Spring Metro and Snow

Slowly but surely I'm mining my secret place journals, to find just the perfect bits for God in the Yard. Of course that means much will be left behind, tucked silently into pages, out of view. So I thought, why not... why not set them here, on this little table, a tiny centerpiece over which you and I can sip tea.

March 20, 2007

I am amazed by the squirrels, how they chase and tumble and travel the "squirrel metro" across this little woods, in five seconds flat. The metro is a lacework of branches on which they skip and scurry. One squirrel has been upside down for a few minutes, eating knobbly parts of the tree. Is he eating the tree? The air is cold; my bottom is cold— the snow searing straight through my sled. But the sun is hot. How is it I never noticed this aspect of spring before? The terrible tension of hot and cold on a single day.

Water drips with a constancy and sounds oddly like the crackle of fire. I think that cleansing by water is strange indeed if it is actually a purging fire.

Two feathers blow softly in the snow. I move them and think absently that my Sara will see them when she comes out. She does, as I suspected she might. They are a treasure passed on.

Sip. Smile. Sigh.


Feathers in the Snow Photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Wordy Wednesday: The New High Tea

Virtually every day, at about 4:00 pm, I take a cup of tea outside and settle myself under the pine tree. It is a variation on high tea I guess, to move outdoors where there are no linens and silver... just the ivy and the fragrance of moldering earth.

Sometimes I drink teas from my winter stores. And other times I indulge in store-bought green tea.

Today I was reading this little magazine/flyer from my health food store and was pleasantly surprised to be reminded that green tea is a real gift from God (I also wondered if my homemade teas might have some of the same properties.)

Anyway, I wanted to share these great green tea benefits, in case you were considering high tea under your pine or maple tree today:

• can inhibit flu viruses in cell cultures
• may improve glucose problems and slow development of Type 1 diabetes
• may prevent HIV from binding to human T-cells
• can protect against liver problems
• may work against autoimmune disease by suppressing autoantigens
• impressive cancer-fighting qualities for bladder, breast, lung, colorectal, esophageal and cervical types
• may reduce inflammation, affecting cartilage destruction, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
• lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol
• may prevent ventricular arrhythmias

Tea photo by L.L. Barkat. Green tea info found in Taste for Life.

Wordless Wednesday: Shadow

I love shadow art. Doesn't this look like the Cookie Monster has come to call in my Little Woods?


Shadow photo by L.L. Barkat.

Color of Peace

I've been taking in color all morning— letting the barely-yellow kitchen walls soothe my senses, while I listen to my little one read to me. Watching white light dance with grey, leaf-shaped shadows. Staring at the curved blue reflection of a cobalt glass, over garnet-specked granite. These shapes and colors have been whispering peace to me, in the background of my day.

Why am I more sensitive to color these days? Maybe it is something I'm learning out in my Secret Place. I consider these August entries from my outdoor journal...

August 21, 2007... The woods are gleaming, deep green, slick, reflective. Leaves quiver and dip under a light breeze, tremble at the fall of droplets. The pine is sprung with a million tiny liquid globes, set to capture the day's grey light, or set to shower the unsuspecting passerby...

August 22, 2007... Smells earthy out here today. A light breeze. Air is moist. Sun is merely a suggestion behind a white-blanket sky. I lay for a while without my glasses on, to let the weight of color, of green press in, without the distraction of detail.

I consider that my outdoor experiences are coming inside, teaching me the color of peace in every room, in every shape and shadow.


Blue Glass Shadow photo by L.L. Barkat.

Green Inventions Invitation: If you write a post related to this post and Link It Back Here, let me know and I'll link to yours.

Woodstory

I've been thinking about this idea that my life tells a story, and that I have choices to make about how my story either draws from or feeds into other stories— whether human, spiritual, or natural.

I wonder, for instance, what story I am making— or allowing to make me — by sitting in this little woods day after day.

Or am I just experiencing the scenery, in a kind of drawn-out Sabbath rest?

... white butterflies and orange butterflies flitting and dipping, the breeze shaking the maples... and this tiny mustard-green insect, like a cricket in miniature, who is just now crawling across my blue-lined paper.


Bug on a Leaf photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Green Inventions Invitation: if you write a related post and LINK back here, let me know and I'll link to yours.

RELATED POSTS:

Charity's Hollywood Endings

Eye of the Storm

Yesterday, 3:20 p.m.:

The air was humid, the sky clear. But the breeze felt oddly threatening. I considered closing my bedroom window before we left the house.

We drove to piano lessons. I dropped my seven-year-old off at the old Tudor, with the ancient trees all 'round it. Sara and I went to the nearby library.

The sky was clear. We walked in, started picking books.

Suddenly, a sound like a train. We looked outside. The trees were horizontal. Some fell outright, ripped in half. A woman exclaimed, "Oh, no! A tree fell on those cars!" She trembled and babbled. One car was hers.

I felt afraid. Real fear. Primal and deep. Rushed Sara to an inner room. The bathroom of all things. "I wish Sonia was here," Sara said. She voiced my thoughts. I just wanted all my loved ones here, in this dark place, in my arms.

In ten minutes, the wind was past. We left the darkness of the library. Ran out through pelting rain. Shook ourselves into the car. Turned and turned and turned again, seeking a passable road, to go retrieve my Sonia.

It took a long time to get home. And when I set foot inside, I still felt fear. The world had toppled and boiled and raged. My bedroom floor was soaked. Some laundry I should have put away two days ago was also soaked.

