faith as a way of raking leaves

ah, yes, time for my yearly rant about leaf blowers. but instead, let me sing the praises of simply raking one's own leaves, sharing the fun with a child. Grace and I worked on leaves yesterday after her playdate with a friend didn't work out. physical work integrates body & soul, connecting us to creation and the gift of work. yet in addition to that I think that how we work matters, as well. it feels good to rake the leaves using my body's energy rather than the alternatives--in new england, still on the whole fossil fuel based.

if you haven't seen it, go now and read the Christianity Today (November 2006) article titled "Imagining a Different Way to Live" on how wendell berry is inspiring a new generation of christians to take their stewardship of creation with new seriousness. his witness as a life lived faithfully and 'against the grain' is an inspiration to me. along those lines, i just bought a new book about aldo leopold who is another hero of mine. saints of the creation, both of them. and I think about them today, as my arms and back are a bit sore from tending the leaves from our maple and beech out front. the back yard awaits.

anon, and peace

Comments

[CountryCache]

Harry Caldwell was a geography professor at the University of Idaho when I knew him, a wise and thoughtful person. I remember that Harry used pattern in piles of raked leaves as a geographic analogy for central-place theory.

Generally a worker rakes leaves into strategically placed piles. The resulting organizational pattern of the piles reflects the worker's underlying needs, values and priorities, available tools, and so forth.

Human economies organize themselves spatially into central places. The resulting patterns reflect a society's underlying ideas, needs and available tools, just as any particular pattern of piles of raked leaves reflects the worker's underlying ideas, needs and available tools.

Harry died long before our current digital revolution, so his analogy did not include the impact of computers on spatial organization. But, who rakes a lawn with a computer anyway!

I live in a rural part of Iowa, where most of my leaves blow away -- a very desirable idea and sometimes available tool! Once, maybe twice, a year though I have to rake. I thoroughly enjoy the process. I think of Harry and the pattern of villages on a plane in China. I burn the leaves. I enjoy the smell and the swirl of the smoke.

One Sunday afternoon a few years ago, when I was waiting for the leaf-blowing, November winds, my dog Acie and I walked through the thick layer of fallen leaves covering our lawn. I wrote this haiku:

Fallen leaves rustle
In the tall November grass
We walk quietly

Leaf-raking time of the year is a time to remember. This November morning, I remember Harry, and Acie.