January 1, 2025
I'm Looking for a Spiritual Directorwith Rolling Ridge staff
NOW CHANGED TO AN ONLINE EVENT:
Wednesday February 16th 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The Man Who Talks with the Flowers: The Ahhhhh–mazing Life of Dr. George Washington Carver
How do I talk to a little flower?
Through it I talk to the Infinite. And what is the Infinite?
It’s that still small voice that calls up the fairies.
-G.W. Carver
It’s not just about the peanuts! Yes, George Washington Carver was the one who discovered over 300 uses for the peanut and over 150 uses for the sweet potato. You may even remember him as a renowned agricultural scientist, a black man who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who always wore a flower in the button hole of his jacket—the old, scruffy, black one he bought for $2.00.
But what you may not know is just how he could see into the soul of things to discover all those uses for the peanut and sweep potato, and to receive the flower’s secrets through that still small voice that calls up "the fairies." A clue: he understood deeply that, “It’s not we little men who do the work but our blessed Creator working through us.” And, as a result, he intimately knew, “There’s literally nothing that I ever wanted to do that I asked the blessed Creator to help me do that I’ve not been able to accomplish. It’s all very simple if one knows how to talk with the Creator.”
In celebration of Black History Month and as part of our Voices and Stories series, we’ll allow the spirit of George Washington Carver to speak in this ONLINE morning event (originally planned as a full day onsite event). We will use Christian mantra, journaling, and sharing to explore justhow Carver was able to talk with his Creator, allowing him to see into the soul of things, like the flower and the peanut, indeed, into all creation. And, along the way, we’ll discover the three keys he named as essential to being able to hear that still small voice that calls up the fairies . . . again and again.
Carver did it and so can we.
Registration Fee for the ONLINE event: $22
This event is part of the Town of North Andover's celebration of Black History Month. For other events thatcelebrate the achievements of Black individuals and families, check out the town's Black History Month website. And check out the banners located throughout North Andover. At Rolling Ridge, we proudly feature Elizabeth Freeman (c 1744-1829), the first enslaved African American to file and win a freedom law suit in the state of Massachusetts. Her courage paved the way for a group of “freedom suits” that would ultimately lead the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to outlaw slavery in the state.Click here to learn more about Elizabeth Freeman and seven other African Americans who made a difference.