Finding a Place where Beauty and Justice meet
A Huddle of Hosts: Introducing Steph Ebert
Hi I’m Debbie, a spiritual director, writer and mother based in Glasgow. I offer stories, ponderings and gentle invitations to share a moment with your soul.
The work of soul care and creativity can be a solo task, and I thought it was time to invite some friends over. So here we’ll have regular guest posts from other hosts of soul spaces. A Huddle of Hosts, to pen a collective noun. I have invited spiritual directors and other creative space holders to answer the same three questions. They are all delightful human beings who hold sacred space and offer beautiful invitations into the world and I’m delighted for you to meet them!
Allow me to introduce you to my friend Steph Ebert. It is wonderful connections like this that redeem social media for me. We’ve never met in person (although we have dreams), and initially connected in a Book Launch1 team as fellow South Africa dwellers. Steph writes on Just Beautiful about making space for places where beauty and justice meet. Her writing often makes me laugh and always makes me think.
Steph lives in South Africa with her husband and two boys on 3 acres called Windhover. She writes children's books, but gets paid to do digital communications, and loves looking for places where beauty and justice meet.
What ordinary moment has recently warmed your soul?
We have been extraordinarily lucky to have some family visiting us in South Africa for an extended season. Seeing the absolute joy of the kids having "cousin time" and getting to show off their favorite things about where we live (or have tickle tag), or getting to have extra tea time with my niece has been so much fun -- perhaps even more precious because we know it is not forever. It is interesting that if they lived right down the road we would take these moments for granted. It has made me think about other things that I am taking for granted, and to try and enjoy those gifts richly, too!
How do you find space for your soul in your current season?
With children it feels like the seasons change so quickly! Right as I am getting a routine or the hang of things, it will all shift again. It is difficult to think about how to find space for my own soul while also trying to hold space for my children, and the many people in and out of our lives at Windhover. On the other hand, I'm also very much a forward planner -- I'm always thinking about "what's next!" and my temptation can be to look ahead to what is coming instead of looking down at where I am right now.
In this season of life, the things that are working for me are: a chronological plan for reading through the Bible, with zero pressure. I'm not trying to deeply reflect on anything. I'm not trying to get anything profound. I'm just trying to read my three chapters before the kids wake up! That's totally doable for me.
I always enjoy finding pockets of reflection other ways: Pray as You Go podcast on a walk, for example. My weekly walk with some friends after we drop off our kids to unload and hear how everyone is doing is also great! And making time to write - writing is probably the main way I stop long enough to process life, and reflect on God's spirit at work.
How do you hold soul space for others?
What a hard question, since it feels as though holding space for others is a calling, yet a place that I'm constantly questioning (am I doing this right? is this enough?).
My husband and I have a vision for Windhover, the 3 acre property that we live on, to be a place where beauty and justice meet. A place of community and hospitality, both for our own children, and for the broader "family" that God brings across our paths. Especially in South Africa which is so economically and racially divided, we want to think about how to welcome all people together. So we host a weekly inter-cultural small group that is trying to read the Bible and do life together. We are responsible for working together with everyone who lives on our property (last I counted, there are 12 of us now!) to try and make this piece of land hospitable and welcoming. That means a lot of physical labour outside reclaiming some of the "jungle" we've inherited (this property was quite overgrown when we arrived!), and eating lunch together.
This past year it has looked like leaning more into liturgical living with our family - trying to find ways to invite our kids (as well as our neighbours) into understanding the big story of God's kingdom and redemption. Meredith Hinds who writes a lot about liturgical living wrote a recipe for a party which is basically - sing, pray, light something on fire, eat -- and we follow that recipe pretty closely! It has been fun to invite friends and neighbours to 12th night Christmas bonfires, pancakes before Lent, or carving butternut squash on All Hallow's Eve.
My friend Amy and I have also hosted a mini conference on faith and the arts called MiniMoot for the past two years. That has been such a joyful event - making a space for people to share their vocational talents with others, and connect around the beauty in the world. This year we won't be hosting a big event, but hoping to host many smaller events, and I'm excited for that more intimate approach.
Thanks Steph for sharing, and I for one would love an online MiniMoot so I can join too! Here’s to nourishing spaces of community, creativity and hospitality in a divided world.
With love,
Debbie
For Sarah Bessey’s book Out of Sorts back in 2015. Sarah has a new book Field Notes for the Wilderness coming out on February 20th which I can’t wait to read.
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