Saturday, November 15, 2008

Faith of a Child

The field trip ended as the last parent drove off with their child. Since then I have been of two minds of taking students on field trips. I took these minds to my students, my wife, my friends, then last night I took them to God.

It had been a long time since I sat at the end of a day and settled into a space with God, "Here I am..." I took my fears, my desires.

This morning I had breakfast with the man who guided me through the spiritual exercises of Ignatius. I brought up my two minds.

I see these two minds finding some common ground. I see some peace descending.

Mosaic Woman headed out and I went into my studio to finish copper foiling my latest design. The songs of Native American, Bill Miller played. One by one I wanted to share his words and music with the world. This one, Faith of a Child, took me back to the field trip (among other times and places).

As we headed down the gorge trail, (well, once we got back to it after taking an interesting smaller trail which I guided the masses down) the river was far below us to our left. Great outcroppings of red sandstone (formed when Pennsylvania was just below the equator) were to our right. At one place it was eroded away and caught our interest. Off the trail we went and the students got to stand under a red sandstone ceiling (a mini-cave?). We climbed a bit higher.

Going up (even a short distance) is usually easier than coming down and some students needed some help, but I taught how to use the land and trees and ledges... whatever it took to fight gravity. I went first, grabbing a tree, moved a bit, and waited for a student to make the same move.

That day was filled with a billion emotions, at that moment, I felt confident in my ability.


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4 comments:

  1. I saw Bill Miller years ago. I can't even remember the circumstances but I was impressed enough to buy a CD. My other favorite Native American artist is Joanne Shenandoah.

    I'm glad you settled into a place of peace and that it all went well yesterday.

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  2. Kathryn--- yes, the man is worth seeing. It was a random draw from where we keep our pre-jazz CD's. Listened to it some more while I soldered the pieces into one. will show it here soon.

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  3. You take me back to my Joan Baez days when I was stationed out in Monterey, California. Sounds like a great outing with the students...

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  4. Jim--- we saw Joan Baez about 13 years ago or so. she has a sweet voice. which takes me back to my days in NE Pennsylvania.

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