{"id":46911,"date":"2020-01-16T17:05:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T01:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/?p=46911"},"modified":"2021-05-21T17:01:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T00:01:30","slug":"seeing-beyond-the-tumbleweeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/seeing-beyond-the-tumbleweeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Beyond the Tumbleweeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/LWalton2017.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5352\" width=\"153\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/LWalton2017.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/LWalton2017-239x300.jpeg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 153px) 100vw, 153px\" \/><figcaption>The Rev. Lori Walton<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the southeast portion of Washington state, along highway 260, traffic came to a standstill for 10 hours on New Year\u2019s Eve.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t snow, it wasn\u2019t rain, it wasn\u2019t a big accident that caused the standstill.\u00a0 Instead, what forced miles of cars to stop driving were hundreds and hundreds of tumbleweeds.\u00a0 Tumbleweeds.\u00a0 Like in the western movies we grew up with.\u00a0 Tumbleweeds are the last stage of the life cycle of plants commonly known as Russian thistle.\u00a0 They spread by breaking off and bounding away, flinging seeds wherever the wind carries them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This portion of the highway in Washington state is not\nforeign to tumbleweeds, but so many of these break-away skeletal plant spheres\nbouncing onto the highway at once was an odd occurrence.&nbsp; According to the story by Jessica Leigh\nHester, writing for Atlas Obscura, \u201cThe drivers braked, but the tumbleweeds\nkept coming, and they quickly blanketed the road and piled up between the cars.\nWithin 30 minutes, vehicles were \u201ccompletely encased,\u201d &#8230; The tumbleweeds\ngathered along a strip of road roughly the length of three football fields, and\nsome heaps reached 20 feet high, Thorson says, tall enough to swallow an\n18-wheel semi truck.\u201d As cars were covered, paint was scraped off their bodies\nand drivers were trapped inside their vehicles.&nbsp;\nEven if they could open their doors to get out, they could not navigate\nthe tumbleweeds without risking grave injury from the thorny and sharp weeds.&nbsp; Eventually, snow plows arrived and workers\ncleared the highway of these pesky weeds, and everyone went along their way. <a href=\"#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I read this story a few weeks ago and the image of hundreds\nof tumbleweeds covering occupied vehicles, making it impossible for drivers to\nexit their cars or to even see beyond the weeds, has stuck with me.&nbsp; These days, I often feel as if I am sitting\nalone in the midst of limited vision due to chaos outside, tumbleweeds bouncing\naround in the wind.&nbsp; Along the road, a\ntumbleweed passes by and it might be a curious sight, but these days, it is as\nif these tumbleweeds just keep coming, one after another, until they\u2019ve piled\nup and I am at a standstill.&nbsp; Have you\never felt this way?&nbsp; Like the world is\noffering one dead weed after another?&nbsp;\nLike you\u2019re sitting alone in a car unable to exit and unable to see the\ndrivers in the other cars?&nbsp; It could just\nbe me, but whether you\u2019ve felt this way or not, I think we can agree that there\nare an awful lot of tumbleweeds in our world, empty and useless circles of\nnothing clogging things up.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While tumbleweeds blocked the highway, remember all of the\nnourishment and sustenance given to us, countering these distractions: living\nwater, manna from heaven, the bread of life, loaves and fishes, wine from\nwater, I could go on.&nbsp; We need not get\nstuck in the distractions of what does not feed us.&nbsp; We are gifted with a tradition and a religion\nthat allows us to connect deeply to our sacred stories, stories that will\ncreate community and bring us to the other side of isolation.&nbsp; Stories that will feed our souls.&nbsp; Stories that will open wide our eyes so that\nwe might see beyond the tumbleweeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Personally, I need these images of LIFE in my world.&nbsp; I need to be reminded of the deep wells of\nnourishment within my reach, as close as my bible or my prayer to God.&nbsp; Maybe you need to be reminded as well.&nbsp; May your road be clear of tumbleweeds and\nfilled with the life-giving and life-altering presence of the Living God, found\nin water, manna, bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lori+<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>atlasobscura.com\/articles\/tumbleweed-traffic-jam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the southeast portion of Washington state, along highway 260, traffic came to a standstill for 10 hours on New Year\u2019s Eve.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t snow, it wasn\u2019t rain, it wasn\u2019t a big accident that caused the standstill.\u00a0 Instead, what forced miles of cars to stop driving were hundreds and hundreds of tumbleweeds.\u00a0 Tumbleweeds.\u00a0 Like in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-window","ctfw-no-image"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Seeing Beyond the Tumbleweeds - St. James&#039; 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