On creeks and clutter; and oh my goodness, I've started a blog!

Wisdom from someone whose name you'd think is harder to spell than mine

My maiden name is Walker, and this is a name people can spell. You would think that people could also spell the name Gunter, but this is not the case. In the last 26 years since I married Phillip Gunter and took this name, I have been irritated with people trying to spell it "Gunther" or "Guenther". "Gun - ter." How hard is that?

I've never actually known anyone with either of those more classic German spellings of the name. But now I do, and I'm pretty sure I like her. I "met" Margaret Guenther this morning as I began reading her book, Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction. She has given me the inspiration for the title of my blog, "Clearing the Clutter". Margaret Guenther is a spiritual director, and she speaks wisely of those who come to her:

"Sometimes I wonder if the care of souls was easier in simpler times, for people sometimes come looking for a spiritual director because they are overwhelmed with good things: challenging work, useful charitable activities, more books than they can read and cultural events than they can ever absorb, more information than they can process, more paths of self-improvement than they can follow. Like overindulged children, they are inundated by good things; and they simultaneously yearn and fear to hear: 'One thing is needful.' They come because they want that one thing, even when they cannot articulate their need. They want help in clearing away the clutter, or at least in arranging it so that it becomes useful spiritual furniture rather than an impediment to wholeness."

-From Holy Listening by Margaret Guenther

As a fellow traveler on the Christian spiritual journey, I understand those words. I have been that person seeking to clear the clutter in my life. I've had some beginning successes in the clearing of the clutter, and it seems to me a wonderful analogy of the spiritual process.

Of suburbia and ownership

I go to my creek to clear away the clutter. I call it my creek not because I have ownership of it (although actually, Phillip and I do own a little piece of it - a strip of about 150 feet across the back of our property), but I call it my creek because I have claimed it. I am not the only one to lay claim to this little creek, Lake Creek, that snakes its way through suburban neighborhoods like Forest North and Anderson Mill and Round Rock West. Most of our immediate neighbors live on the creek; Barbara and Tim, who host our cell group live on the creek, as do our friends, Jerri and Lisa and my new hairdresser, Teresa. They all love the creek as well. There are at least two streets named Lake Creek, one in North Austin and one in Round Rock. Since two of them are directly off RM 620 and are less than 8 miles apart, it can be a bit confusing for the uninitiated driver. In Round Rock we even have Lake Creek Pool. For those of us whose homes are on lots on the creek, we own the land all the way to the middle of the creek.

But none of that is the reason I love my creek. I love my creek because I can walk out of my house (which has been known to be cluttered) and walk 61 steps north, and I am transported to another world, another ecosystem, a place where there are rocks and trees and poison oak (not on our side of the creek, thanks to Phillip!) and frogs and tiny fish and little green heron and great blue heron and cardinals (who often grace us with their presence at the bird feeder on our back porch) and tiny little shells deposited on the banks after the last "flood". And there is water. Water flowing over rocks, making that wonderful water-flowing-over-rocks sound that reminds me of the Colorado Rockies.

I love my creek because when I remember to take the time, I can walk those 61 steps back to where the water flows. I can take a deep breath, listen to the water and just hang out for 10 minutes - or an hour - while my heart rate and blood pressure go down, and I am reminded that whatever I've got going on in my mind or my heart or my life or my house, here there is space for God. Here at the creek there is time and space and color and light and life and endless creation. Here at the creek it is a different world, but one which God invites me to enter. Here there are many things, but no clutter. I walk those 61 steps back to my house less cluttered and more clear than I was when I walked down there.

Periodic musings

I've often thought of doing some kind of e-newsletter of my thoughts or musings, and when blogs became popular I began to think of writing one. I've taken inspiration from my son, Austin, who has written entertaining travel blogs changeforaustin.blogspot.com) and my friend, John Hay who was doing it before everyone else was and does it better than most (bikehiker.blogspot.com).

So here I go! I will call it periodic because while I might have high hopes of writing every day or once a week or twice a month, the reality is I'm not quite that organized yet. So I will write when I can, and I invite you to let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you!

Blessings and peace,
Jan Gunter
Writing from Round Rock, Texas, where the sun is shining and the birds are singing.