Mark Nepo wrote in The Book Of Awakening that anything that grows between our hearts and the day is spiritual.

It could be Zinnia pouncing on a rubber ball or licking an elderly woman, or it might be a resident at the Mansion walking in her warm slippers, or a hawk crying out in the sky, or mist on a hill, or a refugee child showing off the winter boots that will keep her warm.

It could also be the bray of a donkey, the kiss of my lover, the sun lighting up the hills across the plains, the happy bray of a donkey, the sight of a newborn lamb, the sky after a bruising storm, a border collie moving a flock of sheep.

Parker Palmer wrote that spiritual life is about becoming more at home in your skin. “The spiritual life is, first of all, a life,” wrote Thomas Merton. “It is not something to be known and studied; it is to be lived.”

I love Thomas Merton, but this quote irritated me a bit.

Merton was a hermit and a monk who lived in an abbey.  Other people grew and cooked and bought his food.

The spiritual life was his life; he didn’t have to deal with much of life from his cottage, he didn’t have to pay his bills or keep up a house, work on his marriage or get his car serviced every couple of months (mine is due tomorrow.)

Still, I do know what he means.

There is truth to it.

At some times, in some ways, I do have to live it for it to be real, something more than a dream. Perhaps this is why I value Bishop Maginn High School and The Mansion so much. I feel so close to God when I go to those places.

I seek a spiritual life, and sometimes I even have one, and I am grateful for that. I get in as much of it as I can.

Palmer, an author, and activist wrote that the aim of all spiritual paths, no matter their origins or the rigors of their practice, is to help us live more fully in the lives we are given.

In this way, whatever comes from a moment’s grace that joins us to our lives and each other – this is spiritual.

I can say with humility that my life is more spiritual than ever before. I often feel I am getting closer; I never think I am there.

I am living my life more fully in the life that I have and have been given. But this work is not ever done, and if I take my eyes off the path for even a few minutes, I have to go way back to where I stumbled and start again. Sometimes it makes me dizzy.

That part is like training a dog. If they don’t stay, they have to back in the original spot and stay again. And again.

Training a dog is a piece of cake compared to teaching someone as complicated and willful as me.

I met a friend for lunch today, a prized and remarkable writing student, and now a good friend,  he has unleashed a creative storm on his blog and in his writing for some years, and he came to me for some inspiration and guidance. He has fallen off the creative path, distracted by life and obligation, and wants to get back on.

It was comfortable talking to him, as he is one of the most creative people I have ever known. People like that don’t need much of a push; it’s all inside of them. They have to create.

I told him in no fuzzy terms that he had to create; it would eat him alive if he didn’t. I didn’t want to hear all of his excuses and rationalizations. Life is always difficult and demanding; the creative spark is still hungry, always ready.

Tonight, he e-mailed me:

“I thought about your words of wisdom and encouragement the entire ride home. I think it may be time to sort out a couple of dozen pieces that might work for a simple publication. I will touch base in a week or two for some more advice on  how to proceed.”

This was a moment of grace that joined me to my own life and another -this was spiritual. So was walking in the woods with Zinnia and sitting quietly at a dinner I cooked for Maria, who came back from her belly dancing class proud and tired and full of excitement.

Every class is a spiritual moment for her, every dance just as every blog post and photo is a spiritual moment for me.

So it’s the moments I look for and honor now, they are the bricks on the spiritual path that hold it together. The life of the spirit is everywhere; in the dark waiting for the light, in music waiting to be heard, in the experiences of the day waiting to be felt.

Being spiritual is complicated, but more natural, more useful, and immediate that all of those books and words of wisdom I have read would have me think.