Barbara's Creative Projects
My annual “day off.” This year it grey cool and wet day. I visited Greenway Garden Centre and Belgian Garden Centre. So nice to be among the flowers and the green growing things!
I also started a mandala. Richard Rohr wrote about using the mandala as a spiritual practice, a kind of prayer. Here is what I’m working on.
My Beloved Man is an Iranian Baha’i. The Baha’i were (and still are) persecuted to the point of death in Iran by the Muslim majority as he was growing up. He has no soft feelings for that religion; I’ve heard him say that it would only be a good thing if they were wiped off the face of the earth.
He has a business neighbour who is going through a tough time of family breakup. Mohammed is a Muslim from Syria who goes around telling others that his wife is a bitch and a whore and whatever other nasty thing comes into his head. BM has heard Mohammed call her these names and treat her with total lack of respect or kindness.
Last weekend, at 1:30 AM, my Beloved Man got a call from Mohammed who was sleeping in his garage (business) because he wasn’t going to back to that “whore house” anymore. He asked BM for a blanket because he was cold and sick and hadn’t eaten in days. And so BM got up, gathered three blankets and drove into town, stopping at Tim Horton’s to pick up a large tea and bagel and spent the next hour plus listening and talking with this Muslim man.
And I keep thinking about the story Jesus told of the Good Samaritan. When we can bind the wounds of our enemy we are walking in the Way.
Who is my enemy? Would my friend/enemy know he/she could call me in the middle of the night to request help? Would I be willing to get out of my warm bed to go help?
I am so grateful for “That Man,” he has taught me much about love.
After Thursday-Friday’s snow, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday the weather turned to spring. I walked to church. I started digging in the ground. Monday’s brief thunderstorm brought toads singing!
I am so very grateful to be living here!
I went for a walk with my camera on Sunday evening. Not far from the Gehiere’s home I saw a mountain jay hopping around the flower bed. I wanted a picture. When I went around the bush it had just hopped behind I found this:
an apparently dead jay. I snapped a bunch of photos. And started to move away.
Was that movement?
Head pops up. Silly jay! Just didn’t want it’s picture taken.