A Walk in the Park

Early in the morning I head to Forest Park for my walk.  This morning was particularly glorious.  I was greeted by crows cawing at first light.  As I walked farther into the park the earth turned towards the sun and the symphony of the birds began a quick crescendo.  As day broke I was able to make out some of the birds: a mourning dove flying off, a cardinal up in the tree, red-winged blackbirds, blue jays, robins and, of course, many sparrows.
      I rounded a corner and there was the full moon in the west.  It would only be visible for a short while longer as the earth continued its slow turn to the east.  Further down I reached the duck ponds where I saw - no surprise here - ducks along with geese.  It was also a place to stop and take in the colors of the sunrise for a while.
     I love my morning walks in the park.  I've read that we are actually nourished as we walk near trees.  Researchers in Japan have found that walking among trees can reduce stress and lower blood pressure among other benefits.  Perhaps there are added benefits when we watch awesome sunrises, gaze at the full moon, or listen to and watch such a variety of birds.
     As I reached the amphitheater I saw my fox friend.  We're gradually getting to know one another.  This was the 4th or 5th time I've seen her as I round the bend.  We usually have a stare-down and she always wins.  Maybe one morning we'll stop and have a cup of coffee (or water) and get to know each other better.
     Thinking about my time in the park this morning makes me think of Mary Oliver who tells us
 “Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.” 

    Perhaps being in nature helps us in the practice of paying attention.  It certainly opens us to being astonished.  And here I am telling you about it.  Maybe my practice doing this in nature helps me to pay more attention to the other details of my life.  And if birds and sunrises and foxes can astonish me, then surely my paying attention will allow me be astonished in other ways.
       I still remember visiting with a retired couple up in ME years ago.  They were getting up in age and walking was difficult, but they loved sitting on their porch watching the hummingbirds at the feeder.  I joined them out there during one of my visits and was astonished at the number of hummingbirds.   In MA there was a surviving spouse (in her 80s) who would show me her garden each time I visited.  She was gradually clearing large stones from the area and building a fence with them.  When I say large stones I mean they were really large.  I had images of her with a lever and fulcrum in some cases.  Then she could work the new soil and plant more flowers and vegetables.  Her garden kept growing as she cleared more and more land. It was truly astonishing to consider the physical labor this elderly woman took on out of love for her garden.

     Next Tuesday I leave for Georgia where I'll be visiting more of our retired clergy.  I'm looking forward to enjoying the warmth of the springtime sun down there.  From there I'll travel to New Orleans to attend the 3M Network.  The "3M" stands for Maintaining Minsters in Ministry.  This group representing many conferences comes together to share the work that is happening so we can learn from one another.  I first connected with 3M as we were preparing to bring Tending the Fire to New England. 
     For now, I'm preparing for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  Soon we will be celebrating the joy of Easter morning and the astonishment of the Resurrection and God's great love for all of us.  I wish all of you Easter blessings.
      In preparing for my trip I'll continue to practice paying attention, and being astonished.  And I'll tell you about it next week!

Blessings on the journey!

Marveling at God's time

At the end of this month I'll be heading to Georgia for more visits.  While I'm looking forward to this next round, I'm also still reflecting on the wonderful visits in California and Arizona back in January.  One story stands out in particular.

Prior to leaving for California I had called our retired families to arrange visits.  There were a few with whom I couldn't work out a visit, but there were also a couple who I was unable to reach.  I tried calling, email if possible, and also writing.  One couple I had not reached was a Korean pastor, The Rev. Ho Kyun Ko and his wife Hyun Hee.   I had originally met the Kos shortly after his retirement.  They did not speak English and we had arranged for a friend of theirs to translate for us, but when she was unable to get to their house we ended up visiting and using the phone, with their friend on it translating, passing it back and forth.  It's hard to have a conversation that way, but we did get to know each other a little better.

So I was thrilled when their son called me as I was driving to my first visit in California.  He was in Los Angeles for the week to help them move to an assisted living facility.  He had found my letter among their things as they had moved and decided to call me.  We arranged a visit time, but then it had to be cancelled when he learned that his father had an appointment already scheduled at that time.  Their son was heading home the next day and for a time I thought we were going to miss each other after all.

But schedules change and after a shift in the times for some of my visits in Phoenix I realized we could leave earlier than originally planned to head back to L.A.  That meant possibly visiting with the Kos and still having time to drive to my afternoon visit.  We left Phoenix about 6:00AM headed for an area near downtown L.A.  As I drove it started to dawn on me that I had no idea how we would communicate with one another so I started a breath prayer:  God of grace, help us to communicate.  I repeated it over and over.  At the same time the very logical part of my mind was telling me "You've got to be kidding.  You can't just pull in someone expecting that they'll speak Korean and English."   I tried to ignore that voice.

Just a sidenote, as we got closer to L.A. the traffic picked up and it seemed to be very heavy even late on a Saturday morning.  We were moving, however, so I guess it was better than a work day.  I do not miss the traffic in southern CA!

We arrived at the address and I was even more concerned. It was a secure building in a Korean section of town.  The sign was in Korean and when I rang the doorbell the woman who answered did not speak English.  I showed her Rev. Ko's name on my phone which she recognized so she led us in to some benches in a small area to wait.  Questions arose -  would they recognize the Preachers' Aid Society logo on my card?  Might the Kos understand a little more English than before so we could say "Hi"?  Finally the woman came back to give us their room number and direct us to an elevator.  We headed up to the next floor and started looking for their room.

As we turned into a large hallway we saw people walking down the hall.  We figured they were residents coming back from lunch.  One couple was an elderly lady walking with a younger woman.  The younger woman asked - in English! - if she could help.  I told her the apartment we were looking for and she had a funny look on her face.  She asked who and when I said the Kos she smiled and said "Here they are."   She was walking with Mrs. Ko and when I looked behind her I saw her husband walking with a tall gentleman I recognized as Rev. Ko.  After I introduced myself the woman told me they had arrived the day before from Rhode Island and were heading to lunch, but we'd go back to their apartment for a short visit.  It was a wonderful visit as she and her husband  translated for us and we were able to share greetings from New England with the Kos.  We ended with prayer, first in English and then in Korean, and then walked them out to the car to head on to lunch.

I continue to be in awe of the many ways God answers prayer.  The whole time I was praying as I drove from Phoenix, God already knew we were going to have our visit.  Once again I entered for a moment into the sacredness of God's time... a time when important things can happen, even when I doubt and think they can not.  Once again God's gentle nudging urged me to trust, to trust that God's time is big, especially when we focus on one another.  As I planned my visits for Georgia and more recently as I put together a trip to Ohio I tried to leave enough time to allow for bad traffic and for delays.  But I also tried to trust that God will be present in the times of travel and also with each visit.  I look forward to once again sitting down with our retired families and connecting with them in person.  May God's awesome sense of time be with me in my travels.  And thank you, those who are reading this, for traveling with me also! 
Blessings,
Cathy