Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

Playdate: When We Remain

August 26, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

“Do you want to eat there? They have a cafe.”

He stops, backs up, and turns into the long drive to Sandhill Crane Vineyards. I’ve never eaten at a vineyard before. I don’t remember visiting a vineyard. We did drive north across the Golden Gate into wine country on our honeymoon, but I don’t remember anything but a big sequoia tree.

And I’ve never seen grapes grow.

I order The Moz–fresh grilled mozzarella and tomato with pesto sandwich. It arrives with homemade chips and a slice of watermelon.

 

We sit out on the porch and look over the wine tasting list. We have no idea, so the waitress explains how to taste, starting with dry wines to semi-sweet, sweet, and dessert. They have beautiful names and descriptions.

Blushing Crane: Fruit forward, pear and melon on the nose with flavors of ripe berries, watermelon and tropical fruits–and they donate 50 cents per bottle to a bird sanctuary.

A real crane flies by. We often see them in our own fields.

Blue Skies: Soft, floral mead made with local honey and blueberries. Each bottle includes a $4 donation to a nature conservancy that has strived to bring the bluebird back to Michigan. Its name is taken from a Thoreau quote, “The bluebird carries the sky on his back.” (This turns out to be my favorite.)

They’ve set up bluebird houses everywhere I look.

Sugar Snow: Made with maple sap from a local farm family, this soft, subtle unfiltered fortified wine is lightly sweetened with pure local maple syrup.

Miel Amour: A spiced pear honey-wine made with locally grown Asian pears, local honey, and a touch of cinnamon.

2008 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine: Produced from grapes grown in SW Michigan and made in the traditional way–with grapes frozen on the vine and picked (and processed) at night in the dead of winter.

So even fruit that seems forgotten holds a special use and sweetness.

We know nothing about the nuances of wine tasting. We know nothing about sniffing and twirling, but we sip and listen to the wind chime sing behind us, watch swallows sail and swoop. It’s a beautiful, breezy, warm and sunny day.

The people at the next table, they’ve tasted too much. They’re getting loud and a bit crude, so we decide it’s time to go.

“Walk out there,” the waitress points to our right. It’s pretty. The grapes are getting ripe.”

At first I don’t see them. But then, under the shelter of the leaves, I look closer, and they’re there. Clusters of them.

And I hear honey-sweet words.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” ~Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.” ~Luke 22:20 (NIV)

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.” ~John 15:5 (NIV)

I remember the progression in this chapter from no fruit to fruit to more fruit to much fruit to lasting fruit. It’s a process that requires sometimes painful pruning.

“Love one another as I have loved you.” ~John 15:12.

It’s a lay-down-your-life kind of love. Because this life of love that He calls us to, it’s also a life of loss.

In our bearing under, He bears us over.

And in the laying down, He lifts us up.

When we remain.

 

In the stillness,

Sandy

With Laura

 

 

Resurrected from the archives

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: Blog, stories

Comments

  1. Lynn D. Morrissey says

    August 26, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    I can’t believe this Sandy! I was literally just talking to my mother about how the neighbors have workers outside, hacking away at the beautiful fire bushes that front their lawn–the very bushes that inspire me from my office each autumn, as I gaze out at their crimson flaming. And now, their leaves and branches are being hacked away, presumably to encourage new growth. I talked to Mother about roses and grape vines, and how they, too, must be pruned to ensure new growth (and this life from death is paradoxical, but true). And I will admit to you: I’m weary of pruning, or I should say, of being pruned! I long for fruit. Yours is a timely reminder. Jesus is the Vine, and God, the Husbandman, and as I remain in the Vine, I can never be separated from His love and life. As I remain, despite His pruning, His promise to me is that I will, indeed, bear more fruit. This is His word to me (and to all), and I must trust Him.
    Thank you for your beautiful words, photos, and encouragement.
    Love
    Lynn

    • Sandra Heska King says

      August 26, 2014 at 12:22 pm

      I’m a little tired of it, too, Lynn. I remember how excited I was the day I planted a clematis next to our carport when we lived in Georgia. I watched that plant climb the brick work, and I waited and waited, but it never bloomed. Until after I ruthlessly chopped it all back…

      Then there’s our side yard here where my son got crazy with his chain saw. He thought he was cleaning up. He didn’t know he was hacking up a hundred-year-old lilac planting. I was sick. So was he when I broke into tears. I call it the Great Lilac Massacre. They still haven’t made a great comeback. I think it takes a pruner who knows what he’s doing. 🙂

      • Lynn D. Morrissey says

        August 27, 2014 at 10:25 am

        Oh Sandy. I’m so sorry. . . . but sometimes you stand amazed at a comeback. I’m praying for those lilacs, one of the most glorious and fragrant of flowers. Surely, God will bring them back as a huge encouragement to you.

