NATURE CALLINGS

Each week a group of women come to a piece of land we know is loved by a friend. We sit in a circle and stare into the fire, walk her woods, and watch the flow of the Stillwater river.

Each week we are fortunate to hear the melodic song of the Indigo Bunting. It sings in the canopy of the same stand of trees as the week before. It has found the place for its calling and returns daily. It is why I go there...to listen and discern the place of mine.

Spending any amount of time outside, paying attention, it becomes apparent; there is no need to worry about nature. Each plant, each insect or bird, every moss-adorned rock is where it is supposed to be, doing what it is supposed to do. Only we bring destruction and introduce imbalance to the system.

And these systems work; transpiration, photosynthesis, metamorphosis, and cycles of water, seasons, life, and decay. They are good. They support us and the whole of the planet. That is their calling; to be oxygen-givers, builders of food webs, suppliers of the soil that sustains a multitude of organisms, and our food. As a popular meme says: 

Is my human calling, therefore, any different? To be of service, a supplier, a sustainer, both to my fellow human beings and the piece of the planet I find myself in? Isn't every true call on one's life to offer that which my species needs the most, which is love and time, acceptance and nourishment, hope and maybe most importantly, beauty?

Would it not also make sense then to offer the non-human species what they need most, which is our deep respect and acknowledgment that we are utterly dependent on them to flourish and to continue to keep all things in balance? As the animals and eco-systems support us, so we live the Golden Rule towards them. We are all connected. As Wendell Berry says:

“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you."

Staring into that crackling fire, meandering through my friend's woods, and just being next to the shimmering Stillwater river, the answer became clearer to me. And simpler. Perhaps my calling is to pair whatever talents and passions I have to whichever human and non-human needs whisper back to me. That small, quiet voice then becomes an invitation from Spirit, and the huge sycamore leaning miraculously over the river, to do what I have always been called and free to do.

I TOOK A WALK TODAY...

A couple times a week, I take my dog, Cyon, offsite to one of several dog-interesting destinations. Sometimes to a park, sometimes a parking lot (if there are other dogs who leave their calling cards), and sometimes to a friend’s property nearby. It was so uncharacteristically balmy for a January day, I decided to take a walk at a wildlife area that has a large marsh pond. 

As I drove towards the parking lot, the view revealed something I’d never seen it before. Hovering above the entire 150-acre pond was a thick, pale blue-gray mist. Driving to the edge of the water, I saw that the mist spilled over the banks, enveloping dry vegetation at the edges and all the trees beyond the banks.  Since I was the only one there, I let the dog off-leash to enjoy her recreational sniffing. 

Warm air moving over the partially frozen pond created trillions of tiny water droplets stitched together to make its misty covering. An overcast day turned almost every vista into a black & white photo. The whole scene had a magical feel. As we walked on the path that encircles the pond, I experienced that strange phenomenon of seeing the thick mist ahead of me and behind me but never where I was. I kept wanting to “enter” the fog. I kept waiting for Cyon to vanish in the density of it. But the mist was always only ahead. Always only behind. Always invisibly surrounding us. 

This made me think of all things Divine; the Spirit that somehow mysteriously inhabits this life. Often it is only when I look back that I recognize divine guidance or gracious transformations in matters of my soul. Other times, hope, surrender, and trust allow me to smile at the future. But in the present, where I stand on any given day, with its responsibilities, stresses, and my own weaknesses, I forget that the spiritual cloud encases me - full of the Loving Energy of Creation and those who love me still but are gone. I know they are there. I ask for their guidance and wisdom. I often wonder how far back the ancestral guidance goes. Does it extend to family I never met or even know existed? I will know one day. 

We turned to head back to the car when the scents that had been captivating Cyon ran out. The mist also began to thin out and fade, sunlight finally punched through the thick clouds overhead. Sometimes taking a walk can be a spiritual experience and balm to the soul. 

Actually…all the time. 

I TOOK A WALK TODAY...

Early spring is a time of contrast, when the verdant meets the dead; when life emerges from what looks like death, but indeed has just been waiting. 

On the bike path near the Spring Valley Wildlife Area, a few ephemerals are beginning to carpet the ground...Dutchman's Breeches with it's fern-like leaves and white, pantaloon flowers and Yellow Corydalis, all tubular and sunny.

Along this section of path that borders the river, lipstick buds of
buckeye trees make their appearance, the older ones fanning out like like elaborate headdresses, grateful for the ice and cold that broke their shells.

     

Further down the trail I take a turn towards an expanse of last summer's tall grasses, lured there by a field sparrow's bouncing song, as it clings to a stalk of dried bluestem. 

In the wind, all over this field, I hear the slight clicking and cracking of these brown and wheat-colored stalks. They stood like soldiers against the ice and snow of winter, but now bend in a final surrender toward their own waiting roots. Breaking off. Making room. Turning back to the soil. 

It is an April painting, a fleeting snapshot of lush, supple greens alongside the dry, hollow stalks of winter, as an Osprey flies overhead towards water. Try not to miss it. :-) 

BEAUTY

About a week ago I experienced an amazing day from beginning to end.  Nothing exciting happened but I found myself welling up with tears on several occasions and feeling everything very deeply with gratitude.  The morning started out pretty ordinary.  Up around 7-ish.  Play with Cyon.  Do a few chores. Take a shower.  Get dressed.  But an extraordinary day was ahead of me.

