service and solitude

On a regular basis, we as a group do a thing that is known as "Dutt's Disciplines". It is during this time we discuss different areas of discipline in our lives and then practice them. 

Thursday disciplines included service and solitude. For the service aspect a group of 6 of us, Tyler, myself, Dorothea, Dan, Kristen and Sam went and helped clean a garden called the African Garden.

We arrived early, so we sat and waited for our instructor to come.  We didn't know much about the person, except for that she was a woman. When she finally arrived and stepped out of her car, I knew this was going to be a fun day. She looked like the stereotypical gardener, you know the one with the big floppy hat, special gardening gloves and the pants only one would wear while gardening.

  She introduced herself as Ellen and  gave us our assignments and we quickly got to work. I got the privilege of being able to talk with her for the first part of the day because she was working next to me.

As we talked, I set the stereotype aside and saw that God was truly working through this woman. She had retired a few years back and joined the City block gardening club of sorts. She explained that they got grants form the city to build gardens to make the neighborhoods look nicer and look more inviting. 

She informed me that she is currently works at 26 local gardens, which is insane. I saw God in her willingness to give up her spare time to work in gardens trying to make the neighborhood look nicer, even if it's not in the best part of town. I was also amazed at how dedicated she was to this "job". She says that she goes to the gardens at last once every two weeks and to the African Garden at least once a week. 

I also saw God working through a 77 year old woman named Doretha. She is the woman in charge of the African Garden. Despite her age and some physical limitations, she still tries to make it to the garden at least twice a week to make sure that everything looks good and to fix the things that need to be fixed to the best of her abilities. This woman has a true passion for gardening and trying to make the area around the African Garden a better and safer place to live. 

This takes true dedication and I hope that by the time that I'm as old and wise as she is, I've found something that I'm that dedicated to.

Solitude:

That evening the discipline was solitude. We met up with Krista Dutt in the church and she gave us the "Rules" of Solitude. These Rules included:

1. Absolutely no talking, unless of course there is an emergency.

2. No T.V., which was very hard to let go of do to the fact that the season premiere of The Office was on.

3. No computers. 

4. No ipods.

5. You may leave the house if you want, as long as you are back at a reasonable hour.

6. Be alone, basically don't be with someone from the house, unless you are a girl and you are planning on leaving the house, then you must take a buddy.

As she explained the "rules", I tried to conceal my emotions on the outside, but on the inside I was thinking, "How in the world am I going to do this? How am I going to go for roughly 15 hours without talking?"

As most of you know, I'm a people person. I love talking, laughing, smiling, joking and interacting with the people around me. The more I thought about it, the more daunting it seemed. I live in a house with 15 other people, how in the world was I going to pull this off. Then I realized that I wasn't in this alone, all of my housemates were in the same boat.

Before it reached the set "no talking time" Dorothea and I had made plans to go to a quaint little park next to the Sears Tower that I had been to previously during the week.

So we, all 16 of us, at supper in silence and then headed out. It was almost dusk when we finally reached the park. I had only been there during the day, so it took my breathe away when I saw it in the dusky light. 

It was a fantastic sight. The skyscrapers were all lit up. We made our way into the little park and took seats on the island that was in the middle of the park. I sat and listened for a while. I don't know what it was, but there was something so peaceful about sitting in the city, watching it change as night falls. I loved watching all the lights turn on and listening to the way the traffic sounds change from fast, bustling and rushing to slow, meandering and nonchalant. To me this was a whole new experience. I 'ma country girl, and have never really seen a city go from being fast paced and task oriented to chill and relaxed.

The more I sat, listened and watched, the more relaxed I felt. It was strange just being an innocent bystander, so to speak, because I'm usually one of the people bustling about trying to complete everything at a reasonable hour. 

In the end the solitude discipline turned out to be exactly what I needed. I've been so preoccupied with worrying about finishing orientation and going to Sweden, that I hadn't taken the time to sit back and chill. As it were, it turns that the task that proved so daunting at first, turned out to be so simple and the right remedy to my stress and tension.

Until next time.

-alyssa