  2. Elizabeth says

    August 26, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    I love the visual of the verses you included. I’m so glad that the master Vinedresser knows what He’s doing! I’m not so careful as He is.

  3. Diana Trautwein says

    August 26, 2014 at 6:30 pm

    what a beautiful adventure you had – I’m so glad!!

  4. Martha Orlando says

    August 27, 2014 at 8:39 pm

    “And in the laying down, He lifts us up.”
    This line spoke to me so profoundly, Sandy. With so much going on in my life, I need to remember that surrender to Him is all that is needed. Thanks for your most touching reflection and photos, my friend.
    Blessings!

  5. laura says

    August 28, 2014 at 12:35 pm

    This is the sweetest of playdates. I can almost taste those flavors! I’ve always wanted to go to a vineyard. We have some little ones here in WV, maybe it’s time to plan a trip. Hmmm…

  6. Lorretta says

    August 28, 2014 at 6:11 pm

    This is nothing short of lovely. Thanks Sandy.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to “Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. . . Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.” ~ Mary Oliver in “Mysteries, Yes”
🌱
No way could anyone ever convince me that this world in all its beauty and creativity and mysteries is here by accident.
Food truck night with a newcomer—@crepstick. So Food truck night with a newcomer—@crepstick. So yummy! I hope they come back.  But maybe not too often or I’ll have to do double time on the exercise.
“Embrace this day knowing and showing the world “Embrace this day knowing and showing the world that your God is more than enough for you.”
🌿
@tamiheim @tonibirdsong 
In @stickyJesus: How to Live Out Your Faith Online
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the str My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion.” Psalm 73:26 (ESV)
🌿
I’d almost forgotten what quiet mornings on the patio were like. (Quiet except for the birds and the sound of the neighbor’s AC.)
So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the fir So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the first time he wanted to see me in 6 months instead of a year. He said my aortic stenosis had gotten worse. Like on the cusp of moderate to severe. 😬

So the first thing he asks me is, "How's you daughter?" Wait. Isn't this supposed to be about ME?

Then he asks if I've had any symptoms. "Well, I don't know. Maybe. I felt a little dizzy out of the blue a couple times. And felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I wouldn't have paid any attention if I didn't know I was supposed to be watching for symptoms. I DID walk all over Israel and up a bunch of steep hills, even all the way up to the Golan Heights--against the wind--without anything but normal fatigue.

He laughs. "I created a monster." Ummm, yeah.

"Have you been exercising?" 

"Well, yeah. We walk a couple miles a day. I'm back on my Nordictrack Strider." I didn't tell him I'd been lifting some light weights and some very heavy boxes and other items during this renovation, though I was told in December not to.

So he listens to the beating of my heart. Then he says, "Well, I don't think the valve is ripe yet. I don't expect you to have symptoms for three or four years. You don't need to come back for a year."

Wait! So you ask if I have symptoms. But you don't expect symptoms--yet. And when I do have symptoms, someone is gonna do something. And then I'll be older and maybe weaker. Or what if I have some sudden and silent symptom and boom! And now I have to worry about that. 

(In other news, my oldest grand texts me the other day, and our conversation runs like this...
Last weekend we were in northern Michigan. And the Last weekend we were in northern Michigan. And there were lilacs. They even shook their heads over tornado-induced devastation. Look for the beauty and sweet scents in the midst of the mess. I miss the lilacs.
Yesterday’s morning view. We haven’t seen the Yesterday’s morning view. We haven’t seen the sun all day today.
When the folks in my hometown of Gaylord, Michigan When the folks in my hometown of Gaylord, Michigan ate their breakfast Friday morning, they had no idea what terror and devastation they'd face before dinner. Everyone has a story. You've probably seen pictures.

If not, take a peek at @mlivenews .

My great-nephew, not quite 12, had just gotten home from school when the EF-3 came down the street and left its mark on every home. My niece frantically tried to find her way from work through debris and blocked roads. My sister was 30 miles away visiting my dad in rehab. I don't want to know how fast my brother-in-law drove. 

The house and yard took a hit, worse than some, not as bad as others. A mobile home park was demolished--two deaths there. I heard one person is still missing. So many injured. So much awful. But the town is coming together for each other. Pray for them.

We plan to fly up Thursday--already planned to celebrate my dad's 95th birthday. 

