[god in the yard] project wordle
![[god in the yard] project wordle](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/god-in-the-yard-wordle-100x100.png)
Hmmm… I wonder what this says about what we talked about… Amazon.com Widgets
[god in the yard] @llbarkat’s closing thoughts
![[god in the yard] @llbarkat's closing thoughts](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/falling-100x100.jpg)
Sometimes people want to know. If they were to come to my yard, would they find me out there still? Sitting on the red sled, sipping my tea? I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I want to be the writer on the red sled. Braving the mosquitoes, dodging the rain. But I’ve moved on. After [...]
[god in the yard] home: hospitality
![[god in the yard] home: hospitality](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/church-potluck-100x100.jpg)
“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:13 Hospitality. The word evokes for me images of church fellowship halls, lined with long tables, loaded with steaming offerings for the Sunday afternoon potluck dinner. I can smell the coffee, hear the buzz of conversation, and feel the late summer humidity as if [...]
[god in the yard] with: submission
![[god in the yard] with: submission](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/maryface-100x100.jpg)
I hate the word “submission.” I do not want to submit to anyone, preferring to run full-force into the dark, rather than listen, rather than abide, rather than be controlled. Perhaps this is why I have not yet married; I am afraid that submissive wife is akin to marital slave. But in Chapter 11 of [...]
[god in the yard] me: self care
![[god in the yard] me: self care](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/coffee-maker-100x100.jpg)
The scream of the coffee grinder startles me and I’m finally awake. “Good Lord, it’s morning.” I whisper coarsely, and I wonder how I got into the kitchen. I smell the freshly ground beans, and I briefly wonder what they’d taste like if I’d pour milk over them and eat them as if they were [...]
[god in the yard] poetry: silence
![[god in the yard] poetry: silence](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/silence-100x100.jpg)
Secretly we spoke, that wise one and me. I said, Tell me the secrets of the world. He said, Sh… Let silence Tell you the secrets of the world. -Rumi Silence. Be still and know that I am God. Elijah was unable to hear the voice of God until the din of the world died [...]
[god in the yard] cycle: sabbath
![[god in the yard] cycle: sabbath](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/Sabbath-100x100.jpg)
I know that some say Sabbath is just about God, that it’s not about resting up to be more productive, that it should not mean “nowhere goes somewhere” because we shouldn’t be so focused on the “somewheres.” But I believe that’s exactly what Sabbath may be designed to do. ~L.L. Barkat “Honey, take a break. [...]
[god in the yard] gone: presence
![[god in the yard] gone: presence](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/feet-100x100.jpg)
Every day I practice looking for Him. I have read Brother Lawrence. He taught me to look. And Ann tells me how not to practice, but how to abide. Still, I miss Him some days. No matter how I look. Or how I don’t. Some days my heart is a stone and the heaviness weighs [...]
[god in the yard] open: prayer
![[god in the yard] open: prayer](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/the-couple-100x100.jpg)
He walks through the kitchen, pauses behind me as I reach into the pantry. Catches me as I turn back around: “So, what are you doing right now?” I giggle all flustered, murmur something about a million little things, and dodge. Later I am the one passing through the living room, pausing to enjoy a [...]
[god in the yard] sky: gratitude
![[god in the yard] sky: gratitude](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/snow-geese-100x100.jpg)
When I was young I talked to the night sky. I’d sit on a chaise lounge in the backyard or lie on the pool deck and stare at the stars—or what I could see of them from my suburban homestead. I did most of the talking and never let the sky—my tangible depiction of God—speak [...]
[god in the yard] weep: celebration
![[god in the yard] weep: celebration](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/s1351-100x100.jpg)
We spend… too little time experiencing the griefs themselves. The result is that these griefs remain hidden and never open us to our joys. ~David Whyte Fingers lightly wrapped around the handles, I escape. I feel the vibration of speed beneath me, my forceful thumb spurrs the four-wheeler forward at a dangerous speed. I take [...]
[god in the yard] look: contemplation
![[god in the yard] look: contemplation](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/the-dark-path-100x100.jpg)
Contemplation We have been invited. We have been given the rules. We are now asked to contemplate. Such a loaded word. So much baggage has been packed on those few letters throughout the years. But it is the one I consider as I walk down past three houses then turn left down the path to [...]
[god in the yard] rules: the way
![[god in the yard] rules: the way](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/baby-birds-100x100.jpg)
Welcome to the world, he says, when I carefully part the branches for him to see. There are only three and so we know. One of the hatchlings did not make it. But this somber knowledge gives way to joy as the babies detect our presence and, mistaking us for mother, open mouths wide for [...]
[god in the yard] woods: invitation
![[god in the yard] woods: invitation](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/IMG_7574-100x100.jpg)
There’s something about nature that makes it a holy place. The quietness. The peacefulness. The freedom that comes from no distractions – no TV, no computer, no phones. Just birds chirping and leaves rustling. Maybe a buzzing bee here and there. In the midst of my crazy world, nature feels like a safe place. The [...]
[god in the yard] introduction
![[god in the yard] introduction](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/reading-under-a-tree-100x100.jpg)
“This is the story of an unusual year, when I did something I never intended to do. But it is also a course in discovery and playing towards God, through spiritual practice, offered with gentle expectations.” ~ L.L. Barkat Some of the best growth we can experience is completely unintended. It comes in those moments [...]
god in the yard [group blogging project]
![god in the yard [group blogging project]](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/god-in-the-yard-100x100.jpg)
Some books are just done best in community. And I believe L.L. Barkat’s God in the Yard: Spiritual practice for the rest of us is one of those books. It’s practically a handbook for personal communion with God, and it calls for a response from the reader. That’s why we thought it would be a [...]
[12 days of awesomeness] day twelve: love notes to yahweh
![[12 days of awesomeness] day twelve: love notes to yahweh](http://bibledude.net/wp-content/uploads/love-notes-thumb.png)
As I wrap up this list, I want to point out that there are SO many great Christian blogs out there! And this blogger would be one of the first to jump in and agree with me. I’ve always known L.L. Barkat as ‘the poetry chick’ from the HighCallingBlogs.com network. And since I’m not really [...]
