July 3 for 3 [2021]: Stalking beauty edition
What I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty - all arranged in lists of threes.
Tamara’s Note
Welcome, August!
Last month was dedicated to unplugging and getting reconnected to family, friends, and beauty in real life. Oh, blessed scientific endeavors that allow us to risk giving hugs again!
We felt a bit out of sorts trying to remember how we vacation. Between the pandemic, learning how to be a family of just Brian and me, and a couple of summers navigating a family member’s mental health crisis it’s been awhile since we’ve planned a regular old vacation.
For the first weeks of July, we basically drove around to various bodies of water and hung out with family and friends across upstate New York, Connecticut, and Maine. We ended our vacation with a few days in our forever favorite vacation spot, just the two of us. In the end we were a bit tired from all the coming and going, tugging a boat behind us, searching for the best place to rest.
We might have overdone it a bit, but I prefer now to see that in our souls we were staging a little revolution for the sake of sabbath rest. It wasn’t perfect, but God gave us one experience of connection and beauty after another.
I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to recalibrate and it’s been a bit rough, to be honest. I imagine many of you know what this feels like, and I send you a knowing smile and a safe hug. Let’s keep stalking beauty, friends.
xo,
Tamara
p.s., Here are a few of the places we stalked beauty in July.
This isn’t even the whole family, but it’s the closest we’ve gotten to all being together in a long time.
1. The Hill Family Vacation tradition lives on! It’s getting harder to corral everyone in one place for more than a couple of days, but in the middle of the week we managed to get (almost) everyone there for 36 hours straight. What a gift.
Once again the Bridgeport Ferry to Port Jeff provides a simple, magical summer evening.
2. For my fiftieth birthday this spring, I asked my kids to join us for Hill Family Vacation and then a few days back home in Connecticut. They showed up in all their glorious and hilarious beauty. The days went quickly but we filled them with sun, water, nostalgic road and boating trips, good food, games, laughter, and - as every real family understands - a few tears. What a gift.
It’s taken almost a decade for us to return to one of our favorite places on earth.
3. If you know Brian at all, you know his favorite place to be is on a lake in his own boat. During the lockdown last year, he and my brother decided to just take the plunge and buy a used boat together. It’s given them the predictable amount of stress to keep running but it was worth it for a month full of enjoying lakes across upstate New York and Connecticut. Having a boat was just the prompt we needed to return to our favorite of New York’s famous Finger Lakes for a couple of days boating Cayuga and hiking in Taughannock Falls State Park. What a gift!
If you know, you know.
Favorite Links
Monthly picks to help us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty!
Worship God
As much as I’ve loved allowing the liturgical calendar to form my life of worship, I still haven’t really got the hang of saint’s feast days. July celebrates one of my all-time favorites. (Don’t miss this version.)
We just completed her book study in church and I wish we’d all agreed to get this printed on a tee-shirt so we’ll never forget.
I’m so grateful for these prayer books and excited for a new way to enjoy them.
Love People
Before the Olympic games started, we celebrated this champion.
If I could eloquently summarize every meaningful conversation I experienced in July it would sound something like this. — rich insight into the real-love work that boundaries offer our questions of human identity.
I love the kind of neighbors who bless me when I walk by their homes with little free libraries. This idea is inspiring me to add to the beauty.
Enjoy Beauty
Have you seen these trees? Woah.
She just keeps on making beauty. An important cover released just in time for Independence Day.
This is exactly the kind of step-by-step guidance I need for my houseplants. I wish all tutorials were this pretty!
Member Areas
The welcome mat is out. Come on in!
Image thumbnail: Stavanger, home by Phaedra Jean Taylor (phaedrataylor.com)
1. A Sacramental Life Community - IN PERSON
$17/month level
I’m still savoring the memory of our first virtual retreat for Ordinary Time. One participant shared her experience this way, “Tamara’s retreat forced me to slow down and reflect on Scripture, my life, and listen to the Spirit in ways I don’t normally stop to do. It was refreshing to set this time aside to hear from God - and God certainly spoke to me! I’m eager to make these extended times of reflection more of a habit on my own.” We’ll meet again on August 26 to spend time listening to what the Holy Spirit, scripture, and our own lives on the topic of loving our neighbors and loving ourselves. Join us!
2. A Sacramental Life Daybook Meditations
$5/month level
For the next 7 weeks of Ordinary Time, we’re meditating on Scripture, music, art, prayer, and simple practices to help us embody God’s love toward our neighbors and toward ourselves. Each Sunday morning I send a devotional post for the coming week that dovetails Sunday’s lectionary readings with art, music, prayer, and readings for the rest of the week from the excellent devotional guide, Living the Christain Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross. These weekly devotional posts pair well with retreat #2 for Ordinary Time: Love My Neighbor & Myself.
Image thumbnail: Heart Sleeves by Phaedra Jean Taylor (phaedrataylor.com)
3. A Sacramental Life Stories
$3/month level
I’m continuing to dive into the Stories deep end, sharing some of the most formative memories of my early life as a pastor’s daughter. In July, I shared one of my all-time favorite resurrections stories from my grandmother’s life. Become and member and read it here: Say that your main crop is the forest
Currently Reading
From the Book Pile 2021 | See my giant reading list here.
Don’t miss the round-up post I published this week: What I Read January - June 2021
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2. The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives by Brennan Manning
3. A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century by Witold Rybczynski
Bonus Feature
I’ve decided this is our newsletter mascot.
Here’s to more close-up and personal experiences with beauty this month, friends!
Thank you so much for your continuous support. Every time you mention my spiritual direction offerings, retreats or devotional guides to a friend, or engage on my social media accounts, you're helping to support my work. I am grateful for your encouragement!