It was the Tuesday after Memorial Day.  I decided earlier that week to go to my parent's grave site after the weekend, mostly to avoid the crowds but also because the forecast called for a cool morning.  Twenty-three years ago, when my mother died, my father asked me to design the headstone...something one isn't asked to do very often...but I took the challenge.  I've always hated the fake flowers put out as memorial decorations, so I designed a chunk of marble (close to my mother's favorite color) that has a cutout in the middle.  In this small space I put a live, drought tolerant plant each year, hoping against all hope it survives.  This year I potted up a Lantana flower, again, in a color I think my mother would love. I stood back and thought how glad I was to have been a creative part in this memorial to them.

After telling my parents good-bye and that I loved them, I picked up lunch and went to share it with my best friend at her workplace.  Time with friends is precious.  I always thought that as we got older, we would have more time for one another.  You know, kids are grown, there's a bit more discretionary income, we start to value the important things, and learn to say NO to the energy-suckers, etc., but I think my calculations were off.  So when a moment breaks free or the inspiration to initiate a connection happens, I try to take it.  And in that short hour together, we had such a lovely and bonding time.

My friend is a therapist and we have known one another since college.  She has lamented on several occasions how often people tell her they have no one to confide in.  No one they feel safe enough with to be vulnerable.  No one who "gets" them.  Such is not the case with many of my friendships and this friendship in particular.

 After eating and sharing our "life updates," she began to show me fabulous photos from the Juneau Photo Group on Facebook. We scrolled her phone photos, reminiscing about her living there as a young girl, and the vacation we took there together.  We literally passed tissues and wept at the indescribable beauty, and then for the fragile balances we are aware of being destroyed in our lifetimes. We wondered aloud why these images and everything in nature touches us both at what seems to be a cellular level, while other people barely notice or are minimally moved.  We also wondered why having this sense of awe has sometimes leveled the "worshiped the creation instead of the creator" criticisms from others.  It makes no sense to us because we see it as gazing into the face of God.  When I needed to leave, we hugged good-bye, silently acknowledging our shared love of the earth and of one another.

 
Then I went to Starbucks to write.  Lately I've hit a good groove when it comes to crafting my short story trilogy.  Having the Antioch Writers Workshop as a deadline in July really motivates.  So, after settling in with a Chai latte', I got to work and lost myself for over an hour in the writing.  I absolutely love that state in the creative process...being so intensely focused that time and place are forgotten.  I used to experience it painting...when the theta brain waves would kick in for an hour or more...and then I would literally "come to," as I called it.  That's what happened for the first time in a very long time in Starbucks in Kroger in Beavercreek. 

After writing, I decided to check email and Facebook on the computer.  I remembered that two CD's had recently been downloaded to my Cloud Player, so I clicked on K.D. Lang's Recollection CD and put my ear buds in.  Within minutes I was weeping again.  Something about track #3 - The Air that I Breathe - touched me very deeply.  The song is such a perfect combination of melody, harmony, lyric and voice that the lump in my throat finally let go and tears rolled down my eyes right there at the table.  I think this time it also had to do with the personal longing to sing even half that good. In the past, I've tasted the joyful kinship of singing harmony with others but to be able to belt out a song like that leaves me breathless.  Then I listened to her duet, Crying, with Roy Orbison and was nearly beside myself.  I decided it was time to head home.

Needless to say, on that unremarkable day my heart had been opened to see, hear, smell, taste and feel beauty everywhere as I drove. It was filled with gratitude for such Beauty...the one thing that makes little sense if there is no God and all is completely random.  I was also grateful for the place I was headed; a place filled with peace and connection, and one last time my eyes welled up with tears. Finally, I knew my whole being was thankful for the healing that has allowed me to reach any measure of depth in friendship, marriage, spiritual living, creativity and nature. I hope this lesson sticks and I carry it with me, at least most days, and keep learning to never take anything for granted; to see the beauty everywhere.  

BEAUTYS & THE BEASTS

A Wildly Positive Retreat Focused on Beauty!
 

Imagine these flower surrounding you 360 degrees!
Absolutely Gorgeous!

Now imagine a day focused on all that is beautiful...in nature and in ourselves. This retreat weekend we will be accentuating the POSITIVE...all that's good and right in our world, with ourselves and one another! 

The retreat will kick-off Friday night with introductions, a beautiful sunset walk, then a relaxing movie in our jammies (movie TBD by vote...but definitely beautiful and inspiring choices), complete with popcorn and an assortment of movie candy! Because we're worth it! 

Saturday you'll be immersed in all things good...optional morning stretches while the birds sing, a guided nature walk, a natural beauty care demo, chair massages (for additional fee), time to take photos on The Refresher Course, read on the Pine Sanctuary swing, meditate in the woods, walk the Prayer Path and add your creative touch to the group painting or poem waiting in Kavanah.  A healthy, organic lunch and snacks will be served.  So come solo or bring a few good friends along...it's a beautiful way to spend a day!  

Reflective resources will also be provided. 

Upon Registration you will be emailed a Guest Packet,
containing directions and other pertinent information.

Bringing a journal, camera and binoculars is recommended.