Starry Sky Ranch

Santa Fe Cathedral

Santa Fe has long been a bucket list destination for me.  Literally some 25 years now. From the first time I saw Mary Emmerling mixing chintz and kilim and turquoise and blue willow in her historic adobe home there the idea was planted firmly in my mind. Then, of course, there is Georgia OKeefe. And Willa Cather. And Ansel Adams.  Well dear reader, I got there finally and it did not disappoint.  It was a short visit and my feet were throbbing by the end from trying to cover as much ground as possible. 

If you've read Death Comes for the Archbishop (and I have not but am about to) then you may remember the fictionalized account of the Cathedral of Santa Fe.  I thought you might enjoy a peek. We can start here...

“Either a building is part of a place or it is not. Once that kinship is there, time will only make it stronger.”
― Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

Pantry Refresh

It has not been that long since we painted and set up the current pantry but it has already needed to be reordered and straightened up more than once, thanks in part to bulk food stocking. We also cleared, sanitized, and reworked a garage shelving unit and defrosted the big freezer.  This fix has solved many little problems and the spaces are working well again. No more giant brown bags of rice and oats and flour rolled up and spilling for one thing.

 Covid lockdowns and grocery store outages caught us unprepared last year but I feel better now having built our usual stock back up.  It's not going to last through a straight up Armageddon scenario but most minor crises could be weathered now. 

I have researched different pantry systems but landed on sorting by type of item and similar container sizes as opposed to this sort of zone system. We apparently use the same items for multiple things so it was a mess trying to work it the other way. I would love to have designer baskets and cereal dispensers and any number of fun containers but our bargain dish tubs and Dollar Tree containers are working great.  We have a good back to front system now so the oldest food doesn't languish in corners. 

Like all homemaking chores this is not a once and done.  All systems require continual maintenance and upkeep. The key is not overloading any given space.  More can fit INto a space than can be easily taken in and out of a space on a regular basis.  Easy access is really essential wherever you are storing frequently used items.  This was our problem -  more stuff crammed on shelves than we could work with easily.  That wasn't by choice.  There was a real problem getting food and supplies at different times, but here we are in a better place again.  

Life is that way - the ebb and flow of challenges and solutions.  

 

the greatest grace

The book we read for book club last month was He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek.  I did not print a notes pdf for this study unfortunately but have been mulling over different passages, particularly relevant during the Easter season.  This book moved along at a snail's pace.  It hit me - like the proverbial ton of bricks - that this was a huge metaphor for spiritual enlightenment.  So slow.  So painfully slow. And when you finally get a glimpse, you realize it was there all along.  Simple, obvious perhaps. Convicting to your very core. 

The whole message boiled down to the Cross and the will of God.  He reflects over and over on how very often God strips us of all those things we come to rely on for our peace of mind and security - our routines, the familiar things in our lives, our own abilities - and brings us face to face with Himself.  This can be terrifying, quite honestly.

“We go along, taking for granted that tomorrow will be very much like today, comfortable in the world we have created for ourselves, secure in the established order we have learned to live with, however imperfect it may be, and give little thought to God at all. Somehow, then, God must contrive to break through those routines of ours and remind us once again, like Israel, that we are ultimately dependent only upon him, that he has made us and destined us for life with him through all eternity, that the things of this world and this world itself are not our lasting city, that his we are and that we must look to him and turn to him in everything. Then it is, perhaps, that he must allow our whole world to be turned upside down in order to remind us it is not our permanent abode or final destiny"

There are those who have suggested that a sure sign of being in God's good graces is material blessing and great good fortune.  I will submit that the witness of the martyrs and the saints says otherwise.  It will very often present as an unraveling of all earthly stability, gradually leading us to rely on God alone. That can be a hard sell, to be sure. 

Lest we go there in our minds he is quick to assure that God is not vindictive.  The falling is on us., on our human weakness.  He is an economical God, however, and will make good use of every mistake, every misstep:

“Mysteriously, God in his providence must make use of our tragedies to remind our fallen human nature of his presence and his love, of the constancy of his concern and care for us. It is not vindictiveness on his part; he does not send us tragedies to punish us for having so long forgotten him. The failing is on our part.”

He also reassures us that the will of God is not all that mysterious nor "out there" someplace.  It is right before us in each circumstance we find ourselves in day by day:

"...things suddenly seemed so very simple. There was but a single vision, God, who was all in all; there was but one will that directed all things, God's will.

I had only to see it, to discern it in every circumstance in which I found myself, and let myself be ruled by it.

God is in all things, sustains all things, directs all things.

To discern this in every situation and circumstance, to see His will in all things, was to accept each circumstance and situation and let oneself be borne along in perfect confidence and trust."

 

 

This has become the lesson of this Easter season.

Ladder of Humility

This morning during my reading I dug a little deeper into the original "twelve steps" program St Benedict laid out for us.  It is not to break addiction from substances but from pride, which is ultimately even deadlier.  The original core list is here:

Twelve  Steps  of  Humility

Step 1. A first step is taken when one consciously obeys all of God’s commandments, never ignoring them but always holding within himself a fear of God in his heart.

Step 2. The second step is achieved when one thinks not about pleasing himself but instead follow the injunction of the Lord.

Step 3. The third step is reached when out of love of God, one obediently submits to a superior in imitation of the Lord.

Step 4. The fourth step is achieved when one, under obedience, patiently and quietly endures all thing that are inflicted on him.  It should make no difference whether the trials are painful, unjust or even completely beyond his understanding; he should neither tire nor give up.

Step 5. The fifth step is reached when one humbly discloses to his superior all the evil thoughts in his heart, as well as those faults and evil acts he has actually committed.

Step 6. To achieve the sixth step one must without qualms accept all that is crude and harsh; at all times he considers himself a poor and worthless workman.

Step 7. The seventh step is attained when one not only confesses that he is an inferior and common wretch, but believes it to his very core.  He must be willing to humble himself.

Step 8. One reaches the eighth step of humility when he does only that which is demanded by the common rule of his seniors.

Step 9. The ninth step can be achieved when one, practicing silence, only speaks when asked a question.

Step 10. The tenth step is climbed when one restrains himself from undue laughter and frivolity.

Step 11. To reach the eleventh step one must speak gently, without jests, but simply, seriously, tersely, rationally and softly.

Step 12. The final step is attained only when one can at all times show humility not only in his appearance and actions, but also in his heart.

I printed off this meditation of the 12 Steps with daily challenges to add to the Morning Basket. 

As well as this commentary.  

Yes, it is truly counter-cultural. It is also truly freeing. It not thinking less of yourself, but as the quote says, thinking of yourself less.  Breaking that stranglehold that Self has over us. 

The full text of St Benedict's Rule is here.  

Everyday Magic

What goes around comes around.  The cool part is that the ratio of big hands to small is more evenly balanced with grandchildren.

Just pure pleasure. 

"Look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first time, with eyes of a child, fresh with wonder."

- Joseph Cornell