Mercy Hunting: Talk to the Trees

Hello Hello!  How was your week? 

Ours was wet and rainy, but it started out sunny with a hint of summer.  The Rockwall Hilton is about 30 minutes from home but it feels like a whole other world.  I've written about this hotel/resort before }here{ ... it's fast becoming one of my happy places :o)  LtDan and I went for a little getaway, but we invited the kids to come hang out by the gorgeous pool Sunday afternoon.  Does your idea of a perfect afternoon look anything like this?

Last year, shopping for prom was nearly my undoing.  This year it's been slow and easy because we learned our lesson and got the dress ordered in plenty of time, which allowed us to focus on shoe shopping.  Shopping isn't my favorite thing, even shoe shopping, but I think I could get into it with some practice.  I focused on finding shoes that will look right with her dress and fit in our budget, while Abbie focused on whether or not she'd be able to dance in them.

Ruby and I walked and walked this week, in spite of the rain.  By my calculation, walking in boots through mud should add at least 150 extra calories burned, even though MapMyWalk makes no allowance for it.  I walk and look for the mercies that God pours out new each and every morning ... but I'll be honest, it's also my exercise regimen.  For the last  five years  ten years ... okay, for most of my life, I've given no real thought to my personal responsibility to care for my body, nor have I considered what neglecting it will look like in my golden years.  So here I am, trying to play catch up in a body that's forgotten how to burn calories.  This week I experimented with interval training, where you alternate walking at top speed with a much slower pace every few minutes.  As I walked and thought about interval training, I thought the word 'training' with air quotes around it.  The wise woman who lives in my head and occasionally gets to have her say strongly objected.  "What do you mean, air quoting the word training?" she says to me.  "If you think you're just taking a walk, then your results will be leisurely.  If you want serious results from all this walking, you better call it what it is.  You're either taking a nice little walk here, or you're training your body to be healthier."  It was a game changing moment with implications reaching into every realm of my life.  Much of the time I am doing a thing, but thinking about another thing (usually many other things).  In placing my thoughts elsewhere, sometimes the purpose and meaning of what I'm doing in the moment is diluted, and the effectiveness is watered down to nearly nothing.  Calling it 'training' as opposed to 'going for a walk' has an entirely different implication.  I consider ... what other areas of my life do I so casually mislabel and thus de-purpose?

While I'm telling you about conversations I have with the people in my head, I may as well tell you I also talk to trees.  I step up on a big stone out there in the woods that's become my Proclaiming Place, and I tell the trees the most important things I am going to do today.  Sometimes I also tell them what I am not going to do today, like eat the cookies I bought for the kids at the grocery store last night.  This is SO WEIRD, I know, but it actually works for me.  I don't even think about what I've said there among the trees until I'm out there again the next day, but somehow, declaring it out loud - yes, to the trees -  makes a difference.   It's like a rural support group.  Try it ... maybe it'll work for you, too :o)

With all the rain, the creek is once again rushing along.  Remember in On the Banks of Plum Creek when Laura Ingalls Wilder woke up one morning to a loud roaring outside the dugout and she couldn't wait to explore it?  That was me this morning when I opened the front door.  

The morning glories I planted by the creek and in the log in the woods are loving the rain and are growing growing growing!  I checked on the ones in the woods and disturbed a lizard with a stripe down his side that was like a streak of neon blue lightening.  When I walked by again, I tried to sneak a peak at him, and I could just see his little head peaking around the edge of the log.  Maybe he'll do some weeding for me this summer.  I also see the rollie pollies plan to make a feast of the flowers if I don't do something about it.

Most of the time Ruby is the only wildlife I see, unless you count butterflies and lady bugs and birds.  But I can usually tell when something has been walking my trail, too - probably a wild hog.  They bend the grass down looking for things to eat, I guess.  It's kind of nice, because then the tall grass doesn't get my sweats so wet.  I'm looking forward to mowing my trail as soon as it stops raining and dries out a bit.

Hey ... if, just in case you live in the Dallas area and are longing to live in the country, that's exactly where we were 13 years ago.  And if, just in case, you're thinking it's time to make good on what your heart tells you, that you really want a life in the country ... take a look at this property just listed by my sister.  There are 12 acres, tilled pastures, outbuildings, and a three bedroom 2 bath house to love.  Maybe we could be neighbors and talk to the trees together :o)

Click the picture or click }here{ to go to the real estate listing for more information.