Do you have to go to Machu Picchu to stand in awe of the beauty and power of God? No. But there are certain places in the world that not only shout in your face but invade your whole being; so that you become one with all that is there. And words cannot be expressed, only tears and laughter in light of the fullness and grandeur of the Divine. These places are sacred. Machu Picchu is one of these places. And in a certain way you (or at least I did) have a certain expectation that it will be this way, in places marked and known for their power and beauty. But this same power, the experience of the beauty and glory of God, is waiting to suprise you in the seemingly everyday ordinary, if you look deeply enough and listen intently enough. It is there waiting to capture and invade you in the same way in a beautiful flower, a smile, a child's laughter, a beautiful melody, a star filled sky, the hand of a friend, a kiss from the one you love, or a random act of kindness of a stranger. It is there in the story of a woman who survives each day, or the sweaty and dirty campesino who cultivates the earth, or hidden in the wrinkles of skin that map their own personal history of the struggles and joys of being human. Sacred, beauty-filled places, like Machu Picchu and Plum Village, are here present in every breath, if we are mindful.
In gratitude for the sacred and beautiful, large and small, world famous and unknown, always present with me and you in this moment.