Umma of Inanna Monthly Advisory

The Scenic Route

An Advisory from INK-Spirit Female Spiritual Life Coaching

Greetings from our Little Steeple community.

As many of you know, we are currently in the middle of relocating our Little Steeple and Chapel. During this transition, our physical gathering space may be changing, but our commitment to spiritual support remains unchanged. For now, our services continue online, where we can still gather, reflect, encourage one another, and remember that community is not built by walls—it is built by people.

This month, I have been thinking about journeys.

Not the journeys we planned, but the ones we actually lived.

Many of us were told life would follow a certain path. Work hard. Be kind. Do your best. Things will work out. Yet somewhere along the way, life introduced us to detours, roadblocks, losses, unexpected responsibilities, and challenges we never saw coming.

The truth is, many of us didn't just take the long way around.

We took the scenic route.

We saw more.

We experienced more.

We were forced to stop and smell the roses because life itself put us on pause.

Some of us learned lessons that could never be taught in a classroom. Some of us witnessed things that changed us forever. Some of us found ourselves walking paths nobody in our family had ever walked before.

As daughters, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, friends, and caretakers, many of us learned a different kind of wisdom—the wisdom that comes from experience rather than instruction.

We learned magic.

Not the magic of fantasy.

The magic of watching a garden grow from a seed.

The magic of surviving a year we thought would break us.

The magic of comforting another person when our own heart was hurting.

The magic of creating beauty from hardship.

The magic of finding laughter after grief.

The magic of beginning again.

The ancient women understood this kind of magic. In the traditions of Inanna, growth was never viewed as a straight line. Life moved through cycles—birth and death, planting and harvest, loss and renewal. Every season had meaning.

And perhaps that is something we need to remember right now.

We live in a time of rising prices, uncertainty, conflict, and constant change.

Many people are worried.

Many are tired.

Many are wondering if things will ever settle down.

But the Earth continues her teachings.

The sun still rises.

The seasons still turn.

Seeds still break open in darkness before they bloom.

The old wisdom remains available to us.

One lesson I have learned is this:

When life becomes difficult, stop measuring yourself by what you have accumulated and start measuring yourself by what you have survived.

If you made it to twenty, you achieved something.

If you made it to thirty, you achieved something.

Forty.

Fifty.

Sixty.

Seventy and beyond.

You have achieved greatness today.

Not because life handed you victories.

Because you stayed.

Because you endured.

Because you adapted.

Because you found a way through.

There is a tendency in modern culture to celebrate only the finish line. The promotion. The house. The award. The retirement account.

Yet the Matriarchal traditions have always understood something different.

Survival itself is an achievement.

Raising children.

Caring for elders.

Recovering from heartbreak.

Living through economic hardship.

Finding meaning after loss.

These are sacred accomplishments.

Many of us have seen far too much death and not enough new life.

We have attended too many funerals and not enough baby showers.

We have watched people leave this world while wondering what comes next for ourselves.

Yet if you are reading this today, there is still life asking something of you.

There is still beauty waiting to be noticed.

There is still wisdom waiting to be shared.

There is still a flower somewhere preparing to bloom.

One of the teachings often associated with Eastern philosophy is that even in times of war, a flower still blooms.

Some people hear that and think it is simply a beautiful saying.

But it is more than that.

It is an observation.

A truth.

A fact of life itself.

Conflict may exist.

Hardship may exist.

Fear may exist.

Yet somewhere, at the same time, life is continuing.

Birds are building nests.

Children are laughing.

Gardens are growing.

Artists are creating.

People are falling in love.

Communities are helping one another.

Flowers are blooming.

The bloom does not deny the existence of war.

The bloom reminds us that life continues despite it.

That is an important lesson.

Especially now.

The bloom is not ignorance.

The bloom is resilience.

As people of spirit, we are not asked to ignore hardship.

We are asked to remember that hardship is not the whole story.

The Earth Mother teaches us this every spring.

The seed does not ask permission from winter before it begins to grow.

It simply grows.

And so must we.

This month, I encourage you to find your flower.

Find the thing that is still blooming in your life.

Perhaps it is a friendship.

Perhaps it is a creative project.

Perhaps it is your health improving one small step at a time.

Perhaps it is simply the fact that you woke up today and decided to keep going.

Do not dismiss these things.

They matter.

The older we become, the more we understand that freedom is not free.

As children, freedom is often given.

As adults, freedom is maintained through responsibility, effort, and perseverance.

The cost of adulthood is learning how to survive while keeping your spirit alive.

And if you have managed to do both, you have done extraordinarily well.

So take a moment this month.

Look back at the road behind you.

See how far you have come.

See the mountains you crossed.

See the storms you survived.

See the people you helped.

See the lessons you learned.

You may not have taken the shortest route.

You may not have followed the map everyone else used.

But your journey is rich and bold because it is yours.

You earned the ride.

Not because life was easy.

But because you kept moving.

And that is something worthy of respect.

From all of us at INK-Spirit, while our Little Steeple finds its new home, we thank you for walking this journey with us.

May you find beauty in unexpected places.

May you notice the flowers that continue to bloom.

May you trust the wisdom you have earned.

And may you remember that surviving is not a small thing.

It is one of the greatest accomplishments a human being can achieve.

Blessings from the House of Inanna.

Walk gently. Grow boldly. Bloom anyway.

— Umma of Inanna
INK-Spirit Female Spiritual Life Coaching
"Even in difficult seasons, the flower still blooms."