Maybe it’s because it’s so hot you feel like all the pores in your face are going to explode. Or the smell of wood and sweat and the sheer exhaustion of a good. hard. workout. Or because you are already nakey, so there is really nothing to keep hidden. Or maybe it’s the confining nature of the space-- a confessional, that lends itself easily to honesty and candor and self-disclosure.
Each weekday morning, after our workouts, K and I sit in the sauna for 15 minutes and chat. Before this moment, we only politely say good morning and move on to our workouts. I can only speak for myself to say that I am too grumpy and intense to talk during my hour workout. So, a pleasant good morning will hold me over until I get to the sauna.
We fill large paper cups with crushed ice, water and a splash of lemon concentrate to hydrate as we sit in the nearly unbearable heat. We talk about relationships with loves and friends, strangers and adversaries. We talk about faith and politics and a world gone mad. But mostly we remind each other of goodness and truth and gentleness.
K possesses a kindness that does not come natural to me. It is a kindness that I have to work hard at. Thankfully I have her to show me the way. My main form of communication growing up was detective work. Watch. Take mental notes. And never, ever ask direct questions. K has taught me the value of a well-placed, sweet question.
Did you have a good night’s sleep?
How was your day yesterday?
Anything interesting on your schedule today?
We learn a lot about each other through the answers to those questions. And we feel connected and remembered as we start off our days.
It was pleasantries like this we missed during those months when much of the world was locked down and isolated, cut off from human connection, the effects of which we are still feeling today.
We’ve dubbed this time “Sauna Talks” and joke we should create a podcast because who knows what we will end up talking about in those 15 minutes and truly if someone was taking notes, most of the world’s problems would be solved.
This sounds like a bold, arrogant, or even ridiculous thing to say, but the more I think about it, the more I think it is absolutely true.
What if we learned to be kind and gentle?
What tension and conflict and sin and evil would melt away in the face of goodness?
How can I take the good work the heat of the sauna does on my heart and spirit, out to the rest of the world?
This is absolutely beautiful! I continue to believe we make “church” too hard. This is church to me, two souls connecting, learning from each other and growing. I can’t deny, I love the fact that I’m this case spiritual nakedness is literally paired with physical nakedness, which is inevitably an incredibly vulnerable state.
Beautiful questions, I call them. I, too, am still learning and practicing asking those “well placed” questions. Thanks for reminding me to keep practicing.