Sunday is a day of rest, and I often begin mine at First Cup Café, where I meet folks from Lonoke to Maumelle to Chenal. At the café, located in First Church at 8th and Center Streets, I savor French vanilla coffee and a sausage croissant, and one recent Sunday I sang with the “Chablis Singers” (the unofficial name of one of the music groups). After a lesson from one of the women pastors on the Old Testament rule that all that is required of us is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God, I left refreshed and rested.
My wife and I went down the street to Curran Hall, Little Rock’s Visitor Information Center. After sitting in rocking chairs on the porch and eating lunch, we worked in the garden, as gardeners and farmers throughout Arkansas were beginning to do in order to prepare the cold earth for spring. I was surprised to see the green leaves of daisies and smell the rosemary in January, and as I clipped dead blossoms, they spit their seeds on the ground to begin life all over again. The garden is restful, even in winter, and welcomed visitors that week from Korea and Spain to my hometown.
Later that afternoon, the brilliant blue sky of winter began to change when purple clouds appeared. Thunder sounded somewhere north of the Arkansas River Valley, and a light rain began as I started my Sunday walk in Knoop Park at the original Little Rock Water Works site halfway between Stifft Station and Hillcrest. The stonework constructed by the depression-era “stimulus” program is still remarkable and in stark contrast to the park’s contemporary doggie fountain, which causes me to pause and contemplate that we in America are considerate of all creation, including efforts in my church to collect money to build a well for children in Africa.
From Knoop Park I walked along Cedar Hill Road’s stately homes to Allsop Park, where I passed columns for the old suspension bridge that once connected the Pulaski Heights streetcar and South Lookout residents across the valley. Some days I turn north at the columns, climb the hill to South Lookout, continue two blocks on Beechwood and enter the north portion of Allsop Park, then continue northwest to Kavanaugh at Crestwood, a block from home. This Sunday, I exited the park, stopped at a Hillcrest coffee shop for strawberry ice cream to put pink into a cold winter day, and, as I had done since childhood, passed Alltel’s original office site next to Kroger’s parking lot, cut across St. Mary’s school ground, past my old home place on Kavanaugh, and reached home five blocks away.
Since Sundays are for rest, I took my Sunday power nap and, 15 minutes later, arose empowered and worked in my workshop. After Sunday night supper of chili, I read about Arkansas’ leadership in manufacturing wind turbines for future energy.
Yes, Sunday is a day to rest the spirit in Little Rock, between Old Testament truths and a promising future.