Creativity and Carlessness

ways to deal with your car breaking down...and being car-less for a week...

also, reading the surprisingly interesting journal of Jesse Applegate who traveled from Missouri to Oregon in 1843 when he was 8 years old. a sentence that made me smile (after they had finally arrived months later): "...It appeared to be difficult to decide where to settle down in such a vast unappropriated wilderness. We were then actually encamped on the site of the city of Portland, but there was no prophet with us to foretell of the beautiful city that one day in the not too distant future was to take the place of that gloomy forest." (from Recollections of My Boyhood by Jesse A. Applegate)

after walking a LOT this weekend, i have a newfound appreciation for people walking across our country. and i had the advantage of wearing Asics.

a poem by mary oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine." (mary oliver)



today i am learning what this little verse means: "be still and know that I am God."
today i am waiting.

The Great Race (Agoura Hills)

last weekend's race in agoura hills was a gift. we ran on trails with wildflowers to our waists, hopped across tiny streams and pointed out bunnies running across the path. quiet oaks stretched over the trail and the cool air on our backs made even running up the switchbacks doable. the getting to the top made it enjoyable, even. its amazing how quickly you forget the difficulties when you're flying down the other side.

afterwards, i felt full to the brim with happiness and joy and soul-fullness. beauty will do that to you. i walked back to the hotel with bright pink sage on my left and hills covered with wild grasses before me. the birds were singing so joyfully it made me want to laugh.

i look back on this and smile because this was the foundation that was laid for this week. on my way back home from the race, my car started having trouble. it had already been in the shop a couple of days before so i couldn't believe it. needless to say, in knowing now what was happening inside the engine, i'm amazed i was able to get home. thank you, God.

all week i've been taken to and from work by kind and wonderful friends. i've walked over to the shop where my car is sitting on my lunch breaks to see how things are coming along--we're waiting for a bolt of all things--and i've been so encouraged by the community God has given me.

my mom called me yesterday morning on her way to work. she had read A.B. Simpson's translation of 2 Corinthians that morning and said she had to call because it was so fitting. how even the most annoying or sad or frustrating or whatever things can be packaged together and used for him. that nothing is in vain. that is a beautiful thing.

Therefore, I take pleasure in being without strength, in insults, in being pinched, in being chased about, in being cooped up in a corner for Christ's sake; for when I am without strength, then I am dynamite. (2 Corinthians 12:10)