Sally Weaver Glick
  • Home
  • Spiritual Guidance
    • What is spiritual guidance?
    • When should I seek it?
    • Individual or group?
  • Groups
    • Inklings
    • 2020 - 2021 Schedule
  • Individuals
    • Spiritual guidance for individuals >
      • Locally
      • At a distance
  • Sparks of Light blog
  • Martha Mary Mosaic
  • Writing
    • In Tune with God: the art of congregational discernment
    • Resources
  • About me
  • Contact

Sparks of Light

A Walk in the Wood

9/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last weekend I was in southwestern Pennsylvania for some planning meetings at Holy Ground Retreat Center. Friday morning I took a walk through the misty woods and startled three deer who ran ahead of me down this path. One stopped to look back. Can you see her in the photo below?

Other gifts from the woods included forest floor scenes, the tracings of insects and the curlicues of grape vines, a fog-soaked caterpillar, a spider-made design and a man-made design..
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Among the Trees

7/19/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
Looking back through my photos of Colorado trees, I can't help but think of Mary Oliver's poem, When I Am Among the Trees:

        When I am among the trees,
        especially the willows and the honey locust,
        equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
        they give off such hints of gladness,
        I would almost say that they save me, and daily. 

         I am so distant from the hope of myself,
        in which I have goodness, and discernment,
        and never hurry through the world
            but walk slowly, and bow often.  

        Around me the trees stir in their leaves
        and call out, "Stay awhile."
        The light flows from their branches. 

        And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
        "and you too have come
        into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
        with light, and to shine."  
                                      (Thirst, 2006)
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Deer Sightings

5/1/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
Our foundational class in Gestalt Pastoral Care had our final sessions this weekend at A Quiet Place, a retreat house on the edge of Camp Mack. Saturday afternoon we had some free time, so I went into the camp woods to check on the wildflowers Sure enough, there was a carpet of trillium, may-apples and other spring flowers.
Picture
Picture
As I wandered along the woods' path and then across to the paths through the thickets and meadows of reclaimed farm land, I kept seeing signs of deer -- tracks in soft ground, a path of flattened grasses. I kept watching, but didn't see the deer themselves.

Dusk or dawn would be better, I thought, but we were busy learning about addictions and GPC as dusk came. I didn't commit myself to getting up at dawn, but as it happened I woke about then and when I saw how clear it looked over the lake, I decided to go out, camera in hand.

I crossed the road to the gate leading to the camp woods, and there, just down the path to my left, a doe stood watching me, legs stiff, ready to bolt. She froze long enough for me to take a fuzzy photo or two, and then ran off towards the camp's labyrinth.
Picture
I followed her, and made my way to the center of the labyrinth. She didn't wait for me, but there were three or four deer off in the brush nearby. I'd hear a loud snort, or the thump of hooves,see movement through the undergrowth and the flash of white tails.
Picture
I went on then, enjoying the morning light streaming over the meadows. It's obviously perfect habitat for the deer and I saw a couple cross the path ahead of me, and then their white tails flashing as they ran off into the safety of the woods. At another point, I saw a doe keeping a careful eye on me through the brush and brambles.
Picture
For some of you deer sightings are common, and perhaps you look on them primarily as large, four-legged rodents, a challenge to gardening. My contacts with deer are rare, and it is a surprise and a delight to catch a glimpse.

I'm reminded of a sermon by Karl Shelly not so long ago, when he told of learning from his neighbors how much they enjoyed seeing deer in the Shelly backyard at dawn. There is a small woods there, but there is housing on the other side of it, and all around. The Shellys had never seen any signs of deer in their dozen years in that house, and Karl was pretty skeptical. But he couldn't stop glancing that way at odd moments, wondering what he might see. He went on to link our keeping watch for deer with our search for, and our opening ourselves to, the possibility of seeing the Holy.

We can't force God-encounters, any more that we can force deer sightings. But we can open ourselves to the Holy, put ourselves in times and places when we are more likely to have those glimpses. I'm glad I didn't crawl back into my warm bed this past Sunday, opening myself instead to the opportunity to hear the birds' morning chorus, to see the sun lighting meadows and may-apples, to have several sightings of deer, and to enjoy the gift of God's creation.
2 Comments
    My approach to contemplative photography --
    "Pay attention.
    Be astonished.
    Tell about it."

    Mary Oliver in "Sometimes"

    Enter your email address to receive email updates:

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Alberta
    Babies
    Bee
    Berries
    Birds
    Branches
    Bread
    Broken And Blessed
    Buds
    Butterflies
    Calendar Garden
    Calendar Garden
    Cancer
    Candles
    Canning Jar
    Caterpillars
    Children
    Clouds
    Color
    Colors
    Consolations
    Darkness And Light
    Dawn
    Dawn Mist
    Death
    Deer
    Dewdrops
    Dried Plants
    Dried Plants
    Family
    Fence
    Fire
    Fishslippers
    Flowers
    Frogs
    Frost
    Gestalt Pastoral Care
    Glory
    God As Potter
    Grasses
    Heidi
    Hildegarde
    Holy Week
    Icon
    Ignatius
    Insects
    Julian
    Lament
    Leaves
    Lent
    Light
    Light And Shadow
    Light And Shadow
    Mary
    Moon
    Mountains
    Names
    Ocean
    Pathways Retreat
    Patterns
    Peace Lamp
    Plants
    Poetry
    Prairie
    Prayer
    Rain
    Raindrops
    Reflections
    Retreat
    Retrospective
    Rosebuds
    Roseleaves
    Rose Leaves
    Sandhill Cranes
    Seasons
    Seeds
    Shore
    Snow
    Song
    Spring
    Stones
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Sunshine And Shadow
    Sunshine And Shadow
    Tesserae
    Transitions
    Trees
    Turtles
    Vegetables
    Water
    Winter

Website thanks to Weebly -- all rights reserved
  • Home
  • Spiritual Guidance
    • What is spiritual guidance?
    • When should I seek it?
    • Individual or group?
  • Groups
    • Inklings
    • 2020 - 2021 Schedule
  • Individuals
    • Spiritual guidance for individuals >
      • Locally
      • At a distance
  • Sparks of Light blog
  • Martha Mary Mosaic
  • Writing
    • In Tune with God: the art of congregational discernment
    • Resources
  • About me
  • Contact