The Wild.
The title of the document typed up in Google Drive read, in all caps, “FUTURE PLANNING/DREAMING”.
Self-descriptive, the document held within it ideas of what Wild Sanctuary could become. Headings to clarify our messaging of ‘who we are’, ‘what we do’, and ‘why we do it’, flowed from the top of the page until two headings appeared— ‘DESIRES’ and ‘BIG DREAMING’.
Desires and Dreaming Big…
Desires were the more attainable, easy to envision parts of Wild Sanctuary that could come to fruition with seamless integration; spiritual direction being offered during the longer retreats for anyone who was interested, smaller community-focused gatherings, adding a donation/giving element to the retreats. The big dreams though, those were the ideas that cause a leap in your spirit because they just feel so big, so grand, that only God could plant them there and bring them to life; multi-day retreats in beautiful places like Portugal and Greece, hosting full groups (like a women’s group from a church) where we tailor retreats specifically for their themes and needs and desires, fully sponsored retreats so we can host ones for vulnerable communities, and an annual overnight retreat that becomes our signature offering that we turn from one night to two or even three nights!
Following the Stirring…
The stirring for an overnight retreat was big in both mine and Kimee’s hearts.
It was possible.
We were both dreaming of it.
And now that we had a name, we knew it could become our ‘signature offering’— a retreat, held the same timeframe annually, where a rooted theme allows people to come back year after year with familiarity, yet expectant for God to show up in beautiful and unique ways. Like the spiritual practice of the Prayer of Repetition, where you return to the same passage again, not to relive the same experience in prayer you first had, but to invite the Spirit afresh into the passage to uncover what else is there for you, a signature retreat offers a similar theme and structure, while allowing the comfortable rhythm to invite you into a space of deeper exploration, deeper connection, and deeper rhythm with the Spirit.
A calendar date set in autumn, where the sunlight has painted the leaves of the trees in their autumnal shades and the air feels crisp with each inhale, in same sacred space where we held our first retreat in 2024, Wild Sanctuary is the planted seed of the big dream God placed within us.
“You were made wild”…
“You were made wild.”, the devotional says, “The wildness in us—the desire to know God, to be free, to seek love and do the unbelievably risky thing of sharing love—is as foundational as breathing, because it is the very breath of God in us that has oxygenated us from the beginning.” (Ref: Genesis 1). Day one of the devotional called “God Didn’t Make Us To Hate Us” by Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail featured these words and they resonated.
The wild.
The wild within.
The wildness of God.
As Kimee and I sat on the porch at an AirBNB, I wrote in my journal…
“God, thank you for this beautiful space to be in→ to rest in and dream in, organize in and settle into. God, I’m drawn to the wild spaces. To the bushes of flowers with their branches poking out, unkept; to the long grasses that wave in the wind like water, to the trees with their greening vines that climb up their trunks, uniting the green below with the green above. To the fireflies and butterflies and moths and stars. This wildness of space speaks to me. It’s less surrounded by thick trees on all sides, towering above, and more enchantment of open wild spaces of the clearing and their wild nature that shows the smallest breeze as shapesifting. God, the open wild spaces remind me of You. Your Spirit, the soft and smooth whisper of it all.”
Drawn to the wild…
As I’ve let ‘the wild’ linger, I’ve been drawn to the wild in these ways:
The wild within us:
The breath of God, the Spirit, that animates, and enlivens us to live in ways that cultivate an outpouring of Love into the world, and open us up to meet authentically with God, with courage and without performance, to share our inner landscape with our Creator.
The scientifically proven fact that we are truly made of stardust; that the same elements that form the stars that are exploding and cascading their remnants through the vastness of space are the same elements contained in our blood and bone, that the stardust that falls lands on our planet and infuses our soil, our vegetables, our breath (if this topic interests you, “Star Struck - seeing the creator in the wonders of our cosmos” by Dr. David Bradstreet and Steve Rabey is a recommended read.)
The wildness of God:
The Spirit that hovers, breathes, moves, and guides us; uncontainable, alive, vast, and undeniable. We can say the words “God is sanctuary for our whole selves”, and yet the beautiful mystery of God is that words will always fail to fully describe who God is. That the phrase ‘this is so wild, this is so sacred’ feels to so perfectly describe our God who is both uncontainable, yet closer-than-our-breath.
God is Wild…
God is wild.
God created the stars and the butterflies, the grass and rocks and the droplets of water that cycle through to be in the clouds at one moment and then in the oceans at the next. God created tears that release chemicals to promote feelings of well-being, social connection, and reduce stress. God that created lava that flows from volcanos also created flowers that bloom from cracks in cement and hummingbird moths. Our creative God cannot be tamed—our God is one who is inviting us deeper at every moment, inviting us to experience a way of living with God that’s more expansive and wonderful than we could have imagined. If the intricacies of creation doesn’t make you stand back and go ‘God is so wild in the best way’, I don’t know what will. It’s this stirring of awe that invites us into loving transformation with Christ.
Creation, Within, and Every Day Living…
As we laid out the outline for our signature retreat, yoga under the stars was an absolute must as another ‘dream’ offering. My favourite passage of scripture since I was a child has been Psalm 8. Speaking of the bigness of creation, of God placing the stars and moon in place, yet caring for us humans with such tender delight and care. The wild, holy sanctuary of God can be found in the vastness of creation when we surrender to embrace the unknown and trust in God’s goodness.
The wild, holy sanctuary of God can also be found within– the Spirit living within us, our bodies as temples of the Spirit, spending time with God and allowing God to form us ever so lovingly into who God made us to be before we took on the messages of the world telling us to be someone else.
The wild, holy sanctuary of God can also be found in our everyday living— in the Fruit of the Spirit we are cultivating, in the way we choose to show up and express God’s Love, in the ways we can live moment by moment in the sanctuary that is God's heart. It can be found in how we receive and accept kindness, compassion, and care from others, allowing them to express God’s love to us.
The Wild Sanctuary is infused in every cell, in every atom, in every inhale and every exhale. It is restoration and intention. It is laughter and play. It is resting. It is being.
Retreat With Us…
Our first overnight retreat will be one to remember, and I am so very much looking forward to sharing this time with you where we lean into the values of Wild Sanctuary Retreats and hold space for you to be nourished by our Loving Creator. Please, join us.
Xo, Aelea
