J. Robin Whitley's Blog, page 5

Morning Prayer

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Peace descends upon my heart this morning which is not made of my making. The awakening to the day, however, was filled with worry over my dog, Birdie. Congestion bothers her breathing and I can hear it. I come to the computer to rearrange my budget. Yet, all I can do is wait for the vet to open and pray. While praying for this 17# of pure love and wonder, I remember my friend, Jane, suggested a podcast about poetry. Since I had no chance to listen to the podcast yesterday, I take the 8 minutes to listen today.

The poem is written by Faisal Mohyuddin’s  and it is his poem “Prayer”. The first part of the podcast is a bit of a preface of how the poem was birthed, and poems are always born. The podcast where you can hear Mohyuddin’s poem is called Poetry Unbound and the episode my friend wanted me to hear is called A Poem for Ritual and Reset. The poet’s voice calms my anxiousness. The story of the poem’s birth paints a picture of ritual I recognize from my own faith. The poem itself, holy. I listen again.

Then, I realize it is time for the gathering of rubbish. On Beech Mountain, we cannot put our trash out the day before pick up because of bears. Even if the bears are sleeping through the winter, the raccoons, coyotes, and cougars are active. The raccoon is bigger than my dog. I have heard but not seen the neighboring coyotes and only recently learned there is a big cat somewhere on the mountain. Reluctantly, I set aside my headphones of the poem to turn to the necessary task of recycling.

My grandparents were born shortly before the Great Depression. I watched them reuse/repurpose/recycle before we used those specific terms in our vernacular. To them, it was to avoid being wasteful. It’s been a part of my life as long as I can remember. My parents followed suit giving us a good understanding of care for the earth.

During Lent of 2019, my choice of “fasting” was to lessen my use of plastic. It required me to be more intentional in every purchase. It was both amazing and sad how hard it was to choose cardboard containers. Amazing because the practice pointed out how careless and thoughtless, I had become. Sad because of remembering a time when every piece of food wasn’t wrapped in plastic; when milk was available in glass and the milkman picked up the recycled glass bottles from our back porch.

The practice was enlightening, and it also lightened my burden on trips down the mountain to recycle. Then, after losing my car, it became clear that the next practice will need to be to lessen my use of cardboard. That, however, will be harder since I have to order everything I need. Whether it’s Walmart or Amazon, the ridiculousness is that though I order only once a month, the boxes come piecemeal. As I prepared for my morning task of recycling, I remembered someone mentioning a program where the boxes would be reused.

Quickly I researched and found that Givebackbox will give you a label to mail the box to a source nearest you that can use the boxes rather than clog a landfill. In the past, I had a garden and used boxes as weed barriers. The Givebackbox may be my new way of being intentional about cardboard. After taping the address label to Goodwill, I step onto the porch to leave the boxes for pick up and for the first time of the day see the sunrise.

The color is fabulous. I grab my camera in hopes to share the vibrant color with family and friends. Most photographers wish to capture sunsets, but I always want to capture sunrises. It is only recently I’ve

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The color was better in person.

returned to using my Sony Alpha camera again and I know that with my balance issues, there may be a blur; no matter how still it seems that I stand movement shivers like a sound wave. Once I snap a few of a color I can only find described as “cobaltvioletdeep” or deep magenta, I take the time to set the camera on the tripod. By the time I’ve mounted the camera, the colors have faded but are still lovely.

Morning is the time of prayer for me. One of my life goals is to make each action/choice/chore a prayer of some sort. As I wash my dishes, I give thanks for the water and dishes. Today, each step down the snowy mountain was full of rejoicing over the beauty of another day. I thought of friends who tell me about poetry and prayer. A smile came to my face as I remembered and blessed the melting snow dwarves the young guests built yesterday.

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Rejoicing in the day a bird sings.

A day that started in worry has been transformed into one of peace. My heart rejoices that I have all that I need and that as the hours pass, an answer will be given for Birdie. It is simply a matter of waiting and trusting. Those are two things that have never been easy for me. Prayer is practice and our practices are prayers.

 

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For more information on Faisal Mohyuddin, visit his website at Faisal Mohyuddin.

 

 

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Introducing Napping Dog Press

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©2020 Design by Michel Jack, U.K.

Dear friends and supporters,

I am pleased to introduce the new logo for the name under which I am publishing my books. When I first started doing the self-publishing of my writing, I tried different names based upon a mix of my name and my ex’s name. Needless to say, decided I needed to find a name that was more lasting.

Because I love black dogs so much, I wanted to use Blackdog Publishing or Blackdog Press. Alas, those are already taken. Of course, who wouldn’t want such a cool name? Blackdog Music was even taken thanks to those Brits! Though there is a Blackdog Press in Pennsylvania, they are a pharma company and me and the black dog here, don’t do that. Just ask Birdie, she HATES pills even when covered in meat, pill pockets, etc.

I’m excited to say that my own Brit friend, Michele Jack, designed a [image error]super logo based upon my own dog, Birdie. You will note that Michele found a photo of Birdie that showed her sweet little paw too.

We both talked about the yin and the yang of a curled up dog too. You can see that Michele got that feel to the logo as well.

With the Napping Dog Press, my goal is to publish writers who are local, create collections of essays, poetry, prayers that are created locally, and hopefully, to create some homemade paper into stationery.

Many thanks to the wonderful design from the U.K. We love it Michele!

 

 

 

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First Volume of Praying Together: An Ecumenical Prayer Journal

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Now available!

