Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons

by Christie Purifoy

Overview

When Christie Purifoy arrived at Maplehurst that September, she was heavily pregnant with both her fourth child and her dreams of creating a sanctuary that would be a fixed point in her busily spinning world. The sprawling Victorian farmhouse sitting atop a Pennsylvania hill held within its walls the possibility of a place where her family could grow, where friends could gather, and where Christie could finally grasp and hold the thing we all long for--home.

In lyrical, contemplative prose, Christie slowly unveils the small trials and triumphs of that first year at Maplehurst--from summer's intense heat and autumn's glorious canopy through winter's still whispers and spring's gentle mercies. Through stories of planting and preserving, of opening the gates wide to neighbors, and of learning to speak the language of a place, Christie invites readers into the joy of small beginnings and the knowledge that the kingdom of God is with us here and now.

Anyone who has felt the longing for home, who yearns to reconnect with the beauty of nature, and who values the special blessing of deep relationships with family and friends will love finding themselves in this story of earthly beauty and soaring hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800726669
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	718,815
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Christie Purifoy (PhD, University of Chicago) has taught literature and composition to undergraduates at the University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, and the University of North Florida. In 2012, Christie traded the university classroom for a large vegetable garden and a henhouse in southeastern Pennsylvania. She is a regular writer at "Grace Table" and has contributed essays to numerous websites, including Art House America, "A Deeper Story," and many popular blogs. She writes about the beauty, mystery, and wonder that lies beneath the ordinary at her blog, "There Is a River" (www.christiepurifoy.com).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 9

An Arrival and a Setting Out 11

Autumn

The Writing on the Wall 17

Birth and Rebirth 23

The Wanderer's Return 29

Here Prayers Are Born 35

These Days without Name or Story 41

This Is a Testimony 45

Giving Thanks in Rising Darkness 51

Set Apart 57

Winter

The Sound of a Silent Voice 65

Let There Be Light 69

A Good and Terrible Story 75

Starlight and Dust 81

This Day Runneth Over 87

How to Cultivate a Year 93

Beneath the Veil 97

This Place Marked by a Star 101

A House of Brick and Symbol 105

Spring

A Growing Hunger 111

Beyond the Edge 117

It Is Unfinished 121

On Earth As It Is in Heaven 127

There Is a River 133

The Word of the Lord 139

A Storm and a Bridge 143

Disappointment (Such Good News) 147

An Ancient Song, Always New 153

Summer

Let Us Cultivate Glory in Empty Fields 161

Love, So Slow and Beautiful 167

"Who Was, and Is, and Is to Come 171

Showers of Blessing (So Sharp and So Cold) 177

This Path Is a Place 181

Singing, Together, over the Sea 187

Dreams in Black and White 191

Roots to Remember and Branches to Dream 195

All the Loose Ends in the Sky 199

Notes 203