loving to cut the grass...

One of my favorite ordinary experiences is cutting the grass on a cool, sunny day. Perhaps golfers have a similar encounter with taking your time to soak up the beauty while engaged in a simple task. We can't hike much in the woodlands right now because this area has been infested with deer ticks. And some of the local trails are still closed to help us practice social distancing. So once a week I get to work up a sweat outdoors while prowling around our property with our old school reel push mower. In a super, scaled-down way, I engage cutting the grass like Wendell Berry does wandering around his farm on the Sabbath. It is just a quiet time in a beautiful place with a minimum of distractions. 

Sometime last week, on the way to finding something else, I rediscovered the collection of his most recent Sabbath poems (2014 and 15) as well as an essay concerning "the presence of nature in the natural world." A Small Porch is a little gem.

Now comes the overflow
not to be imagined but in time,
in season, in presence. This is
the splurge of beauty, transcending
every need we know. In her
greater knowing, great dame Nature
has called them, and they come,
the flowers in their thousands
under the still-bare trees, over
the dead leaves rising, moving,
lightly as the air moves:
twinleaf, bloodroot, anemone,
violets purple and yellow and white,
bellwort. And the bluebells, whose perfume
cannot be recalled until
they are called back again. Who
would refuse this joy, this gift,
because in time it cannot last? 

Someone far wiser than I said, "Using a push mower to cut the grass is cheaper than a gym - and more satisfying, too." I agree. One of the things I have to do later this week is sharpen the blades and realign the reel on the mower. This will be another beginner's mind experience for me;I did it last year, but can't recall for the life of me exactly how it happened. Figuring it out will be half the fun! Same with the few carpentry repairs we need to make around the house while the weather is lovely. I was tallying these chores while cutting the grass this morning: mostly replacing some rotting trim and a few low boards around the base of the deck. Another opportunity to use my new chop saw - and practice good measuring - which is not my long suit but a skill I look to strengthen as the summer unfolds. These ordinary tasks have become a type of walking mediation for me as I notice what's going on and discern how to respond.

Lucie likes to be outside with me when I do work in the yard. She watches me work, chases a few insects, and then dozes while the mower moves through our very crabby grass. Over the weekend we weeded a small garden island and she romped around chasing twigs until either eating something troubling or being stung by an irritated bee. We don't know for sure, but she was lethargic and limping most of Sunday evening. Was she close to the end? Thankfully, a blast of doggie aspirin revived her, and now she's back to her wacky self. 

My morning was given to writing a short reflection for this Friday's L'Arche Ottawa prayer gathering - and cutting the grass. I have to start working on my Sunday live-streaming reflection this afternoon and Zoom with the little ones in Brooklyn, too. Then this evening the New Story Festival starts with Brian McLaren sharing insights into the first of six shadow challenges for our culture. The festival's promo material sets the stage like this: 

Throughout this Journey, we will delve into six destructive “shadow” stories that have shaped our lives and our world, and then push beyond them toward healthier and more hopeful stories for better lives and a better world:

From Domination => Servant Leadership

From Revenge => Restorative Justice

From Isolation => Contemplative Action

From Purification => Compassion & a Shared Future

From Victimization=> Empowerment & Healing

From Accumulation => Appreciation & Generosity

Ultimately (we are) seeking a New Story defined by compassionate action for collective liberation and radical reconciliation.

We have consciously been living outside the box of organized religion for the past three years: it was time to let that part of our hearts rest. Currently I connect in community through L'Arche. As a couple, we are learning about the Radical Love project of Valerie Kaur.  I've been doing a few web courses through the Center for Action and Reconciliation while Di is doing an onlline study of medieval mystics. In June, we'll dd a workshop with the Image Journal together and I'll explore the New Story Festival. In so many ways, this is an era none of us ever imagined and are certainly not prepared to embrace. So we're moving slowly, trying to revel in it all thoroughly so that we can respond to the invitation of the Spirit as it is revealed.