Perfecting the Porch Sit

I’ve done my fair share of porch sitting. In fact, I like to think myself a bit of an expert. And reading? I love me a good book. Now, if you combine these two passions, you just might get my attention. That’s what Cheryl Smith did this week when she posted about her recent contemplation of L.L. Barkat’s God in the Yard.

I don’t fancy myself an outdoorsy sort of person, so the idea of traipsing into my yard every day for a year, like the author, seems a bit foreign to me. Shoot! Spending an hour in the yard every day for a week would be a stretch. It is summer, after all, and this week temperatures crawled into the low hundreds. We do, however, have a nice, newly screened in porch with a ceiling fan on the back of our house. Surely it would be the perfect summer substitute, and no bugs! So off I traipsed, through the french doors off the kitchen and stepped onto my porch, turned to the right and flipped the switch for the ceiling fan without missing a beat. I journeyed the necessary 8 or more feet to the cushioned sofa, looking to the left and noticed my next-door neighbor in his side yard near Peter’s vegetable garden. Not wanting to be spotted, nor disturbed, I quickly took my place, prostrate on the sofa. Readjusting the pillows, I made myself cozy for the pursuit of contemplation. I suppose like Barkat, my approach was a bit ambiguous. And I hoped it wasn’t an insult to look for Jesus in the trees...

Okay, so maybe what Cheryl was doing was more like porch reclining than sitting, but I think it still counts. To read more about what cloud watching taught her about spiritual discipline, head on over to Cheryl’s blog, Culture Smith, and finish the article. It’s good porch sitting fodder. Photo by Cheryl Smith, used with permission. Post by Laura Boggess.