The Power of a Flower

The city I grew up in has about 50.000 residents. It is 20 min away from Stuttgart, 600.000 residents. European cities usually have a historic center like a former market place or palace court. These car-free zones with their outdoor malls, boutiques, fountains, theaters, restaurants, bars, clubs and bistros draw people to enjoy their leisure time in a picturesque ambient. Webcam Stuttgart So now I'm in Los Angeles. 4 million residents. I remember the lesson a "friendly" immigration officer at the airport once taught me. You know these green forms visitors have to fill out and give the address of where they are staying? I had put the adress where I was staying and for city I had put "Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks". I thought it was all called LA with different suburbs. Wrong. Can't believe Germany doesn't include that in the curriculum at school. Sorry Mr. Officer if I offended you by being so unsophisticated. At least you didn't need to call the airport translator to talk to me. Okay, I got a bit sidetracked here. My point is, this lesson is taking longer to learn than I thought. I'm still trying to figure out the picture of LA as a city in my head. You know, like when I think of Sydney for example, I have a coherent picture of the bay, the opera house, the bridge, Darling Habour. That's down town. I guess the European brain is structured in a way that it is always looking for the city center (shape of a circle) even in the smallest town, that's where people go for entertainment. Down town Sherman Oaks, however, consists of a view blocks on Ventura Blvd. For the city fair the have to block the 4-lane street (shape of a line)! So I figured out that the different cities that are part of LA area are not suburbs - for the record - even when most of them don't appear like separate cities with visible city limits. So within this huge mass of connecting concrete there are different city centers with quite different feels: Down town LA is home of the financial district and a lot of missions to reach the homeless of Skid Row. Hollywood is where people go out if they want the craziness. Santa Monica's 3rd street has a bit of the European feel to it, we should go there more often. Pasadena Old town comes close except there are no pedestrian zones. Malibu is nice to go hiking or find a secluded beach. And of course there is Chinatown, home to the Chinese new year parade and cheap markets. Then there is Little Mexico, I mean Van Nuys and Panorama City - best Walmart freak-show ever. I'm told that more places to avoid are Pomona and Compton if you don't want to get shot. Can't believe I applied for a job where I would have had to do house visits in those areas with drug-addicted gang members! etc. So you can see I am on my way to figuring in all out. What didn't take me long to figure out is that I am a person who needs visual beauty around me to survive. Beauty is healing to our soul. Have you ever wondered why we give flowers to the grieving? In Germany graveyards are beautiful flower-gardens. In midst of the concrete jungle with its multi-lane streets full of wholes and decorated with pieces of blown up tires and other trash on the sides, its ugly grey box-shaped buildings, the sensory overload of blinking and flashing advertisements, billboards and signs as far as you can see, I try to find something for my spirit to rest. What saved me when we lived in our old apartment was our little balcony next to a big maple tree. Since we lived on the 2nd floor I had a bit of a view on the mountains (at least on clear days, aka in winter). I planted some flowers and decorated the place. And I saved the palm tree that my husband had brought into our marriage (he considered it dead) but I was determined to give it another chance and after a lot of patience and care I watched my "tree of hope" grow. I like walking through neighborhoods with colorful gardens and colonial style houses. I smell the sweet fragrance of the jasmine on my patio. I watch the humming bird outside at the pool and try to ignore the power lines in the background. When I'm stuck in traffic in the morning I look at the sun over the (sometimes snow topped) mountains. I do something creative. And sometimes God gives me an extra gift when one of my cacti develops a beautiful red flower for a day. And I try to get away from the visuals and noises of the city as often as possible. I don't find it easy to find those places though. Being used to run around a quiet lake in the forest, the experience of running around lake Balboa on a paved track covered with duck poop and overcrowded by masses of people was rather disappointing. North Hollywood park has dirt tracks but it's right next to the highway and my allergies have gotten bad enough since I moved here. So I'm happy when we make it to the beach, the mountains, Descanso gardens or Santa Barbara. I think Paul sums it up pretty well:

Philippians 4:8 ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)

As I said, I'm working on it. Or maybe I should say, I let Him work on it : )

^{Philippians 3:12 12}Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (NIV)