Announcing the first prayer journal in a new series called Praying Together. The daily prayers are adapted from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of the Episcopal Church of American and the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Volume 1 uses Psalms and John as part of the daily devotional reading.

Each volume will also include prayers found from other traditions that may be inspiring as well as modern poets or writers.

Within each volume, there is space to write or draw as one may feel moved. One of the goals, however, is to keep the devotional easy to handle for those with arthritic hands. The BCP and LBW are often too heavy for those with hand injuries or arthritis. The slim format of the book also makes it a book that is easily packed for travel or slipped into the Bible for daily use.

This is the first publication for the new non-profit press, Napping Dog Press of Beech Mountain, NC. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to support those in need in the Valle Crucis area of the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains. If you would like to use these journals as a way to pray and give back to your community, please contact robin @ jrobinwhitley.net for a quote.

These books will be available with each contributing author as well as at City Light Bookstore in Sylva, NC. Ordering with the Indie bookstore or one of the authors will assure you of a more reasonable price.

Biographies of Writers

Jane W. Blackburn is a librarian, would-be poet, rookie old-woman-with-cats, and a person grateful for the love and mercy of God. Born in Alabama, educated in Kentucky and North Carolina, she now calls the mountains of northwest North Carolina home.

Doris Boulton is a former teacher, Director of Religious Education (DRE), and writer. Publications include Religion Teacher Journal, Primary Treasure, Our Little Friend, Utne Reader, Humpty Dumpty, Highlights, Festivals,  numerous poetry journals. Now resides in Valle Crucis, N.C.

Tamara B. Franks is a lover of Creation, intrigued by humanity, and continually seeking the depth of our beings. A native Texan, she lives currently outside of Boone, NC where she passionately serves High Country UCC as its pastor.

Michele B. Jack is a freelance, writer, editor, and graphic artist. Originally from Pennsylvania, she lives and works in the UK. Her other job is as an IT consultant to primary schools, providing technical help and creating educational resources.

Alicia Randolph Rapking is an ordained Elder in the WV Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church serving as pastor of the congregation at First United Methodist in Parkersburg, WV.  She is a global citizen, contemplative, writer, poet, artist, traveler, scholar, and seeker of justice and peace.

Jordan Venditelli is an ex-evangelical, queer and non-binary, Philosophy & Religion student in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Their work centralizes their experiences of being born and raised in rural NC, coming out as queer and non-binary in that environment, grappling with their queer and disabled identity, and finding an affirming faith community. They love sour beers, their cat – Java, and long chats about metaphysics and intersectionality.

JRobin Whitley is a freelance writer, musician, and preacher. Robin received a Master of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC. Whitley now lives in the High Country of North Carolina with their dog, Birdie.

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A Christmas Message from Robin December 2019

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“May you grow still enough to hear the small noises earth makes in preparing for the long sleep of winter, so that you yourself may grow calm and grounded deep within.” ~Br. David Steindl-Rast

Dear friends and family,

It seems odd that I share a quote about preparing for the long sleep of winter on the day of solstice. Though today is the longest day, from this day onward, the earth begins to move again towards the sun. Yet, the days are still cold. Added to that coldness is the fact that even though marketers would have us believe these are the happiest of times, death still happens. And even if death skips over our particular family or friends’ homes, grief is a winter companion for sure. After my dad’s death and then later, the loss of my marriage, nights were the hardest. Then, the holidays.

Now that years have passed and grief has let its stranglehold ease up from the 24/7 choke, I found myself weeping at the loss this morning. After the illness of my dear mother-in-law, I’ve needed to weep because I love her and also because it reminded of how afraid we all were when my dad had caught pneumonia. My dad at 78 didn’t make it. My former mother-in-law, at 98, will get to come home. For her family, I am glad she did not leave us at Christmas. For, like my dad, Christmas was one of her favorite times of year.

The tears came from relief that she gets to go home, but also, years later, at Christmas, I miss my dad. Growing up, we always laughed that at Christmas we often had to fight dad for the new toys we got. His love of play was always one of my favorite things about him.

The thing I’ve always loved most about the Christmas season, however, were the stories and singing around the piano with my family and cousins. I also love the choral [image error]music available. When I think of Christmas, I think most of all about music. I am at an age where I truly need nothing. Often, when family or friends ask me for a gift suggestion, I ask for them to sing with me. Let’s sing Christmas carols.

At our last prayer group meeting of the year, we sang Silent Night. Such a simple song, yet still powerful. Maybe even more powerful in a world where silence is not only golden, but also rare. We live in a world where silences are filled with gadgets, automobiles, planes, and anything to distract us from being still and silent. After we sang the carol, we all talked about when we used to go caroling when we were younger.

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In the small community where I grew up, my family attended Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Every year at Christmas, the adult choir would go Christmas caroling to the shut-ins (those who were sick at home or who lived alone). The choir members took their children. Then later, the youth choir rode on the bus with the adults. We laughed and sang on the bus. Then we sang at the doorsteps of people that we youth often didn’t know. The smiles on their faces that we stopped by mattered and made a difference to me as a kid. As I became a youth group director and youth choir director, I took my youth groups caroling. It was awkward for some at first. Then, they too began to love it as I did as a kid. It was wonderful seeing those young lives making a huge difference in the lives of those who couldn’t get out too. There was a light that came into the eyes of the elderly. With the youth, it was watching seeds of love begin to blossom. I still treasure all the times I’ve caroled with others. It’s my favorite part of Christmas still.

