- ISBN13: 9781438933290
- Condition: USED – VERY GOOD
- Notes:
Waking up means we are in this together and we need each other! Whether it’s planting a garden, sharing tools and resources, or gathering around the fire pit to celebrate with music and a potluck meal- we need each other and we belong to each other. May this book communicate that important message if nothing else. We have a lot of “getting ready” to do for the upcoming changes in a post petroleum age we have entered. The changes in our climate as well as in the need… More >>
Waking Up And Getting Ready: About Gardens, Spirituality and Wellness
Tags: fire pit, petroleum age, planting a garden, potluck meal, spirituality and wellness
Many people believe that somewhere along the span of recorded history humanity has taken a wrong turn, and needs to get back on a divinely ordained course. Few, however, have given careful thought to specific actions that could bring about the change we need. In Waking Up and Getting Ready, Blair Frank offers a down-to-earth solution to our culture’s madness through reconnecting with the created world.
The garden is introduced as both a metaphor for the positive change that characterizes growth and a sanctuary for the healing and restoration humanity desperately needs. Unlike the shopping mall, which draws resources from us as we seek to fill an inner void, the garden offers up to us nourishment for body and soul.
Because the garden is source of sustenance, both physical and spiritual, it becomes a place for building interdependent community and for sharing holy hospitality. Readers are invited to Frank’s home and garden for a cup of fair-trade coffee or a meal of “slow food” and an opportunity to experience the calming power of living and working in harmony with nature as compared with the stress and struggle that accompanies exploiting nature.
The author openly shares his personal journey from madness into wellness, and vividly conveys the rejuvenation he experienced in and through his work in the garden. In addition, he provides print, electronic, and community resources on simpler living to help transform our gigantic carbon footprint into a gentle hand of blessing on all God’s creation. Thus, this book provides the motivation and the means to help you engage in world-changing action in your own community.
Written from a socially liberal Christian worldview, this book openly embraces the truth in all faith traditions while rejecting the superiority complex evident in many organized religions. It is deeply grounded in God’s unconditional love for the earth and all of its inhabitants. Frank’s vision for an earth-centered ministry is not so much a worship of God in creation as it is a celebration and reclamation of our God-given role as stewards of our shared earthly realm.
Though spiritually challenging, this book is eminently readable, and the recommended actions of planting and harvesting for a peaceful future are easily attainable by those who are willing to risk the pain of growth.
Rev. Beverly Marshall-Goodell, Ph.D.
Pastor
Grace United Methodist Church, Tiffin, IA
Rating: 5 / 5