Also, if anyone feels led to help, the Otsego Community Foundation and Otsego County United Way are accepting donations. Note “Tornado Relief.” Beware of any other fundraising requests.
Cutting tonight’s walk short. Stupid blue jay. N Cutting tonight’s walk short. Stupid blue jay. Not this one. A different one. But still. (My niece believes blue jays are a visitation from Grandma—my mom.) 
My shirt says “Walk in love. But I’m not feeling very loving. And if it WAS my Mom AKA Mother Mary Esther of the Order of Perpetual Birdwatchers, I’ll bet she’s having a good laugh. A passerby said she heard it was good luck and I should buy a lottery ticket tonight. In other news, I also banged my hip bone against our bed’s footboard and gave myself a mighty bruise. Then I burned my arm on the top of the grill. I did manage to wash all the knives without cutting myself and didn’t start any fires. So how was your day?
And now… “From the rising of the sun to the pl And now… “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”
The world’s a mess, but His mercies are new. The world’s a mess, but His mercies are new.
When we were in Israel last month, we visited @yad When we were in Israel last month, we visited @yadvashem - the World Holocaust Center in Jerusalem. There wasn't enough time to spend nearly enough time. 

The Valley of the Communities was very moving. It's a labyrinth of stone from which there seems no way out. Our guide said It gives an idea of the endlessness of the horror. His parents emigrated from Vilna (the Jerusalem of Lithuania), before the Holocaust. In 1935, thirteen of his family members still remained there. By 1945 only one--an uncle--had survived. He wrote a book about them from a bundle of old letters. "One story out of millions."

"This memorial commemorates the Jewish communities destroyed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and the few which suffered but survived in the shadow of the Holocaust."
#Israel2022 #HolocaustRemembranceDay
“From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up a “From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, ” Anne Frank wrote in the Diary of a Young Girl. Watching the tree change through the seasons her family spent in hiding in an attic gave her hope. The Holocaust Memorial Center is one of only eleven sites in the United States to receive a sapling from that tree. I stand at “her” window and imagine hanging hope on a tree.

"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.” ~ Primo Levi

From a post I wrote for @tspoetry after a visit to the @holocaustcenter.

https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/07/27/regional-tour-holocaust-memorial-center-farmington-hills-michigan/
Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterd Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterday. I was in a rush and failed to snap the whole tree. I need to run back before the flowers fall. I think it’s a jacaranda? I want one.
Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this a Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this afternoon. I thought he was hurt, but I think he was just trying to cool off. (Maybe it's a young one.... unless it's the light?)
Someone should do something about that dog. She’ Someone should do something about that dog. She’s yelping and carrying on like she’s in some awful pain.
“Now in the place where he was crucified there w “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.” ~ John 19:41

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay…’”~ Matthew 28:5-6

Many wonder if this tomb, which lies just a few yards west of Golgotha could be the place where Jesus lay and rose. I wish we could have lingered longer here in this garden and in the tomb itself. It was easier for me to imagine the events of that weekend happening here than in the heavily incensed, decorated, dark and crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre… though my hairdresser said her old boyfriend “got chills”’when he entered that tomb. We did not go inside that one because the line was way too long. 

At any rate, the most important thing is that he tomb is EMPTY and HE IS RISEN!

HAPPY EASTER!
#Israel2022 #GardenTomb #Easter
 “Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to g 
“Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.’” ~ Luke 22:33-34

The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (rooster crowing) built over what tradition says was the house of Caiaphas where Jesus was brought after he was arrested. Perhaps he was imprisoned in one of the underground crypts while awaiting trial. 

“On top of the church, higher than the cross—I loved this—stands a golden rooster! I’ll never look at a weathervane the same again. How would you like to have a church commemorate your weakest moment?” ~ Wayne Stiles in Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

#Israel2022 #GoodFriday
The olive trees here are ancient… some carbon da The olive trees here are ancient… some carbon dates to the 12th century, according to my Eyewitness book on Jerusalem. “DNA tests have shown that eight of the trees grew from cuttings from the same mother tree—perhaps taken by Christians who believed the tree to have witnessed Jesus’s agony.” 

Gethsemane means “olive press.” Jesus was pressed to his very depths that night.  He knew what was ahead. He could have run far away. But he went where he knew Judas would look for him. 

“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” ~ Luke 22:41-44

Garden of Gethsemane and Church of the Nations

#Israel2022
A "blue preacher" right outside my door, nearly as A "blue preacher" right outside my door, nearly as tall as I am. I wonder what he's wondering. Is he finding the answer blowing in the wind?

"Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness." ~ Mary Oliver in "Why I Wake Early"
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2022 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in