m including below a meditation on holy space from saint and sinner Michael, who has bravely shared two of his holiest moments with us. I hope they’ll be as much a gift to you as they were for me. (Consider sharing one of your holy moments and sending it along to kristinarobbdover@gmail.com. I’ll republish it on Fridays/Saturdays between now and when this series wraps up before the end of the year.)

The first moment is an experience in Afghanistan which Michael shares in his book. Here is the excerpt in italics followed by Michael in his own words:

A couple of months later, we made another trip to the orphanage. And as we had done previously, we stopped by the same refugee camp. This time, however, I hadn’t brought my camera. Since there were already enough people unloading the vehicle, I was just standing around, watching the children and talking with them when a young girl, perhaps seven years of age1, came up to me, holding her infant sister, who was naked—not even a blanket. The young child/caregiver looked at me as though she was evaluating my character, then smiled once she seemed satisfied with her analysis, and handed the baby to me. For the next fifteen minutes, this little newborn, who wasn’t more than a month old, lay in my arms with her head cradled on my shoulder and slept, while I gently rocked her back and forth.

 As I thought about that moment in the days, months and years following I realized that I had received a tremendous privilege in sharing God’s love. But then Matt 25:40 came to mind and I realized—in a very real sense—I had been holding Christ. I still pray for her.

Then, regarding Michael’s second moment…

The second moment I captured for all time early one morning while in Jasper, Alberta, Canada…A dear friend, Lois, lost her husband, Joe, about 10 years ago—a heart attack. He was a very successful artist who worked with watercolors. Adirondack chairs were often included in his paintings. So when I captured this moment I thought of Joe and gave a large print of the photo to Lois in honor of him.