A Walk With God

Stella, my seven-month-old puppy who came into my life when she was seven weeks old is finally old enough to take on long walks. Today, we got all the way to the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park – a four-mile round trip. The park has always been my cathedral, my place of worship because I am in awe of all things that have roots and fly – and there is plenty of both in this space.

Tina Turner said that God is a way of life, and so it is for me as well. Last night, I was eating at Morton’s with a friend before going to see Kelly Love Jones playing at the House of Blues, and we were talking about a mutual friend who is a bit of a control freak. My friend suggested the reason is that she doesn’t have faith, no belief in powers outside of her own, and so therefore she is overwhelmed by everything and feels the need to reign it in all the time.

I nodded in agreement. For many people I’ve known and loved in my life, God is an outrage, a ridiculous notion befitting the wee ones of the world. But I see God everywhere, in the trees, in the water, and in the ground. God is the cormorant who was stretching its inky dark wings to dry – looking more Gospel than creature. God is the black-crowned night heron who tiptoed across the neutral ground on Jeff Davis. God is the hundreds-of-years-old oak trees that drip Spanish moss. God is the bayou. God is the museum that houses the imaginings of many a man and woman. God is my ability to walk on my own two legs. God is the sun. God is me. God is as Turner said, a way of life, a way of having reverence, a way of being grateful, a way of weighing your light along with your shadows.

In many ways, I feel the bayou and the Magnolia Bridge are no longer mine because I had to give them up when I sold the LaLa and in doing so, I relinquished my attachment to them, my sense of place about them. But I won’t give up the park and the birds. This is still my chapel, my solace, and place of worship.

I don’t know if you are like me and when you love something so dearly you want to share it with those you love. I’ve always enjoyed taking my friends from out of town to my special places here in New Orleans and a walk in the park is usually on the agenda. I remember when a friend came in from out of the country and was disappointed by the park, called it a meadow, and dismissed it. Aghast.

But I have a new someone in my life to share this holy ground with and she is Stella.

I thank God for Stella.

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