Turn and Face the Sun
Shabrae Jackson is an expressive arts facilitator and educator. She is the founder of Collective Tapestry and co-founder of UMBRAL, leveraging arts-based approaches to foster healing, belonging, and social change. What we admire most about Shabrae is her deep trauma-informed perspective, which reflects her exceptional self-awareness, mindfulness, and care. We are honored to have her on the BLK South Board of Advisors. Learn More
I have only physically seen prairie dogs once in my life. Many years ago as I was completing my master’s studies I attended an intensive course away from home and saw them in the wild. They were all in what looked like a community gathering, standing on their hind legs and peering out in the same direction. Shocked by what I was seeing, I too had to pause to see what they were looking at. But it turns out that they were facing the rising sun.
Later I learned that others have observed this and claim that it is a daily practice for prairie dogs to pause to face the sunrise and the sunset. There is no specific scientific research that explicitly states why they practice facing the sun but there are a few different theories stating that the sun helps to warm up their bodies and regulates their body temperature.
The prairie dogs facing the sun is an image that returns to me from time to time, a reminder to turn towards the sun literally and metaphorically, to look out for “sun” in my day to day living. To look and see that which brings life.
In the midst of the hustle that is this season, I am reminded to see and not simply look. Or perhaps to look again. To slow down to take in the mystery of each day, to be in awe of my own humanity and that of others. To face the sun as the prairie dogs and pause to take in beauty and delight. As spoken in certain places, we often need fresh eyes to see the ordinary in such a way that the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
As we move towards the end of this calendar year, may we pay attention to the call to notice God’s presence and to reflect on how this very moment is shaping us collectively. Justice also requires the imagination. So pause and turn toward the sun, and see the sacred in the ordinary.
Reflection Questions:
In our ordinary days how might we attune to the extraordinary?
As we continue in this advent season of waiting, how does our way of seeing invite us to be present to our community in new ways?
R E C O M M E N D E D R E A D I N G
