Hospitality- English Style

I don't think I really appreciated hospitality until I traveled to England for the first time. The more I travel, the more open I have become to welcoming people, meeting people, and experiencing time with good people. As Christians we are to share the good news and show love to our neighbors. What better way to show love than by welcoming guests and treating them like family?

I will never forget my first arrival in England. Jason and I flew over with his friend Richard, and we planned to stay with his family at their farm in Tonbridge, Kent, about a 30 minute train ride south of London. At the airport, Richard's dad picked us up and drove us into Tonbridge. This was my first time stepping onto the ground of England. First time overseas. First time encountering driving on the left side of the road. My eyes must have been wide like owl's eyes. Even after the overnight flight with little sleep, my senses were alive and alert.

We drove down narrow streets lined with hedges on both sides (the English love their hedges) and soon pulled into the farm. The white farmhouse is a lovely 2-storey full of family history. We made our way into the kitchen, where Richard's mum greeted us. Richard commented that our breakfast on the plane was not very good, so his mum told us to put our luggage away and she would fix some tea. Jason and I brought our luggage upstairs to our rooms. My room was the sewing/craft room. It had a single bed against the wall and a long desk full of sewing supplies. It had windows that would open by a little lever. One window was open, hinged at the top, it was pushed outward and held open by a little arm. My room overlooked a lovely garden on the side of the house. Upon further exploring, I noticed all the windows in the house were open and there were no screens. No need for A/C and no need for screens either. I found that even during that first night, as it rained, my window stayed open and no rain came in. The cool night air kept my room delightfully chilly and utterly comfortable. Sounds of the English Countryside leaked in, but rain did not.

After checking out Jason's room, we headed back downstairs to the kitchen, where Richard's mum prepared tea, coffee, toast, jam, cereal, and other items. This was my first taste of tea in England, and they sure know how to make the best pots of tea. Every cup of tea I had in England (trust me, I had a lot) was a thousand times better than I've had before. It is amazing. I learned that teatime is pretty much any time you take a break. Meaning, it's a frequent occurance. As I took a piece of toast and slathered it with homemade plum and port jam made by Richard's brother, his dad and brother popped in to have a cup of tea before going back out on the farm. Then his sister came in reminding everyone of the wedding in a short time. We were not invited, of course, but everyone thought it would be lovely if we came, and we could just sit up in the gallery. So, we all dressed in some nice clothes, and 3 hours after landing in England we went to an English wedding. I felt part of the family. It was such a warm feeling to be included and welcomed in everything. Later, we took walks around the farm through the sheep fields and the apple orchards. I ate one of their apples the next day and it was perfectly crisp and sweet. We went to church with the family the next day, and had lunch in the kitchen with the addition of a long table for all the family and guests, more walks around the farm, and an elaborate tea (with meats, cheeses, cakes, fruit, tea) where everyone relaxed in the sitting room reading, talking, eating, and enjoying time together before another church service that night.

It was bliss. These were the first impressions of England that I encountered. Full of hospitality. Doesn't it make you want to go?

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. -Hebrews 13.2

Heat

Listen. If the leaves

Rustle, it's a gift.

This hot silence is not

Easy to miss

With the loud clashing

Against your skin

As it stews outside.

I look out, from within.

An escape, just until

I step out next.

It reached 90 degrees today. I don't think I am ready for the kind of heat Florida deals out regularly in the Summer. This same time last week I was sitting out on my balcony, comfortable in the low humidity. I knew it would be short-lived, and that is why I soaked it in. Now, the humid, hot air has returned and everyone flocks to the pool. I went for a run at my apartment gym and on my way back the only sound was the drone of everyone's air conditioning unit running. Welcome to Florida.

Love Is The Answer

Questions linger, floating freely

Dreams are choppy, strange, and foggy

I look around at the daily dull

With visions of somewhere much more full

I never thought this is where I'd be

Unsure by everything I see

Yet sure of the love God has for me

Thankful for each moment I am free

The price was high for the love I have

I stop to think how much it cost

So sharing this love is the answer here

For if not for this love, I would be lost

A poem is like a rosebud, like Russian nesting dolls, like anything small and compact that contains multitudes. Or like one of those plastic capsules that, dropped into bathwater, dissolves to produce a large foam dinosaur. Poems are deceptively expansive.
-Dyana Herron, Image Journal

Durham, England

Right along the train route in Northeast England, this little town quickly became one of my favorites. I could easily live here. From the train you cannot miss the Durham Cathedral standing tall on the hill. It’s impressive. Durham is a short 15 minute train ride south of Newcastle. Something I love about the train system is that the stations are usually fairly close to the town centre, which is ideal for a traveler like me, who doesn’t have a car or bike. Walking is my mode of transportation, and really the best way to see any city anyway.