 

“The foundation of greatness is honoring the small things of the present moment, instead of pursuing the idea of greatness.” ~Eckhart Tolle

 

We live in a world that seeks innovation and newness. Oftentimes the business worlds in which adults work and make a living are rewarded only if or when they are great. Yet, sometimes life is about loving the ordinary beauty of each other and not trying something newer, or bigger or better than before. Some folks always want things to stay the same and others always want new experiences. Don’t get me wrong, ruts are boring, and we can all get stuck in mindsets or ruts that are not good for us. In those times, we need a light to show us a new way. In those soul-deadening times, we need new birth to move us out of our comfort zone.

 

But it’s also important to remember those precious moments of great love shared in simple silent nights. Where generations of singers or family stand in the cold, dark night, singing carols to someone sad or alone. Rejoicing in the group hug of family and friends huddled around a porch or piano and singing simply for the joy of singing together and hoping to bring joy to another. Sometimes it’s the simplest of things that bring the greatest gifts of love.

 

“Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”  ~L.R. Knost

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A Letter to Steven about Vocation

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December 16, 2019

Dear Steven,

Walking into the quiet winter morning, the red-pink in the East draws my eye to the rising sun. The sky is blue-gray and purple clouds are painted across the Northern sky. The West is behind Beech Mountain, although my residence is considered on the “backside” of the mountain.

Birdie and I walk in the warmish weather. Fifty degrees feels a bit like a heatwave after the wind, ice, and snow of the weekend. As we walk up Northridge road, the woods and shady places are still covered with snow. Though we did not get more than an inch in accumulation, it was cold enough through the day and night to remain. This morning the trees and porches beginning to melt, or at least the snow on the snow on the trees and the porches. It’s not a Salvador Dali type of morning, but more like a Monet painting.

As I listen to the silence and Birdie tracks some creature’s footprint, I wonder how I could ever leave this heaven? There’s no current plan to leave but there are those who wish I would move to Boone or Stanly County so I won’t have to be alone while also battling health issues. Yet, each time I go to a new place and my health wavers, in returning home to rest, I recover. There is healing in this place.

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Rounding the upward curve of the road, a brown head turns on the hill above us to see who makes a sound. The yearling is snacking on what green remains on the hill behind our treehouse. Birdie sees the deer look at us but has learned not to bark and scare them away. Even this quiet morning seems sacred to her. Then I see two more spring-born deer who glance our way, return to grazing, and then flick their white tails as they mosey up the hill to the others.

In moments like this, I think of vocation and what does that mean for me at this place

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Fawn in 2018

in my life. Not at the place on the mountain, for it is clear that this is the place to think, reflect, heal, and learn how to be present. But what does vocation mean for me at 58 as I finally learn to manage my disability with rest and quiet?

In the past few months, I have talked with my priests and also an Episcopal nun in a convent in New York. During more religious moments, I wonder if I should seek out the diaconate or return to the vocation of a pastor. When still in times of quiet contemplation, the urge to be part of a praying community like The Community of the Holy Spirit embraces me as an option. Then I remember a sentence spoken in my mind’s ear during one of my silent retreats.

You are an artist.

That simple sentence came to me as an answer to a prayer prayed for three days on vocation while I was still a pastor but seeking further discernment for vocation. At the time, I was certain that the answer would be something like a preacher, teacher, or musician. Though that sentence can certainly embrace all three of those options, it was one of those puzzles that the Holy Spirit gives us to ponder and consider.

It is only now, twenty-two years later, that I begin to see a way to live this path of vocation that is different than anticipated. Though I’ve mentioned that sentence and [image error]the need to understand its meaning for my life in these past years, it’s also been like I’ve tried to turn away from it. Why? Music, writing, painting has always brought me great peace. Yet, the reward of preaching, teaching, and being a musician was so much more rewarding. There. I’ve said it and now I see. At least, in this moment I can see the fear.

What fear you may ask? Fear of failure of course. Many artists work in oblivion during a lifetime. Some of their works fade into obscurity and others, like Emily Dickenson, become remembered for the art created in her life and created in silent obscurity. Early on it was clear to me that I did not want to be famous like those actors and musicians seeking the world’s accolades. Yet, somewhere in the past years I also realized that I didn’t want to be forgotten. What does it mean to trust G-d enough to be willing to be forgotten?

Having no human children means my pets, music, writing, and paintings are my children. There are memories I share with those around me and we all know that [image error]counts. Love always counts. Even in my divorce of recent years, it’s clear that LOVE ALWAYS COUNTS. Love finally showed that to me as I worked on healing and forgiveness. Though I lost my home and wife, the love we shared during those years changed me for the better and I will always have that beauty in my life even if I no longer have those people or that place.

In conclusion, this letter is not so much of one where I wonder where G-d is leading me because that continues to be clear. I only need to have enough faith to be obedient to G-d’s calling to be an artist no matter what else may call or distract me. My question is how can we see the Holy in each vocation? One of my favorite quotes from the theologian Frederick Buechner addresses the matter of vocation:

 

IT COMES FROM the Latin  vocare , to call, and means the work a man [or woman] is called to by God.  

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.  

By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work

( a ) that you need most to do and

( b ) that the world most needs to have done.

 

If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement ( a ),

but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement ( b ). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement ( b ), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed ( a ) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either. 

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. 

