In a recent on-line retreat I was asked to select a word for this coming year. After some prayer and contemplation it did come and the word is "grounding". What this means for me in the coming months will unfold as time passes. I see "grounding" as part of the connection we have to all creation. It's that knowing we have that we were created from the earth and carry the same elements as the ground that now nourishes us. God gave to the first man the name of Adam which is taken from the word adamah meaning"soil".

The "grounding" has first come alive as of yesterday when we planted grass in one of our pastures. This meant that first the entire acre and half was plowed; followed by raking it smooth. Next the seed went down and then another raking. Driving the fifteen year old Kabota is a meditation in itself with the drone of its engine drowning out all other sounds. The air was cool and the smell of the earth wafting upward was delightful. A ten foot piece of chain link fencing had been secured to the back of the tractor weighted with some fence posts and adjusted for depth by adding concrete blocks. Smoothing out our lives often requires some heavily weighted tow. As we struggle with the load we learn and eventually things smooth themselves out. "Avoid sharp turns," I was told. I consider what it is like to avoid sharp turns in life. The past few weeks are seen my life take several sharp turns and it throws me off track so the plans don't get done and all thoughts insistently jump into the past and the future.

Since the pasture is rectangular I started on one edge following the fence line down one side, cutting up the middle, and coming down by the first cut then going up the far side of the middle track. This process took awhile to get right; if one is not focused, the track is easily taken on the wrong side of the first track or we ended up by the far fence. I finished the first raking. Since putting down the seed required even more skill it was handed off to a more accomplished tractor handler. This made the second raking a snap. All I had to do was follow the tire tracks made when there was no rake involved.

Doesn't it always seem easier to follow a track in life when someone else has gone before? However, that someone else may be off tract or we see an easier track and decided to change the path. Knowing when it it our decision and not just following another is necessary for a successful journey.

Now the pasture is planted and we are praying for rain.