The Little Tuft That Grows

This triumphant little tuft of grass: stepped on or stepped around, but green and healthy, resilient, perhaps even determined, and able to grow and thrive! It reminded me today of overcoming many hardships in my life and how as much as I see those things, I also see the beauty around me. I'm so grateful to have seen this little green patch and to experience in myself the rush of feelings and excitement in life. I am so so sooooooooooooooo happy to be on the path to priesthood, attending seminary at Sewanee, and to have the capacity to love the adventure before me as it unfolds. It has been a long and difficult road - with plenty of things that have thrown me off or sent me on wild goose chases. It has also been harried with anxiety, both in family and personal matters, BUT, I'm enjoying the ride!

I love my own journey and I want to say thank you to all you reading this for your part in my life! 😊❤️ Have a lovely evening!

SPRINGY Delight

I love the early spring, when the world seems to be in bloom and there's a good thunderstorm every now and then! I totally love big storms too, especially if I don't have to drive in them and no person or property gets hurt. One thing I used to do a lot of, and need to do more of, is sit in the grass and breathe in the world. 

Sometimes when I'm driving during the spring or the Fall, I'll see beautiful patches of land or gorgeous scenes near City Park and I have the urge to pull over and enjoy chilling in the grass for a while. It's pretty rare that I can do that these days unless I actually plan for it. Here is a little of that joy, in a photo :-) YAY!

God’s Word is in All Creation - Hildegaard of Bingen

Just found these words of Hildegaard von Bingen. Inspiring!

God’s Word is in All Creation

No creature has meaning

without the Word of God.

God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.

The Word is living, being, 

spirit, all verdant 

all creativity. 

This Word flashes out in every creature. 

This is how the spirit is in the flesh 

– the Word is indivisible from God.

An Afternoon in NOLA City Park

Sometimes in the winter and often in the spring, I LOVE to take some time out and go to City Park (New Orleans) to chill amongst the beauty! 

I semi-regularly go to the walking track near the NOLA Museum of Art and actually exercise, but avoid it like the plague in summertime because it's approximately one billion degrees and a million percent humidity here. If that sounds like it's an exaggeration, it's not.....it's completely true.

                               

Anyway, before I moved to NOLA, apparently most of City Park was comprised of golf courses and while there has only been one in the almost ten years I've lived here, post-Katrina, they are now being re-developed. So, a giant swath of the park will no longer be the lovely, natural, and free area I've known it to be. 

                        

It always makes me so happy to drive through the Harrison Avenue cut-through and see people out playing with their dogs or kids. On some Tuesdays after my St. Paul's staff mtg and in my way to UNO, I stop and sit for a little while with my morning coffee. I haven't been able to in a while since I have lessons now on Tuesdays, but I do still steal some Friday afternoon time or weekend time to go and read in some of my favorite spots! 

                          

I've been soooooooooo happy over the years to see the lovely Spanish moss returning to the trees! Though I was a new resident after hurricane Katrina, I noticed its absence and it struck me as rather odd for this Savannah / sub-tropical climate area. 

City Park helps me relax. It gives me (and countless others) a place to be out "in the wild" without driving outside city limits and while being relatively (and arguably) safe because roads are nearby, it's reasonably populated, and one still probably has cell phone service. 

                       

I love the place. While it's exciting (and brings the city tons of revenue and glitz, I'm sad to have seen the start of rebuilding the golf courses. I have no idea how many of them they're planning to rebuild, but I surely hope there will be some of my favorite places left when it's all said and done!

PS. Two weeks ago, a whole field was covered in giant, beautiful thistle!