– Originally published in Wishful Thinking

That last line says it all, doesn’t it? The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. What I must ask myself is does the world hunger for writings on love and peace? Does the world hunger for music that lifts the Spirit and calls forth integrity? Does the world hunger for art that expresses one’s deepest heart and truest self? For me, the answer is yes. That should be enough. I pray to focus on that truth, and that I may have the grace and faith to see that love will be enough.

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Anticipated release of 1/6/2020

 

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Thanksgiving 2019

Cleaning up from making biscuits is not the task I anticipated. The dread of cleaning up the scattered flour was worse than the actual chore. The entire time I gave thanks for a friend who reminded me to be thankful when I had to clean up after cooking. She was right of course. Brother Lawrence in his book, Practicing the Presence, reminds us that with each chore we do to give thanks that G-d is working for us. It’s also a very Zen concept.

Before Enlightenment, you hate your life. You chop wood and carry water, but secretly wish to get out of it all. You bear with these activities through habit and out of hopelessness, but you really wish you could do something else. In a way, you are a victim, a slave – the wood chops you and the water carries you, and there is no way to escape. This could go for eternity, it is like living in eternal hell.

After Enlightenment, you are in harmony with the universe. You realized emptiness of it all, so you see that there is nothing more important than chopping wood and carrying water. All activities are equalized, there is no preference, no discrimination.  ~Andrei Volkov

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©JRobin Whitley – Rural Haywood County, NC

This Thanksgiving, I give thanks for the ability to still cook my own meals. What is cleaning up but the last task of being a baker or a cook? I often think of my grandmas who lived before fast-food restaurants. Even had they been around, their era was that of the depression. Most were glad to have a piece of bread much less be concerned about cleaning up.

 

Thanksgiving’s historical reality is one that can be hard once we accept what the early settlers did to Native American populations. The Native Americans gave out of their abundance and compassion. In the years that followed, the whites took their lands and most often, their lives. It is important to accept the historical reality of that period of time if we are to ever rectify it so that all may give thanks.

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Cherokee Friendship Dance in Cherokee, NC.

Growing up, the pilgrim story was told in elementary school of course. But at home, the holiday was about family and giving thanks that we had enough. My family is not a wealthy one. We were probably middle-middle class; not quite rich and not quite poor either. My sister and I never wanted for the things we needed like food and shelter.

 

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Image by sobima from Pixabay

Indeed, we were quite privileged not only because we were white, but we came from a musical family. Because of that, we were given piano lessons and dance lessons. Though, I think I overheard mom talking to another mom wishing my tomboyish walk would be tamed by dancing. Perhaps it was. I also know it could have been my tomboyish self-making up reasons I was going to have to put on a stupid leotard. All I know is how thankful I am now for those opportunities. Music has been my life. Because of the dance lessons, I know the joy of musical movement and have long loved going to a ballet.

 

What does this have to do with Thanksgiving one might ask? Everything. Because the way our family celebrated was to give thanks for what we were given. We started each morning out with the Macy’s Day Parade. Mom was cooking something in the kitchen for a meal at Grandma and Grandpa Whitley’s house. We went there every Thanksgiving and then to her mom and dad’s at Christmas. The day was a lazy day of cooking and family.

When we got to Grandma’s, the house was full of great smells and since we were often late because of my dad, the house was full of relatives. The Whitley clan was big, and the house was crowded. There was so much food on the table and card tables in the kitchen, that all the pies and cakes were left in Grandma’s walk-in cooler; otherwise known as the back porch.

 

As I think of Grandpa washing his hands on the back porch, then walking into the kitchen to pray over the meal, I can see that our Thanksgivings were much like the scene Norman Rockwell painted in his images of the holiday. Grandpa Whitley wore his good overalls though and we didn’t use a tablecloth. They were farmers, so nothing was fancy though Grandma would put on her good apron on holidays where the family came over to share a meal. One never knew which [image error]relative was going to show up at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Though they invited the entire family, some did not come. Years passed before I ever met my Uncle Cletus and I don’t ever remember meeting his kids.

 

Because the family was large and had big age gaps, we had many generations in that old farmhouse. The cousins you saw regularly you ran to for comfort in the crowd because there was always someone there you didn’t know. Once mom counted and said there were like 100 people there that day. It meant that some of the men decided to eat on the porches. There were plenty of chairs on each porch. My dad was always hovering near the desserts so we always knew we could find him on the back porch.

 

When we were young, we ate as fast as we could. Because the next thing we did on [image error]that day was to take a trip to the branch. Every cousin took the same route. You ran to the barn to see what Grandpa had in there. If Grandma had chickens, we would check to see if they had eggs. Grandma had usually gathered them already, but it was the fun of looking. Then we would trek down the tractor lanes to the branch, follow the branch up until the barbed wire fence, then walk back up the hill. We were thankful for that too. The branch was the joy of the children. It was rare that a parent went down with us, though I remember mom and dad down there with us once.

 

By the time we got back up to the house, the adults had cleaned up the kitchen and were falling asleep in the den. Grandpa’s antique mantel clock always tick-tocking the fed adults into sleep. When some of our college-age cousins were there, the sound of someone playing the out of tune piano in the parlor might be sounding softly through the house. Soon it was time to go home.

 

I don’t remember the rest of the day really. Perhaps we slept it away or watched holiday movies. That’s my guess. It was a feast day for sure, but also a rest day full of family. Sometimes we visited my Aunt Jewel who was shunned by everybody but my dad and his oldest sister.

