Seeing Beneath

Holy mystery
beyond defining,
Open me to the mystery,
To see beneath the surface,
To live within your depths.

From the Prayer for the Mystic- A Place Apart Fully Alive Training Manual

This is a prayer from A Place Apart that has been like the Jesus Prayer for me of late. It is especially fascinating to be praying this prayer as I begin to work on the compost pile and work with the land around our house. To see what lies beneath my work and the soil... I thank God for the revelations that occur as you go about working/praying.

Chuck Noland Revisited

A French explorer and adventurer will spend 300 days living like "Robinson Crusoe" on a South Pacific island where his only luggage will be a Swiss army knife, machete video camera and a solar panel for charging the camera. Reminds me a bit of Tam Hanks' movie Cast Away. I'd love to conduct the same experiment/experience!

The Westfall Botanical Conservatory

In my previous post I put up a picture of what our backyard looks like. In some ways it has its own unique ecology. Most people would see nothing but exotic species and weeds therefore would immediately pull out the mower and cut it down to get that turf look. Not me. I am excited about the different possibilities for the backyard. I see a spot where a park bench could go and create a botanical conservatory feel. I see where my hammock will be tied between two white pines. There is a box that is perfect for starting a compost pile so we can help regrow areas of dry, dead grass as well as be ready to start planting a garden next year. I can't wait to start making teas using pine needles and sumac or find uses for the many dandelions (I'm thinking maybe dandelion wine). Lots of tree pruning will help maintain the trees as well. This will take some work but I look forward to what lies ahead.

Of all the areas of wilderness survival, I believe that plant identification and knowledge is my weak spot. So I look forward to the challenge! I welcome the morning glories, chives, sumacs, poppies as well as the poison oak. I see it as a valuable learning experience. It is great to finally have that small area of land in which you can do something with instead of being cooped up in an apartment with no land with which to work.

Our New Home

Front of the House

Back Yard

Of things to come...

David Whyte is emerging as my favorite poet and his poem entitled "Everything is Waiting for You" from the book by the same name has conjured up images of the newness of life as we settle into northwestern Illinois. Enjoy!

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

'Anyul Meetin'

I spent some time a week ago just north of North Manchester at the Eel River District of the Old German Baptist Brethren. It was nice to be back in a worship setting that in some ways I grew up in and even make some connections from my time as a pastor in the North Manchester area as well as my family ties (my mother's side of the family is OGBB). It is funny how most of the "members" warmed up to me once the family connections were made. Like I've mentioned before I grew up with one foot in the Church of the Brethren and the other in the OGBB. I think it is easy for me to romanticize about what it would be like to become a member but know that is not where my truest sense of identity lies.

I'm blogging because they are now in the middle of their Annual Meeting taking place this year in Lawrence, Kansas. The Dunker Journal has posted some links to the local paper out there with photos of the OGBB preparing for Annual Meeting you can view them by clicking here. Updates can be found here and here.

At Your Fingertips

I get daily emails from jillianmichaels.com and this week she had a simple yet great way to measure proper portions for a meal. Most of us struggle with what constitutes as an actual portion without measuring and counting calories. Here's what Jillian suggests:

The Hand Method
Size of your fist - cereal, rice, beans, veggies (approx. 1 cup)
Center of your palm (to the base of your fingers) - meat, poultry, fish (approx. 3-5 oz.)
Thumb size - cheese or condiments (approx. 1-2 oz.)
Drink 1 - 8 oz. class of water

I have been working out for almost 6 months and have noticed some changes in my muscle mass but I have continued to struggle with food. I am going to incorporate this smaller portion into my own lifestyle in order to get more in line with the lifestyle that I am longing to reach. I can probably state that I am a "fit but fat man" and now need to really work on my goals for eating right.