So I arrived in Durham and found my way to the town centre, and with each step the road slowly started to incline, as my destination was the Durham Cathedral and Castle, which sit at the top of the hill. The narrow, pedestrian-only, cobblestone streets twist their way up the hill. Along the way there is so much to distract you from the upward climb. Cafes, unique little shops, groceries, bookstores, a beautiful church, a plaza with a statue of a man on a horse, and lots of people taking a stroll. I took my time meandering through the streets since I didn’t know for sure where I was going, but I figured as long as I was walking uphill I would reach the cathedral.

At last the cathedral came into view as I emerged from narrow streets to a wide open green space on the Durham University campus. The Castle itself is part of the university, and students live in the castle keep. How amazing is that? I asked this question of Jason’s friend, Humphrey, who I met on our first trip to the UK. He went to school there and lives in Newcastle. He acted as our tour guide on our first visit, and he knew the answer to everything we asked him. History, stories, interesting quirks. When Humphrey drove us to Durham that time, it was after sunset, so we walked up to the cathedral, but discovered we could not enter it because Sting was filming a DVD inside. I wanted to say to Sting, Um, excuse us, but we are visiting from the States and we really want to see the cathedral. I don’t think that would have worked. But Humphrey told us interesting things like how each student gets the chance to live in the castle for one year. This second visit I took the train alone from Newcastle, and we met up with Humphrey on another evening.

I took a guided tour through the castle, dating from 1072. A student led the group around and told us interesting stories. We walked up a staircase of solid oak, which was slanted because it had no support columns. We discovered I was the only American in the group of about 30. Then I toured the cathedral, dating from 1096-1130, which demonstrates the classic Norman architecture, and I had lunch in the crypt (delicious!). Later, I went back into town and wandered around like a local. I stopped in the Waterstone’s bookstore and was captivated by more English Literature than I could dream of. Of course, it was because the university was a block or two away. I made my rounds in a little convenience store, buying a magazine and my favorite British chocolate. I found myself wanting to find reasons to stay there. So, I sat in a Café Nero for awhile, sipping a mocha and feeling so utterly comfortable in the town. I finally walked slowly back to the train station.

You could definitely call it a quaint town. Yet this is the home of the most beloved cathedral in England and the 3rd oldest university in England after Oxford and Cambridge. I loved that it wasn’t overrun with tourists. I loved that it had so much history. People were friendly, the pace was easy, and the places I ate had the freshest ingredients. I would go back to Durham in a heartbeat.



Endless

Endless invention, endless experiment,

Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness,

Knowledge of speech, but not of silence,

Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.

All our knowledge brings us nearer to death,

But nearness to death, no nearer to God.

-T.S. Eliot, The Rock

With so much going on in our world, our country, our state, our job, and our families, it's sometimes hard to feel collected in our own thoughts. The demands of each day pull at us from several directions, all demanding our attention. We can get lost in the shuffle of the everyday and so entangled in other people's lives (people we know or don't know) that we lose sight of our own. We let opportunities slip by or we forget to take advantage of situations we are in where we can make good things happen.

While it is good to stay on top of things and be well informed, sometimes life does require a time to disconnect and get away from it all. The noise and distractions. The demands. The stress. Maybe if we kept a Sabbath day we would enter each new week with a refreshed spirit, instead of dragging our feet. Jesus went out into the wilderness quite often to pray and be still. We are not made to go on and on endlessly. God rested, and so should we. Use that time to strengthen communication with God. I don't mean meditate all day, but slow down and let God in. You may begin to see how often you usually push Him out.

Blue Ridge Challenge

This nice weather that just rolled down into Florida has me thinking back to a month or so ago when I was in North Carolina. A change of scenery is a sure way to get the gears moving in my mind. Some of the windy days we have had lately brings me back to driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway when the wind was a constant 30-40 mph. I could feel the invisible gusts striking the side of my car as I drove. As I stood at a lookout spot taking photos, a gust came from behind me and I dug my heels into the ground. That wind could have shoved me off the cliff because there's no railing here, I thought, and there's nobody around to notice.

It made me feel pretty isolated in nature. The wind coming over the mountain peaks where trees sit without leaves and little patches of leftover snow cling to a few roadside spots. I look around me and there is nothing except mountains and a very enjoyable stretch of road to drive on. I hop back into my BMW and pull out onto the parkway and curve around the mountain faster than I should. The road is desolate. It's almost all mine. I stop at the lookouts and take a moment to marvel at the view and the quiet it was. How the mountains seem to extend forever in front of me and how the sky and clouds sit low enough to touch the mountains. Then, I remember that I am in the sky too. At 4,400 feet it's a dream world far away from the flatness of Florida. I smile at the beauty and creativity of God's creation, and my soul is reluctant to leave.