 

In writing this, my memory wanted to put the day after Thanksgiving together with the feast day. The day after Thanksgiving was not a shopping day at all for my parents. It was the day we went to the Thompson’s for lunch and then to watch football. Neither of my parents liked to watch sports, but the Thompsons did. I learned to like sports by watching with my friend, Kim.

 

Kim was my age and her sister, Kelly, was my sister’s age. Kim and I were tomboys and Tracy and Kelly were not. In truth, I have no idea what Tracy and Kelly did on that day. All I remember is their running to Kelly’s room and closing the door while I plopped down on the floor to watch football with Kim.

 

When it was time to eat, the food was everything that was leftover from our families’ meals on the previous day. This was actually my favorite meal. Not because I didn’t enjoy the food cooked by Whitley relatives because I did. However, Linda (Kim’s mom) made rice and gravy that was the best I ever ate. To this day, I’ve never eaten gravy that tasted like Linda’s and I never thought to ask her how she did it.

 

Because of my family’s traditions on Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday has always been one of giving thanks for the gifts of food, family, and friends. There was never any talk of the pilgrims, only of the blessings of bountiful tables and blessed hands that prepared the meal. In every instance, it was the women who prepared the meals too.

 

This Thanksgiving, I will be sharing a meal with a friend and her husband from my church. They both live in our small mountain town. The hardest thing to deal with after my divorce was the loss of my own personal family; the family I married into. This Thanksgiving my heart rejoices to have known them and to have shared beautiful Thanksgivings with them. My ex-wife also shared some Thanksgivings with my family, though they were much smaller after my grandparents died. After the meal at my parents, we would walk down the dirt road behind mom’s house. Then, on Fridays relax and read.

 

My biological family and I have been at odds this year. Political alliances have kept us apart in ways we don’t address. The political and religious differences are some huge invisible wall we have not yet breached. But at times, we meet at the fence and reach hands and arms through to hug each other and say that we love one another. I’m thankful that we have at least that still. Maybe one day we can allow the love to tear down the walls. Until then, I give thanks that we are still reaching out to each other loving through the walls. My prayer is that one day, the wall will come down.

 

Love can build a bridge

Between your heart and mine

Love can build a bridge

Don’t you think it’s time?

Don’t you think it’s time?

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Gratitude without a Car

It’s another rainy day in the mountains. The dog and I are enjoying a quiet Saturday [image error]morning. Who wants to travel outside on such days? Even Birdie isn’t fond of car rides on rainy days. Other than playing Van Morrison’s new album out loud, the day is not much different than any other day. It’s the life of living alone in a quiet place and living without a car.

 

One of my goals in life has been to move from a gasoline engine vehicle to being able to travel by cycle. In truth, it was an environmental goal instead of a financial one. Health challenges began to pile up this year and that meant more and more medical bills since Medicare and Medicaid were cut. In August, the worst time of the year for my asthma, it finally came down to deciding if I wanted to pay a car payment or pay for the medicine that helped prevent and manage my asthma.

 

Before making such a decision (which seemed inevitable since the divorce), there was a lot of time spent on research about how to get to doctors, church, and get groceries. Because of Watauga County’s AppalCart, I am able to get to appointments with planning. Some friends who go to Holy Cross have graciously offered rides to church.

 

I’ve also been blessed with wonderful neighbors who have helped me if I needed to call Fred’s for a missing item in a recipe. You know how it is when you cook, you’re in the midst of stirring ingredients and checking to make sure you added each item. Then, there’s often one important item that is out or not quite enough.

 

One of the other things I considered before letting go of the car was looking at alternative and environmentally conservative means of alternative transportation. Once it became clear that this was doable, I even questioned if I needed any transportation at all. With today’s online shopping options, I can get most of what I need by mail. However, one of the joys of living here is a ride up to Fred’s General Mercantile or a trip down to Buckeye Recreation Center for yoga or a walk on its paths.

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Fred’s General Store 2019 ©JRobin Whitley

Growing up, biking was my favorite means of transportation. Even after getting my driver’s license at sixteen, I still loved cycling. Then, it was a dream of mine to cycle cross-country. This was before learning the limitations that my asthma put on me. Even though I was hit by a car when I was in college, cycling was always a goal. There was a freedom and peace is cycling through the countryside. Mountain bikes weren’t popular during this time or I would have had one of those too.

 

When I moved up to the mountains, I had given up my last bike. Not because I wanted to but because it was too heavy for travel on the landscape. By then, my hands had begun to have problems with grasping and lifting heavy hymnals. There was no way I was going to be able to manage such a heavy bike. The bike itself wasn’t much of a loss because it was an inexpensive model bought only to see if I liked how the mountain bike rode.

 

Though I looked for a bike while living in Sylva (they have a great bike shop there), another health problem prevented my return to riding. Like many women my age, vertigo has become the bane of my existence. Though the doctor helped me get it to the point where I could walk without the world swirling (faster than usual), it would not be safe for me to ride a bike. I watched the cyclists in the town with appreciation and a sense of resignation. Still, I missed riding and wanted to find a way to return.

 

One day I mentioned how much I missed cycling on Facebook and my writing teacher from undergrad, Heather Ross Miller, suggested a trike like hers. I started looking at them and then because they wouldn’t fit in the Fiat 500 Pop I was driving, I gave up on them. That is until it became clear I would have to give up my car. It wasn’t that I just couldn’t afford THAT car and pay my medical bills, it was clear I couldn’t afford any car. In December I will finally catch up all my medical bills so that I can start the new year free of old medical bills.

