Transplanting is hard work....

....especially from the plant's point of view.

On a recent weekend, I looked enviously on my mom's garden. Although different in many ways, she and I both prefer a "cottage" garden. Think lots of blooms...daisy, day lilies, Columbine, and forget-me-nots. I love those little blue friendly flowers. A cottage garden. That's what we call it. Other people call it messy, overgrown, bursting with chaos. Of course, it's much easier for my mom to achieve this look in her garden than in mine. She lives in a wonderfully wet, temperate climate with really rich good soil. I, on the other hand have to rely on artificial rain (a costly sprinkler system) and trucked in soil. Her blooms start appearing at the end of February....I'm still shoveling snow then.

So when I saw all these beautiful lavender plants and day lilies growing like wildflowers, I had to have some. Most of the plants were overcrowded and needed thinning out anyway. Mom generously attacked her garden with a pitchfork and shovel, loading me up with large transplanting victims. Within hours of returning home, I had a brand new flower bed neatly planted with beautiful, although wilted, plants.

All looked good for a few days. Some of the transplants started to pick up there little faces to the sun, and putting down roots. But soon it became apparent that some of the larger, more established plants hadn't done so well. They started to turn brown, the lavender plants turned grey and began dropping their thin leaves.

As I was removing the thoroughly dead plants, I began thinking about when I've been uprooted. Moving to a new town, & learning the role of a mom were major uprootings for me. But following God's voice into this way of following Jesus, this organic/emergent church has been a similiar uprooting. My roots in traditional church run deep. This has been good and bad. The stories of Jesus, memorized verses, and songs learned while young have been refreshing and nourishing during the drought times. But, on the other hand, those deep roots were used to really rich soil, and easy water. Being moved into the harsher environment of "the world" was a shock to my system. I've had to adapt to my environtment, finding nutrients and water in unexpected circumstances and times. Some might argue that I should have just stayed where I was originally planted. I don't think so....I would've crowded someone else.

The Master Gardener (thankfully more adept then myself) transplanted me, knowing that eventually I would "bloom where I was planted."

10 1/2 inches to a better world

I've always been so proud of my husband....he has donated almost 3 gallons of blood. Me? Slightly anemic and wholly fearful of blood draws, I've seen my contribution as clearing any obstacles so that he can make his blood draw appointment. But now, I've found my way of making the world a better place for someone. Today, after a year of growing out my hair for women with cancer, I had 10 1/2 inches chopped off. I'll be sending my tresses to http://www.beautifullengths.com/. We've had far too many friends and family who've fought cancer.

It's a small contribution, but one that works well into my new desire to make any decisions with intentionality. From what type of lawnmower we use, to where I buy my splurge coffee, to riding our bikes more, to growing some of our own food, to clearing out my time schedule. Although seemingly mundane decisions, they are ones that we've stopped to think about....and hopefully come up with an answer that is compassionate, environmentally friendly, and community building. I obviously don't have it all figured out, but today was ten inches closer.

What everyday activity do you want to re-think?

Clean hands, Clean hearts

It must be getting to be summer. The kiddos wanted to do an lemonade stand. We didn't have lemonade......or lemons..... or kool-aid. "How about Ice Tea?" Whew, that idea flew. Now, lemonade, I mean ice tea, stands tend to take more work on the part of the mama, than the kiddos. I was determined to change that today.

"Go find the paper cups. Holy cow! On second thought....First go wash your hands." If you've ever had the joy of raising a son, you know what I mean. Seven year old boy hands can be nasty! Who knows what they've touched along the way throughout the day. I know I would not eat, drink or even smell, anything that those little grubby hands had touched. And I certainly was not going to be responsible for a neighborhood outbreak of samonella or e. coli.

Thoughout today I've been thinking about our first Finding the Way of Jesus gathering. (Just wait, I'll get back to the Ice Tea Stand.) We read through Matthew 4-8 and listed all the things Jesus said to do or modeled for us to do. (Quite a list, I might add) Then, from that each person chose a command to work on this week. Being in a social justice mind frame lately, I wondered why so many of us had inner actions to work on. Rather than selling all our stuff, or going out to find needs to meet, we were asking, seeking, knocking, forgiving. All inside our hearts, minds, and souls.

Then it hit me. First, go wash your hands. As I said these words, I realized our hearts, minds, and souls need to be scrubbed up before we go out feeding the world. Not that every thing must be perfect. (Think 7 year old ice tea stand vs Martha Stewart Ice Tea Stand). But, there are preliminary inner actions that must take place before our hearts are ready to bring Jesus's action to others.

First, go wash your hands. On the other (clean) hand, let's not take too much time in getting ready.

Going Farm Girl!

