Two Roads ~ Rachel Carson

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been travelling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less travelled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the Earth.”

~ Rachel Carson

More at https://www.rachelcarson.org/

Artwork from Lucy Timbrell

http://lucytimbrell.blogspot.com/?m=0

We Understood ~ Mohammed Faris

“Not long ago, local farms and markets were the only source of food in one's life. We understood where our food came from, the ground in which it grew, and its link to our Creator. Today, however, with the globalisation of the food industry and the ever-increasing urbanisation of humanity, we've lost this link to the earth and forgotten our dependence on the Creator to provide food for us.”

~ Mohammed Faris

More at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProductiveMuslim

Artwork is a mural worked on by several artists. More at:

https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/entertainment/collection-of-32-murals-to-be-unveiled-at-b-c-farm-museum-in-fort-langley-this-summer/

Overwhelmed by the Gifts~ Norman Wirzba

"To work in a garden is to be surrounded by the mysteries of germination, growth, and decay, and it is to be overwhelmed by the gifts of raspberries, tomatoes, and onions that surprise us with their fragrance and taste. But it isn’t all pleasantries. To garden is also to be frustrated by the disease and death that are beyond one’s control and power. Where did this blight come from? Why won’t this seed germinate? A late frost again? The temptation is always to give up and walk away. But that isn’t really a viable option. If people are to eat, they must eventually return to the ground.......

Gardening is one of the most vital practices for teaching people the art of creaturely life. With this art people are asked to slow down and calibrate their desires to meet the needs and potential of the plants and animals under their care. Gardeners are invited to learn patience and to develop the sort of sympathy in which personal flourishing becomes tied to the flourishing of the many creatures that nurture them. A garden, we might say, is a living laboratory in which we have the chance to grow into nurturers, protectors, and celebrators of life........ To garden well – in the skilful modes of attention, patience, sensitivity, vigilance, and responsiveness – is to participate in the way G_d gardens the world."

~ Norman Wirzba

More at 
https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/person/norman-wirzba

Artwork from Cath Read http://www.cathread.co.uk/

Silence has Aways Been a Battle ~ Joy Clarkson

"It comforted me to read of the Desert Fathers’ and Mothers’ struggle with acedia, because they made me see that we are not the first generation to fight this battle. The desert parents longed to know G_d and to cultivate that sacred silence and blessed boredom, and so do I. But befriending that silence was a struggle for them, just as it is for me. It made me realize that while smart phones and social media may impede our interior world, it is no real excuse. Impediments toward peace and quiet have always existed. Our shapeshifting opponent may have changed its guise from sleepiness to social media, but it is still there, doing all it can to rob our empty hours of their fullness.

We cannot give up the battle for holy silence and for blessed boredom simply because we live in a world with smart phones. To pursue silence, boredom, even loneliness, is a radical choice in our world, but it was a radical choice in theirs as well. We must choose to turn away from the constant entertainment that vies for our attention. We must allow ourselves to be lonely. Silence has always been a battle. Prayer has never been easy."

~ Joy Clarkson

More at http://itia.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/people/students/joy-clarkson/

Artwork from Carl Larsson http://www.carllarsson.se/en/

Meaning of The Rolling Hills ~Hal Borland

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?"

~Hal Borland

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Borland

Artwork from Clair Curtis

https://clarecurtis.co.uk/product-category/illustration/