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The Joy Trike

Giving up my car has also freed me to consider saving for a trike. I could see that possibility before giving it up. After a lot of research and talking to my cycling friends and Charlotte Cycle’s Brian Doolittle, it became clear that I would be able to find and eventually afford an electric trike. Brian has been great to answer all of my questions and also answer questions my friends bring to me when I told them of my decision. It made it easier to tell my family, friends, and church members of my decision.

 

Though I hadn’t gone into the details of my old environmentalist dreams of cycling, I had at least told those who I wished to visit that it might not be a possibility now. It’s amazing how beautiful people have been. People have talked to me about other options. A woman from church offered to give me an old car that needs work. A friend from Charlotte talked to her pastoral committee and ended up gifting me with some funds to pay off most of my medical bills. No one asked anything of me. They merely loved me and didn’t want me to be isolated from others.

 

To say I am humbled does not fully explain. A few years ago, when trying to encourage people to participate in global and local concern for others, I told a spiritual friend that I hadn’t lost faith in G-d. At the time, however, I was losing faith in people to make compassionate and justice-oriented choices. Selfishness seemed more rampant than ever. Then, about the time it seemed our world was turning to more openness to diversity and the need for conservation of natural resources, the current administration took over. Hatred became the norm instead of talk of justice and acceptance of all. This was all before my divorce.

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Without going through that all, one would think the divorce made me want to give up on humanity totally. In truth, it did cross my mind except one thing continued to happen – people who loved me kept reaching out and reminding me of who they were and the good they bring to the world. By their lovingkindness, strength to go on came into my soul. Then I found Holy Cross Episcopal and joined their choir and a prayer group called Daughters of the King. These people too shared love, kindness, prayers, and often a listening ear. I could go on about the beautiful people restoring my faith in[image error] the goodness of humanity.

In short, because of the love my church, friends, and family, great healing comes to me. It’s been interesting too to find that things I thought were healed or forgiven from the past were healed on another level. My faith was already being restored in the goodness of these humans merely by them being themselves and sharing their own blessings and challenges in life. That made the presence of G-d even more powerful.

 

In addition, living here, close to the woods as I do has been a lifelong need. Though I lived near hiking paths and woods, most of the walking paths near my home were paved. Issues with arthritis and other challenges make it impossible to get out on paved or concrete paths. Here, there’s a dirt road that would take me to the top of the mountain if I could walk that far. The walking on a dirt road can still be challenging but it has helped my mental and physical health tremendously. My condo is like a treehouse and living in solitude the life of a semi-hermit is enlarging my heart.

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Birdie, my dog, loves it here too.

As we approach Thanksgiving, gratitude is the word that stands out for me. Gratefulness for what IS (not what could be) has changed my life drastically. The last time I had a conversation with my ex-wife she even said that she missed my gratitude. A practice of gratitude was started for me in a new way when I was a Vicar in Tallahassee, Florida. I had been assigned to a small wonder-filled church called St. Stephen’s Lutheran for my internship.

 

Though naturally a thankful person, practicing gratitude then was part of a stewardship program we were required to do for a project. Because most of us argued that it was a flimsy attempt at fund-raising (we were the first class required to focus only on stewardship), the way I decided to outline my project was to focus on writing about the gifts we already had. What did it mean to use our time, talents, and treasure without coming across as one of the televangelists we love to hate? For me, that meant to focus on gratitude for what we DO have?

 

In other words, though I am a musician I’m not famous and rich. What does it mean to give thanks for how this gift of music has totally enriched my life rather than focus on the lack of remuneration prevalent for musicians? Once I began to be thankful for what I did have, it became clearer how wealthy I was. Forbes wasn’t going to come knocking on my door, but I had enough. Not only did I have enough, but when I recognized that I had enough, there always seemed to be a way to share.

 

Though I lived in a one-bedroom apartment at the time (and not the house I had bought), I had a roof over my head when it rained. There was air-conditioning when it was suffocatingly hot. There was clean water and I always had the food I needed as well as a warm bed to rest. When the person I was dating at the time broke up with me depression tried to get its hooks in me. Yet, because I had been practicing gratitude, each time I feared or hurt, I gave thanks for the things that I did have. The love I DID have from the wonderful people at St. Stephen’s saved me in many ways.

 

Through the years, I’ve tried to tell them in various ways. What vehicle is ever larger enough to contain love though? Especially when it is a love grown, shared, give in a community of faith – is there ever a way besides song and presence? When I lost my pastorate because I came out, St. Stephen’s was there. Throughout the years when I was faced with challenges that had to do with justice, there was always the thought about what Pastor Emory would do. What would the members of St. Stephen do to act in love and forgiving compassion to those who were caught up in the cycle of injustice? These people changed my life and made my life and my life’s path a more sacred experience.

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Because the gift the continue to BE in my life, when my friend there asked about setting up a GoFundMe account in order to help raise money for my trike, I told them there was no need. After getting my medical bills caught up, any extra money would go to the purchase of a Joy Trike from Carolina Cycle. I was quite excited about the cycle and that it was now an option. It will even have a basket so that Birdie can ride with me. She has missed the car much more than I do, that’s for sure.

A few weeks later, while checking Facebook, I noticed that one of the members of my vicar committee had posted a GoFundMe request there. Of course, it was a request to go fund our old vicar. They still thought of me as their vicar. Gosh, that alone is priceless to me. Then, I saw that people I don’t even know have donated to the fund. Then, one of my professors from seminary posted it.