I have this strong desire to live on a farm....all these overly romanticized ideals of corn as high as an elephants eye, chickens (no poop) free ranging happily, and a sweet cow (all milk, no poop). And of course, the animals all sleep past 9am. So, having toured a couple of 2-6 acre properties for sale in the past few months, I finally have come to my senses. I love my sleep too much, I can hardly keep up with my 1/4 acre yard, and I get tired cleaning up after the dog, much less multiple bovine. So, we reached a compromise. 4 cute little chickies.....hopefully, all girls! I keep telling the kids, "Don't get attached...if one turns out to be a rooster...he'll have to become soup." I was absolutely amazed how quickly I became attached! (You knew I would!) On the way home from the farm store, I was struck with how fragile these little lives were! We got the last four at the store....of course the slowest, least desirable ones. But I think that was God's purpose....knowing that these four could quite possibly become the most pampered hens in Central Oregon. (The feed store employees already think I'm nuts.) So, we'll be happy on our quarter acre with our 4 new little girls. Although, they've already shown me the idiocy of my no poop ideal. Oh, well, it's good for the soil, right?

Beauty in all things

Several years ago, I read a book by Edith Schaeffer entitled Hidden Art. Schaeffer uses this book to elevate the art of homemaking to a spiritual practice. Although now somewhat dated (every feminist bone in your body might scream), the underlying message of finding hidden places for creating beauty and using one's home as a canvas is one that I hold dear. Examples? Like garnishing the asparagus with a pansy the other night. ("Mommy, are we eating flowers?") Adding doodle illustrations to the shopping list so the preschooler can "read" the list to me in the store. Or these little notebooks.........................
I made 20 of these this week as journals for the participants in Finding the Way of Jesus. Each one is made in a different color scheme featuring the FTWOJ logo I designed. This modern take on a Japanese style binding is acheived by using a stretchy hair band and a bamboo skewer cut to length. My hope is that these books will be a visible record of the things Jesus is teaching us.

My husband's comment was, "Wow, I was visualizing notebook paper cut in half, folded, and maybe stapled."

Just my small way of creating beauty in all things.

Finding the Way of Jesus

So..... part of this quest to create soil, in the spiritual sense, has left my husband and I wondering, "How?" Traditional church hasn't worked for us for many years. We're good with Jesus, just not all the extra layers that have been added to him over the centuries. So, we decided to figure out what it would look like to strip away all the church culture (this has been a looong process) and actually do what Jesus modeled or did in our own lives, present time and in our Central Oregon culture. If you'd like to be a part of that process.....read further.

This is an Invitation to join us in:

Finding the way of Jesus:
A four week discussion/action group that digs deep into the commands and model of Jesus and challenges us to incorporate those into our daily lives.

Schedule:

Thursday, May 15th, 6:30-8pm
Thursday, May 22nd, 6:30-8pm

Thursday, May 29th, 6:30-8pm Thursday, June 5th, 6-8pm (potluck dinner)

Weekly Schedule:

6:30 say hi, gather, recap/intro

7:00 scripture reading/activity

7:30 set weekly goals, hugs & goodbyes

This is designed for you if you are an individual, couple, or family that wants to:
· study the life of Jesus
· put the ways of Jesus into action
· gain the support and encouragement of a community of believers as you put into action the way of Jesus

At the end of this Discussion, we hope that participants will:
· Have identified core values that Jesus modeled
· Have put Jesus’ words into a daily visible action.
· Have practiced a daily visible action on their own, with a friend, and with the larger community.

Nitty Gritty:
Come committed to the whole 4 week schedule. “Homework” or weekly reading will be expected. This is a participatory group….no sermons, or grand ideas. You will get out of it with direct correlation to what you put in to it.

We would love for the kiddos to be involved in this spiritual formation. Children are encouraged to participate with their parents in the discussion and action goals. Kiddos should be able to track with the group for 30-45 minutes. If kids are not ready for that commitment please find child care for them.

To register or for questions: Email: schmidtmandy@hotmail.com

Many times, while I'm out weeding the garden, I have these metephorically ideas comparing a garden to our spiritual lives. I know.... that's nothing new. Jesus spoke repeatedly about harvests, seeds, plants and.... soil. Soil, in case you didn't know, is very different from dirt. Soil is cared-for dirt. Here in Central Oregon, we're sitting on top of a whole bunch of volcanic rock, with a thin sprinkling of dirt on top. After years of pulling out rock, weeds, and adding a heck of a bunch of compost, planting seeds and things are finally starting to grow. I suspect that creating a heart of good soil takes on much of the same process. Getting rid of the harden chunks, mixing in a bunch of crap, adding some touches of beauty, and finally seeing some results.

This blog will be a record of that process for myself, my family and my community of faith. Along the way, you'll hear garden-y parables & you'll see my artsy response to that growth.

Welcome!