Live Well. Do Good.
Mark & Bill @ The Country Cottage & Gardens
Our Philosophy
We welcome you into this conversation and hope we can find our way together. We do that by spending time together as we teach each other the way to goodness, caring, and generosity. We center this activity at our Country Cottage and Gardens, a farmstead, meadow, gardens, art studio, writing bench, and natural chapel.
For our part, we promise to continue to love diversity and to assist all who are excluded to become part of our society and culture. We promise to treat others as equals to ourselves , others who have dreams, hopes, and plans for goodness and wellness. And we promise to work toward an ever-more inclusive culture and society, including newcomers, refugees, and immigrants who come to our door or our borders, asking only to share in the beauty and bounty around us.
We hope you will join us in this great and noble mission.
All about our Country Cottage and Gardens
In gathering at our Country Cottage & Gardens
In gathering at our Country Cottage & Gardens
In gathering at our Country Cottage & Gardens
To speak of gathering at our country cottage and gardens suggests an encounter, a meeting of friends, the possibility of new acquaintances, and the pleasure of a life well lived. Learning the skills for living well while doing good for others is our goal. In meetings like these whether to tend the garden, learn to paint, or share a meal, we sense of the presence of the Holy One.
In turning our hearts toward others with love
In gathering at our Country Cottage & Gardens
In gathering at our Country Cottage & Gardens
When we keep before us the guidance of the Teacher, we learn to give ourselves away with love. We allow ourselves to be moved toward others with mercy, compassion, affection, and companionship. We become true companions—compañeros in Spanish—with one another. The word means, literally, “the one with whom I share my bread.” Such companionship helps us encounter the Holy in profound ways.
In creating and seeing art and beauty
In gathering at our Country Cottage & Gardens
In creating and seeing art and beauty
We encounter our deeper selves in art and beauty where a mysterious force of sublime goodness helps us glimpse our inner light. Such beauty—a painting, a sunset, a familiar face—stirs up in us a response leading to goodness and wellness. We tuck each encounter away in the memory of our hearts where, over time, they keep us from giving up hope or becoming bitter.
In tending the garden and orchard
In reading and meditating on the ideas that guide us
In creating and seeing art and beauty
When we sink our hands into the soil of our gardens or orchards to tend the plants—whether on a windowsill, patio, boulevard, or plot of land—we come to know each plant as a fellow being, each with a temperament and traits that make it unique. And again, an inner light, a force of life, and an encounter with the Holy occurs.
In reading and meditating on the ideas that guide us
In reading and meditating on the ideas that guide us
In reading and meditating on the ideas that guide us
We likewise experience such encounters through the written word. Texts filled with ideas serve as our teachers and guides, drawing out of us an unknown strength and wisdom. We then experience what we call enlightenment. Literally, an inner light illuminates the mysteries of our lives. We treasure such texts and return to them often. They are our guides to the Holy.
In our commitment to the poor of Guatemala
In reading and meditating on the ideas that guide us
In reading and meditating on the ideas that guide us
Every encounter with the Holy—in love, beauty, nature, or texts—leads us to treat others with respect and care. We become care-full of each other. Especially when we encounter those in need—the poor, abandoned, rejected, and displaced—and turn our hearts to them, we likewise open our heart to the Holy One.