In a strange half hour of peace, the sun came out, dazzling a million water droplets that hung on the pine. I left the shelter of the house, lay on my back under dripping branches, and opened my Psalm for the day...

God is a safe place to hide...
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God of angel armies protects us.

The world will bring more dangers in its future, more storms like this, more troubles, destructions we have even brought upon ourselves and God's creation. This I surely know.

But I was reminded in this moment that there is something else to know. God is a safe place to hide. Because he exists beyond the storms, into eternity.


Quote from Psalm 46, The Message version. Fallen Branch photo by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Divine Sound

Forsythia flowers
are golden bells,
ringing, ringing
peace, over the cares
of my morning.


Forsythia bloom photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Dancing Leaves

Leaves dance
through this
secret place,
follow each other
like a wedding train,
past the shadow
of the pine,
into the arms
of the wind.


Leaf train photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Greenwork

Sometimes when I sit out in my "woods", I see things that surprise me and give me hope. Like the "cross" that's in the picture above. As a person who's into preserving the world, I need such hopeful surprises. For, there are moments when I feel like my greenwork is not making a bit of difference. I feel endlessly sad that perhaps I, and others like me, will fail to keep the world intact.

Indeed, the book of Revelation suggests this is exactly how it will go. The world will be assaulted until it is ruined beyond hope. And those who participate in its destruction will be judged...

...your wrath has come, and the time for judging...both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth. Rev. 11:18

Yet, Revelation also offers hope. Even as its writer, John, weeps, he is told to stop, for there is one who is worthy to open the scroll and herald in a recreated heaven and earth. Indeed, this assurance, found in Revelation 5, ends with a hopeful chorus, sung by "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them."

To whom do they sing? To the one who was "slaughtered" that we might live (Rev. 5:9). And this song, and the one to whom it will be sung, comes to me in the simple visions of my little "woods." And I am renewed in strength to go on with my greenwork, as a prelude to that greater, future song.

Photo by L.L. Barkat




Speaking of approaching our work with hope and strength, this week TheHighCalling.org is going on blog tour to bring you special ideas about living and working— including many aspects of work and family; gifts and leadership; excellence; integrity; attitude; professional relationships; and service.

If you'd like to be encouraged, inspired, or revitalized by some of HC's earth-in-mind resources, consider these tour options...

Membership... become a member of TheHighCalling.org


Awesome Articles... Memento Mori, Skyscrapers and Leaves


Amusing (and Awesome) Article... Packing Faucets


Other tour rest stops...

Seedlings in Stone
Gordon Atkinson
Gina Conroy
Craver VII
CREEations
Milton Brasher-Cunningham
Mary DeMuth
Karl Edwards
Emdashery
Every Square Inch
Amy Goodyear
Marcus Goodyear
Al Hsu
Jennwith2ns
Chalres Foster Johnson
Mike McLoughlin
Eve Nielsen
Naked Pastor
Ramblin Dan
Charity Singleton
Stacy
Camy Tang

Have a Great Trip!!

Wordless Wednesday: Redemption

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Psalm 126:5


On the Way to Secret Spot, photo by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Just Ask

Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16


Path photo from Secret Place by L.L. Barkat.

Chameleon

pssst...can you find the squirrel?


Whenever it snows, my older daughter begins telling everybody what to do. "You can't walk here. Only step there." She wants to preserve the pristine look of gently rolling white.

The other day, as I walked to my secret spot, I understood her urgency in this matter. Every step I took felt like a violation. I so wanted an invisible footprint. Similarly, sometimes, when I lie under the pine tree, I imagine what it would be like to melt into the ivy in total camouflage, with my presence creating only negligible impact.

Of course, this is impossible, both in my yard and in the world in general. For instance, as an American, my "footprint" is rather large compared to what the world can support. As I recall from Radical Simplicity, there are about 4.5 acres for each person alive... that's what it takes to support a life. But the average American footprint is 24 acres. In other words, I am far from being a world chameleon. You might say I'm wearing red neon in the forest.

Still, one way I'm learning to live a little lighter is through my food choices. Some of us do other things like drive a gas-economical car. But food's my thing. It's one small way I'm trying to leave a little snow patch pristine, so to speak.

So here's an earth-light recipe. With the king-of-chameleon as its highlight: tofu. Tofu is bland, yes. That's its star quality. Because it melts into the background, it simply absorbs all the other flavors and showcases them. This makes it a great choice for dishes with rich or spicy flavors.




Tofu Joes

Saute in olive oil 'til light brown:

-onion, chopped


Add & saute briefly:

- 2 garlic, minced
- 1 to 1 1/2 TB chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- optional dash red pepper flakes


Add & simmer about 10 minutes:

- 2 TB shoyu or soy sauce
- 1 package firm or extra firm tofu, mashed
- 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

Finish:

- pour of olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- chopped cilantro

Serve on wheat buns slathered in olive oil (raw olive oil is always good for us!). Add a side of fried potatoes and something green.

About tofu: HIgh in protein, calcium and iron. Can help control cholesterol.

Squirrel Chameleon photo and Tofu Joes photo by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Heaven in My Own Backyard

But you, O LORD, are...my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. Psalm 3:3


After today, I'll be on vacation until next week. Hope to see you on Friday.

Looking Up photo, taken at my outdoors "secret spot." L.L. Barkat.