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Gratitude. What does it mean? It means, of course, to be thankful. Thankfulness is also an act as well as a state of mind or feeling. To be thankful is to be willing in such situations to set aside pride and simply say thank you. The hardest lesson I’ve had to learn in my later years is how prideful I’ve always been. Once, I let that pride hurt a man in a church I was serving. He kept giving me gifts. Sadly, instead of continuing to thank him for his generosity, I said something to the effect that he didn’t have to buy me gifts for me to love him. Immediately clear that it was hurtful to him though it wasn’t my intention. My pride and lack of gratitude became throwing his gifts back in his lap. I might as well have said, thanks but no thanks.

 

Who knows if this GoFundMe thing will be completed? In truth, I don’t care if it is or not the gratitude in my heart exhorts me to write of this congregation’s great love and generosity. This is not the only way they are generous. They have always given to each other, their vicars, priest, and community. They have from the day I met them been the best example of what it means to be a people of G-d in the modern world. They are willing to stand up for those who are poor, LGBTQIA, of a different race or nationality…and the list goes on and on. Love abounds.

When I am so loved, all that I can do is give thanks and then love in return. No matter the outcome, this great act of love encourages me to love more and to trust more. Their long-time support reminds me of all the things I know about my friends in faith who have supported others quietly. They don’t let their left hand know or others know of their generosity. I do, however. I see the good they do in the world and I want to be just like them.

When I first tried dealing with the loss of my pastorate, I remember asking my priest in Oklahoma about the power of love. I told her that I thought love was supposed to conquer all. She understood where I was coming from as I spoke of love, loss, and the grief of finding a new way. Her answer was that in her experience, love DID conquer all. Wise priest that she was, she offered me no platitudes. Today as Van Morrison sings of love conquering all, all I can think is that it does. Though we may not know how or when, love wins. I am thankful to be loved.

 

 

 

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New Books and Lots of Inspiration

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Cover by Michele Jack

It’s a cold day on Beech Mountain, yet, also warmer than the past days. We had a wonderful snow on Tuesday and the ski resorts are blowing snow to get ready for ski season. The dog and I love snow even though we don’t ski. Who knows why Birdie loves the snow? Some dogs do and some dogs don’t. She has finally decided a coat is nice in such weather though.

The year has flown by quickly. All in all, it’s been a very good year in that it’s been a creative one. The summer was filled with singing, teaching, and preaching. Throughout, whenever there was a moment, I was writing. Meeting some new poets in the area has been inspiring. If you’ve not read Lisa Creech Bledsoe’s poetry yet, I encourage you to check her poetry out. You can get a sense of her poetry on her website Appalachian Ground. She also posts wonderful things about nature and foraging.

[image error]The music from Holy Cross Episcopal has been phenomenal this year. Elaine Kallestad has an amazing ministry there and she utilizes local talent from Appalachian State University (ASU)  which takes it a step further. The musicians at ASU feed into many of our local congregations. High Country United Church of Christ has music that is also good for the soul if you prefer the less formal service and music. The other great thing about both of these churches is that in addition to great preachers, they are also both congregations that are welcoming to all people. As a lesbian in this rural setting, I especially love this part.

 

 

Being surrounded by all this talent and all the beauty of the High Country is bound to be an inspiration to any artist. This mix of people and location have also inspired a collection of prayers I’ve wanted to do for many years and couldn’t decide where to begin. It is my hope to be able to offer this book in December of this year, but at the latest, we will have it out by January 6, 2020.

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Due out soon.

The book’s title will be, Praying Together, and it is set up as a prayer book but also a journal. Moving from the Lutheran tradition to the Episcopal tradition has been a blessing in many ways. There are things that I love about each group of believers too. There are things that are similar and a few things that are different. It is the hope of me and the contributors to the book that the prayers will touch your heart and also be easy to access.

Its format will be smaller than the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of the Episcopal Church or the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) of the Lutheran church. As we age, many of us who value these prayer books begin to have challenges handling both the weight and the thickness of both books. Therefore, the size of the book will be thin and lightweight so that all who value prayer may be able to handle it with ease. This will also be a great book for travel because it also fits easily in a bag or folded inside of another larger book.

There is more inspiration abounding in these mountains than there are words or songs. Yet, those of us who create are willing to keep trying. Please support local artists, musicians, and small businesses as we enter into the gift-giving season.

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Ginger Snaps and Coffee

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Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

There have been several times I’ve started to write for the website. Then the muses bombard me with ideas, poems, songs. This isn’t a complaint though. All artists want their muse or muses talking. Mine can be quite stubborn when I don’t listen because I am ornery. Today it seems they will allow me ginger snaps and coffee if I keep writing. I’m good with that.

“A miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude.” ~Kate Baestrup

Ginger snaps are good at any time of the year for me. However, fall is my favorite time for ginger snaps. As I bite into a cookie, I remember all the times my sister and I came home from school, grabbed the ginger snaps mom had bought and a glass of milk. We snacked while watching our favorite after school television shows. When Andy Griffin [image error]came on, we knew we had to hurry and make sure our chores were done before mama got home.

Our world is flavorful, isn’t it? There are flavors we don’t like for various reasons. Perhaps it’s merely a dislike of the taste or the taste is associated with a bad memory of sickness or hurt. We avoid those (if possible) of course. Then there are those tastes like ginger snaps or molasses cookies that remind us of those we love. Times gone by that were good and safe.

