I was reading a children’s book not long ago and stumbled upon this line: Where you want to be is where you belong. I had to stop and read it again. Tears welled up. Right there in bright blue typeset was an answer I’d been searching for and praying over for months, arguably even years. Something deep inside of me shifted, and my heart understood.
It was the most ordinary moment: just me and my son and a much-too-early start to our day. Yet, I knew the sacred was right there too. I don’t know everything there is to know about God, but I believe that we can find the divine in everything and everyone, in any place and any moment.
That is what Godisbig.us is all about: Finding the sacred in our everyday lives—and letting the sacred find us too.
Which is exactly how I got here. My career started in education in 1991: first as a teacher, then a reading specialist, and ultimately a school turnaround leader. For over twenty years I coached principals, teachers, and district leaders to transform underperforming schools. It was deeply spiritual work—helping people see they were more than who they thought they were. And, the children and communities they served were that much more too.
Along that path, the sacred surprised me. A bunch of kindergarteners (whose teachers and principal I coached) brought one of my oldest and deepest desires back to me: writing. My first book, A Recipe for Hope: Stories of Transformation by People Experiencing Homelessness, was published in 2006.
Spiritual direction found me soon after. Motherhood reclaimed me. And, speaking publicly energized me. The combination of all four has become deeply life-giving.
Stories are my currency. My flow. My way of bringing the sacred into the light. Godisbig.us is where I want to be and where I belong. My hope is you will feel the same.
Karen Skalitzky is a speaker, writer, and spiritual director. A former educator, she has over twenty years of experience transforming underperforming schools into the kind of schools all children deserve. She believes we can find the sacred in everything and everyone, in any moment and any place. Her first book, A Recipe for Hope: Stories of Transformation by People Experiencing Homelessness, was featured on WGN-TV. Her essays have appeared in U.S.Catholic, Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, and Northwestern Magazine. A graduate of Northwestern University, Karen lives in Chicago with her son. Her monthly column, GodisBig Reflections, is read across the country.
Selected GodisBig Reflections
Unstoppable: A Reflection on Prayer
I have a thing for red flowers. Not roses, necessarily, but more everyday kinds of flowers: red geraniums, red tulips, red salvia. This summer I potted a red begonia on my front porch. Nestled in between the door and my favorite porch chair, I couldn’t help but see it every day. It bloomed all summer long. It’s still blooming now, and it’s November. I have no idea why. I call it my God plant.
Listening: How stories show us the presence of God
His mom was once homeless, but you would never know. In a blue Superman t-shirt with a tiny red cape Velcro-ed to his shoulders, he races back and forth across the lecture hall, tirelessly, his giggle trailing behind him. The wonder in his two-year old eyes is contagious.
Continue Reading Listening: How stories show us the presence of God
New Births: Waiting in anticipation
“Wait for it,” was what that voice deep inside of me said. “Just wait for it.” I was sitting with my ten-year old nephew at a Chicago Bulls game some time ago. I’d gotten the tickets for free and was feeling like the super-cool aunt when I offered to take him with me. He was…