A couple weeks back, I was on a short quest to find a book of profound substance at the used book store. I wanted something that would change my way of thinking and challenge everything I’ve known… I didn’t quite find that, but I’ll tell you what I did find.
Everyday Sacred: A Woman’s Journey Home by Sue Bender.
This book, published in 1995, combines thoughts, stories, ideas and hopes that all center around one concept, a begging bowl. Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “what’s a begging bowl?”
In my 27 years of attending a church regularly, this concept was never shared, and probably never will. My guess is because the idea is somewhat uncomfortable, but mostly because it describes the practices of a group of monks. Sue told the story best, so I’ll let her tell it to you.
“EVERYDAY SACRED appeared one day in my mind’s eye, in sure, bold letters, like one of those blinking restaurant signs. I didn’t even know what everyday sacred meant, but I knew it would be the title of my next book.
Two years went by and I didn’t write a word.
Than on a day when I was feeling particularly discouraged, another clear image appeared:
A BEGGING BOWL
Actually, it reappeared.
I had read M. C. Richard’s Centering years before. It was a book about clay and art and life. In it, Richards described Jean Genet, a French playwright, who had said he wanted to roam the countryside like a monk, holding a begging bowl, having filled it with what he needed for the nourishment in his life.
EVERYDAY SACRED and now the BEGGING BOWL.
It was obvious to all who knew me that I wasn’t a monk, and the very idea of begging would make most of us uncomfortable. In spite of that, the image of a begging bowl reached out and grabbed my heart.
The image of the bowl became the image of the book.
All I knew about a begging bowl was that each day a monk goes out with his empty bowl in his hands. Whatever is placed in the bowl will be his nourishment for the day.
I didn’t know whether I was the monk or the bowl or the things that would fill the bowl, or all three, but I trusted the words and the image completely.
At that moment I felt most like the empty bowl, waiting to be filled.”
Excerpt from Everyday Sacred, by Sue Bender. HarperSanFrancisco An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 1995.
As an artist, and a woman, this concept of filling your begging bowl has really hit home with me. Sue mentions that she doesn’t know whether she’s the monk the bowl or the things that fill the bowl, and then leans toward being the empty bowl.
I didn’t see it that way. I feel more like the monk, and the bowl is my everyday life.
Yes, these two ideas are similar, but they are also very different. Sue strives to find herself by filling herself up, like the bowl. I feel like I’m already filled. My faith fills me and gives me hope and peace. Even though days are rough, I know this to be true.
My challenge now, is to accept that I have no control over what’s placed in my bowl everyday, and to be grateful for what is. As the monk, I realize my situation of choice, and now I’m learning to let go of controlling what’s placed in my bowl.