Tastes bring back memories. Molasses cookies were the only soft cookies I liked growing up. They reminded me of the taste of ginger snaps and were another after school snack. However, anything molasses made me think of Grandma and Grandpa [image error]Whitley. Molasses were a staple at their house and there was nothing better than pouring that earth brown syrup over fresh hot biscuits.

The molasses were actually considered “grandpa’s” but he always shared with us. Grandpa liked the type of molasses found in the mountains. They were not the jars of blackstrap molasses that one can find in the store. He liked the molasses best that were sweeter and with no bitterness. The viscosity of his molasses was such that it poured like honey and when it was poured, a line of gold shone at the lip of the jar. Just to talk of pouring molasses reminds me of all the times we four of my family sat at grandma and grandpa’s table eating fresh vegetables from their garden or my dad’s. Then, dessert was molasses over biscuits.

The only time we didn’t have molasses and biscuits for dessert was at this time of the year when grandma made persimmon pudding. Though, growing up, we pronounced it as “persimmern pudding”. Seems that we Southerners add syllables unconsciously when we speak. It was only after I had gone to college with many Northerners that I began to hear how our brogue was different from “the yankees”. Returning to work at the fish camp where I had worked in high school one weekend, I laughed to discover that the number four could have two syllables as in “fo-er”.

As the taste of ginger lingers in my mouth, I dream of grandma’s persimmon pudding. Most who have never tasted persimmon pudding turn their noses up because its color is brown like ginger snaps. Grandma’s was a simple pudding made of persimmons, sugar, butter, and eggs. Mama can make one like grandma’s and so can my sister. I’ve made them years ago when I lived closer to farmers who had persimmons.

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Image by jacqueline macou from Pixabay

A persimmon is a fruit of the South. Maybe they have them elsewhere, but even some of my friends west of the Carolinas had not heard of or tasted persimmon pudding. One of the first things you do for a friend is to let them know not to taste the uncooked/unsweetened persimmon. Without the sugar, they are a bitter fruit that turns the mouth inside out. My second-grade teacher, Mrs. Teeter, taught us this as we took a nature walk one day and she spotted a persimmon tree. I’ve always been thankful that she warned us so that no one would be able to play that cruel joke on us.

Waking up in the dark this morning, the sun rose in my heart filling it with love for all of creation. Some days are simply like that. Then, during meditation, memories of being loved returned flavoring my soul with the sweetness of memory, more love, and the realization that love transforms everything bitter into something sweeter.

We all know that life can be bitter. Yet, there is a sweetness to be found as the sun rises and birds begin to sing. The pink of the sky kisses the mountains and light begins to glow in the darkness. The day will pass with the good and the bad. Then, as night falls, there is rest and starlight and a safe warm bed. Not everyone has a safe warm bed or food to eat. Some awaken blind and deaf to the world around them. Yet, even then, there can be sweetness in life when it is allowed.

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Image by John Hain from Pixabay

The thing is, is that love is not aggressive. Love works for the well-being of another and if that other says no, or, leave me alone – love listens, hears, and respects the other. In my life, I wanted to give love to the world my heart full of idealism and hope. Then, as is prone in this world, hurts occurred, and dreams were torn apart. The remedy I was told was to love myself. That made no sense. Yet, time and again the message given to me by priest, counselor, doctor, friend was that real love for others could not occur without first loving one’s self.

The love they suggested was not that of narcissism but being as willing to work for my own well-being as I was to work for another’s well-being. This was hard to learn because it also meant being willing to express my thoughts and feelings even if and even when they were different from those I loved. There were fights and disagreements. The lesson is not one to be learned overnight and one born of loving friends and community. Through that lesson, after several decades of struggle, my own eyes were opened to see that I was not alone; that others loved me even with my faults and insecurities.

Being blessed with friends willing to challenge me in the best and worst of times also taught me that working for the well-being of another or of one’s self means taking the

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Image by Anemone123 from Pixabay

time to look at mistakes and misconceptions. Now it becomes clearer why it’s so hard for us humans to accept love. Why? Because accepting love changes us, and we humans are too afraid of change expecting it to be bitter and painful.

There is pain in the acceptance of love given to me and love I have accepted in and for myself. There’s no special cruise that love boats us to a better place. We have to unlearn bad habits or let go of unhealthy practices, people, friends, and sometimes family. Sometimes it’s merely looking at those people, friends, family members in a different way and seeing that they are afraid too.

Love changes us. When we can trust in love and that real love leads us to health and well-being, we can allow the sugar of life to mix with the bitter chemistry of pain, loss, and fear and cook up something as delicious as a life well-lived. Of course, the persimmon is a passive fruit being what it is. As humans with will and choice, we can always say no to love. My only question is why?

 

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More Than Knowing 2nd Edition (reprint)

Reprint due out October 19, 2019

My re-print of poetry comes out tomorrow. It’s a thrill to see in hand. My poetry is the book I’m most proud of and this time I get to share photos of the places that inspired the poetry.

You can order copies here or from City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC.

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Cover by Michele Jack

 

Inside you will find color photos of some of the beauty that inspired the poetry. Most of the art is photos of the wonders of nature found in the Nantahala Forest.

To order for $14 and postage ($3.50), email robin at robin at jrobinwhitley.net or contact the bookstore.  Will make a sweet coffee table book in smalls size.

 

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