Beach and Bamboo

This get-away spot has the best of all the worlds-- there is beach, bamboo, breezes, sun, shade at times, good food, beautiful flowers, and a few cool birds and other creatures. 

Last night on the walk back from dinner, I saw a huge toad on the sidewalk. No photo.

I have only heard the woodpecker in the bamboo until today. It flew off and went to a tree. It was a red-headed one. Look closely and you might find it.

There have been some lizards.

I have listened to the wind blow through the bamboo.  I have heard the gentle waves on the shore. 

I have heard the gentle rain and the downpour. 

It has been a time to breathe in and breathe out.

Jamaican time. It is allowing my body to rest and my soul time to catch up. 

It has offered me time to walk, play in the water, rest (even taking naps), and time to simply be.

Good coffee has been a plus, as has good food. 

There have been some hearts seen. 

Grateful for this time away.

Here are some random pics of flowers.

My time here in Negril, Jamaica 🇯🇲 along the 7-mile Beach has been good for me.

Until next time,

Peace on the journey. 

Rev. Deb

Labyrinth time during Holy Week

Though my Lenten practice of walking/praying the labyrinth is over, I wanted to walk/pray during Holy Week. 

I was able to get my time in at dusk.

As I approached the labyrinth at Burks UMC,  I saw something brown in the grass. Was it a squirrel? It turned out to be a bunny rabbit. There were two. The one in the left hopped away sooner than the one on the right. 

Bunnies and blooms were the overall theme tonight, along with crickets as the primary sound.

The violets were in full bloom. There were a few dandelions in white form, or as I call them, blowy flowers. 

My heart seemed heavier tonight. I sat vigil this afternoon with someone who will soon be crossing the threshold.  Yet, that is not a heavy thing. It is a beautiful experience, Holy ground, and an honor to walk that part of life with someone. 

Truthfully, it is a beautiful experience, Holy ground, and an honor to walk any and all parts of life with someone.  That is something I enjoy offering to another. It is part of who I am. Me, as me. Me, as pastor. Me, as ally. Etc. It is simply me. I have always walked alongside others, meeting them where they are.

Maybe that's what keeps drawing me back to the labyrinth. It takes me to the center of things, to the center of who I am. It allows me to let go, to trust the One who created me, and to help me to be me.

As this week continues, may I walk/pray knowing I am a beloved child of God. May I live into the me I am created to be. 

May you know this too. May you do this too.

Peace, 

Rev. Deb

A photo received

There is a picture of a heart I took two weeks ago and posted that has continued to be in my mind.  It's not odd for me to take pictures of heart-shaped items.  If you read my blogposts, you know I've been doing it for a while, that I learned about the book "See A Heart, Share A Heart", and that I hashtag most every heart with #seeaheartshareaheart.

But this heart is different.

I was walking along the Riverwalk off Amnicola Highway where I often stop for a quick walk so I can go down to the river to pray.  I call it the "bug" section because it has several cool bug playground areas for kids.  [I learned that others call it the "Bug Park" too. That's fun!  So, it's now official.  The "Bug Park" at Riverpoint.  Check out this link for more information.]

I went down to the river.  I prayed.  It was on my way back, that out of the corner of my eye, this heart, at the bottom of this tree trunk caught my attention.  I got off the concrete path and walked over to it to look more closely and took a picture.  The picture I took that day made it look like the heart was deep and layered.

April 24, 2018 at Riverwalk

That day was a difficult day for me.  It was the day I learned that my hip surgery was being postponed because my A1C (blood sugar level) was .2 elevated above what the surgeon would allow.  All the planning and preparation that had taken place for months was erased and put on hold.  The pain had increasingly been rising, as had the A1C over the past 6 months.

My heart was heavy and I needed to clear my heart, mind, and soul.  Thus the walk.

That heart was a photo received that day. It was a gift of unexpected grace to me that brought peace and healing.

In Christine Valters Painter's Eyes of the Heart, she writes about received photos: ""Receiving photos" with the heart is an experience of grace and revelation, an encounter with the sacred." (19)

That is exactly what I experienced that day.

My heart knew what I needed and found it.  Christine writes earlier on the same page: "When we engage photography as a contemplative practice, we are creating art from a heart-centered place." (19)

This Sunday, I went back down to the river to pray, after having already walked and prayed the labyrinth in Fort Oglethorpe.  I needed some exercise plus I wanted to go see the heart on the tree again.

This time I was intentionally looking for it from the path.  I wondered if I would remember which clearing and which tree.  I did.  It was tiny from the path.  How did that catch my eye previously when I was going the opposite direction?  I walked over, took another picture, observed its beauty.  Then I stepped back and took a picture in context.

May 6, 2018

For me, that heart is a sacred heart.  Akin to the heart I found on the day of my Ordination interview back in the fall.  I found a heart that day in the root of a tree between lunch and my interview.

Sometimes the hearts I find simply cause me to smile or encourage me.  At other times they seem to have a more meaningful or deeper purpose.  Regardless, I am grateful for hearts.  I am grateful for walks.  I am grateful for photography and for the opportunity to learn to see with eyes of the heart.

A few more thoughts from Christine: "God's presence is always before us.  The invitation is to shift our vision from seeing the obvious and expected with our physical eyes to beholding the sacred within any given moment with the eyes of our hearts." (16)

"When you cultivate the art of beholding, you nurture your capacity to see the world with the eyes of your heart." (16)

One Scripture reference to behold that fits here-- Psalm 119:18-- "Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."

Seeing with the eyes of the heart.  May that continue to grow as I continue my journey of living, loving, and leading like Jesus.

Blessings on your journey,

Debra

World Labyrinth Day 2018

World Labyrinth Day 2018 was this past Saturday, May 5th.  Folks were encouraged to find a local labyrinth and join together across the world at 1pm.  It is always held on the first Saturday in May.  This year was the 10th celebration.  You can find out more about it at the Labyrinth Society's link to World Labyrinth Day here.

I attended a celebration of life service on Saturday, so I did my labyrinth walk yesterday.

I went to a labyrinth I often visit when I am in Fort Oglethorpe, GA. It is at the Church of the Nativity, an Episcopal church.  The church is located at 1201 Cross Street.

When I arrived yesterday, I noticed right away that there were stacked stones (cairns) throughout the labyrinth. This was the first time I have seen them stacked. I was curious if it had been part of the world labyrinth day celebration or some other occasion or if someone simply came along and made the stacks.

As I walked and prayed, I found a heart rock. I noticed the flowers, I stopped to fix some of the stacks that had toppled over.

Website for Church of the Nativity (from the website, you can read more about labyrinths in general and their labyrinth)

Want to know more about labyrinths? The labyrinth society is a great resource.  Check out their website below.  Not only can you learn about them, but you can also locate them locally to where you are. (Not all labyrinths are posted on their site, so ask around in your community.)

Website for the Labyrinth Society

After posting a picture yesterday that I had walked and prayed the labyrinth, a friend posted that St. Peter's Episcopal on Ashland Terrace in Chattanooga, TN is soon on creating/building a labyrinth.  With that one and the Church of the Nazarene in Flintstone, GA (there are in the process of building one too), that will be two new ones locally for me to visit.

I have written about my other labyrinth prayer walks and the other local labyrinths in my community that I have found thus far.  If you are interested in reading those blog posts, simply search for the label "labyrinth".

Blessings on your journey,

Debra