When I experience different things apart from my normal everyday schedule, I find that I am more open to taking time to enjoy, marvel, see, respect, and soak it in. So, how can I fit that into each day, even in a small way? That is a challenge, indeed.

The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest light to all the world. -Ann Voskamp

Calling Haiti .......Are You There?

I am amazed by the technology we have today. The things our mobile phones do now is baffling to many people (such as our parents age group), as they are still trying to figure out how to text, let alone figure out how to Google map directions on a phone. When you think about it, it has moved so fast. I got my first mobile phone in high school when I started driving. I had a limited number of minutes to use and the only thing it did was make and receive calls. Today, I see 10 year olds with mobile phones that browse the Internet and take HD video.

I think we forget sometimes how it feels to lose connection to someone.
I am particularly thinking about this right now because my brother, Jason, is in Haiti with 7 other amazing people from his church. They have been there for four days now. When they flew into Port-au-Prince, they had to take a small plane south to Les Cayes. There, at the missionaries home base, there was a computer with Internet, so I was thrilled to receive an email from Jason saying they all had arrive safely. But I knew that was the last I would be able to hear from him until 5 days later. The next morning, they were scheduled to drive through the rough roads in the mountains to Baraderes. I can't wait to hear from him in a few days.

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, right? When I can usually call, email, text, or G-chat Jason, it is now so blatently obvious that I have no way to communicate with him. Truthfully, I am not worried. I have been praying each day for all that the group will be doing. It’s getting used to this lack of communication that I am not accustomed to.
It’s trusting in things that I cannot see. Having faith that while I cannot communicate, God most definitely can. Even in the midst of a tiny Haitian village. That is why the prayers are so important. It’s helping me remember that nothing can replace the communication we need with God, through prayer.

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. -Hebrews 11.1

Not All Who Need Help Cry Out

"I would have you know my mind, and by knowing it, understand that I wish only to help you."
Fin felt her jaw tighten and had to force herself to relax. "I don't need your help."
"So you have said." Jeannot touched the welt under his eye. "But not all who need help cry out."
-"Fiddler's Green", A.S. Peterson

I just finished reading this book, Fiddler's Green. It's a beautifully written adventure story where the main character, Fin, (a redhead!) starts off as a tough-headed, misguided, selfish pirate, but through the course of the hardships she and her ship's crew endure, and the patience and compassion of Jeannot, she ends up saving people from slavery and earning herself a much improved character with compassion.
This little section of dialogue really struck me as I read. I saw some deeper things going on here. Jeannot is a knight from Malta and he represents the dying order of good, moral, and just actions. He is just trying to help Fin, and yet she doesn't want to admit she needs help. She's living in this little bubble of denial.

How many of us live in denial that we need help? It's not the kind of help we need when we need a ride to work. But it's a deeper kind of help we need for our souls. We enter dark times of struggle and we need sustenance to get through the stretch of time. Lent is a season where we focus on the dark times before Easter morning. Where we think about the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus. The simple fact is, Jesus is just trying to help us, and we tend to be the stubborn souls living in denial.

The purpose of the darkness is to prepare us for the dawn. And the dawn comes on Easter when the tomb is empty and everything is changed. Doubts are stripped away as all that was foretold came true.

Jesus said, "Don't be afraid, only believe." Mark 5.36

He understands us and knows what is best for us. Ephesians 1.8

Tiny Corner of Peace

This morning smells like the coffee I brewed, pages from my book, and fresh air. Occasionally, the cool breeze brings a subtle scent of sweet flowers. Just for a moment I inhale slowly to capture the memory of the smell. Lovely. I am so glad my apartment faces the grass, the wilderness, and then a golf course in the distance. The peacefulness is much appreciated on a day like this- where the world seems frozen in a perpetual painting of blue sky, green grass, and bright sun. After a wild week of rain and storms, I imagine everyone has rushed outside. Many sunburns will emerge as overzealous people forget that the sun is very strong. But days lacking in sun makes Floridians nostalgic for it. I am content in the shade. My pale skin thanks me.

My little corner is a tiny spot, and yet nature and peacefulness abounds. But you have to stop and listen. Take deep breaths. Pay attention. Take notice of the little things. Otherwise it gets lost as just another day.

Let Your face smile on us, Lord. Psalm 4.6

Isle of Skye, Scotland

The Quiraing
I think this was my favorite spot on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The pure awe I felt while looking out onto this prehistoric place left me inspired by God's imagination. The attraction here is God's creation. This island has very little else. No cities. No big buildings. More sheep than people. Lots of shaggy highland cattle. So, drive around this amazing place on the single-track roads and soak in the fullness of the dramatic scenes.
This photo has been my desktop background since I have been back, so for about 6 months, now. I never get tired of looking at this view.