I am back from our Fire & Water retreat. I am exhausted and full. We say Fire and Water is about cultivating wise, soulful leaders and that’s what we did. I often say that I am obedient and I keep my promises to spirit and in these moments of witness I get to experience how spirits keeps its promises to me.
I see sprint in the person who spoke about our space feeling like church. I was brought to tears when someone spoke that for the first time they didn’t feel anxiety and knew that they were enough. I saw spirit in the tears that ran down the face of someone who was being stretched by sitting and receiving gratitudes. Or witnessing spirit as two women embraced and pledged to each other to have the other’s back.
All these things are what Fire & Water are to me. People ask often what Fire and Water is and I can tell them that it’s a 16 month Leadership/Rites of Passage Journey but after this week I am reminded just how inadequate words are when you are trying to describe a change in spirit, a rewiring of who you are and who you want to be in the future.
I feel so blessed to be co-hosting this journey with Tenneson Woolf. I often say that we think a lot alike in very different ways. Our strengths and weaknesses compliment each other and our deep friendships hold us through the times when we are in the middle of the fire together. He brings just the right amount of transparency, humor, and heart. I love him for that.
Fire & Water is a lot to hold. It’s a lot for the participants to lean into, it requires trust, courage, and deep heart. I bow to all of you brave enough to say yes. You inspire me.
Quanita