Goodness Weekly 5.4.26
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
—Simone Weil
WHAT’S GOOD
☕🪩 One Another Coffee's 3rd Birthday is This Saturday!
One Another Coffee's 3rd birthday celebration is just around the corner—join us this Saturday, May 9th from 8am - 1pm for a disco-themed good time! And the party is already getting started—head over to @oneanother.coffee on Instagram this week for a birthday giveaway to kick off the festivities. Follow along and celebrate three amazing years with us!
The Possibility of Renewal
Taylor Bates, Deputy Director, Sunset Ridge Collective
Over the past couple of weeks, the rain has been deeply nourishing for our campus—something we’ve needed and longed for. And yet, as is often the case, what brings life can also bring complexity, and even loss.
I was at a coffee shop last Friday when suddenly everyone’s phones blared with a flash flood alert at the same time. My kids’ school was delayed. We had to cancel our first Full Moon Friday at Charis Park, an event we’d been looking forward to. And for many of us in Texas, those warnings stir deeper memories and grief for neighbors affected by flooding.
The week prior, Sarah, our Park Programs Manager, organized a “consensus walk” in Charis Park. She gathered a group of staff and about eight neighbors with experience in land management, gardening, and tree care—including an urban farmer from our market, several Sprouts School parents, and the school’s director.
That morning, the forecast called for rain and thunderstorms. I packed my umbrella and headed to the park, unsure who might show up. Amazingly, everyone did.
It was a gift—not only to hear their ideas for collectively caring for the park in creative and sustainable ways, but also to simply stand together in the rain. To feel the cool air, to smell that distinctive scent, and to share in a bit of awe together.
As we walked, we paused to admire the retama trees planted two years ago, now bursting with thousands of small yellow blooms. Beneath them, feather grasses were spreading, with new sprouts filling in the gaps.
The next morning, as the rain continued, I received a photo from our operations manager. One of those same retama trees had nearly split in half. A large branch had broken off under the weight of the storm.
As I drove to campus, I was heartened to see Alex, a neighbor and arborist who had joined the consensus walk, already there with Sarah, tending to the tree in the rain. As they examined the damage, they realized the branch had likely been weakened by an internal crack and fungus—something invisible from the outside, but made vulnerable under pressure.
Alex carefully removed the broken branch and cared for what remained. He was frustrated with himself, wishing he had thought to prune it the day before. But how could he have known?
In reflecting on this moment, I feel deeply grateful for this growing community of people who are drawn to care for this place and for one another. And I’m reminded that while nature is not predictable or controllable, it is always instructive.
I witnessed how paying attention to the natural world can reveal our shared qualities—generosity, resilience, beauty, complexity, and fragility.
Sarah started propagating clippings from the broken retama branches, putting into practice something we discovered together during the consensus walk.
Even in loss, there is always the possibility of renewal.
If you’re looking for ways to get connected—with others and with nature—there are many: come by the weekly regenerative farmers market, join a gardening workshop, or be part of Friends of Charis Park.
Coming Up…
Daily, NYX Yoga & Fitness
Daily, One Another Coffee
Mondays through May 18, 4 - 4:30 PM, Pedal Pals Class, Charis Park
Wednesdays, Mission Compost Pick Up
Thursdays-Sundays, Scott’s Pizza, Charis Park
Saturdays, 9 AM - 1 PM, Sunset Ridge Farmers Market, Charis Park
Sundays, Worship at Sunset Ridge Church
Saturday, May 9, 8 AM - 1 PM One Another Coffee Birthday Celebration
Sunday, May 10, 6:45 AM - 7:45 AM, Holding Space: A Sunrise Gathering For Mothers Who Carry Loss, Led by Grief Yoga expert Nicole Flannery, Charis Park
Monday, May 25, Office Closed for Memorial Day
Saturday, May 30, 8 AM - 1 PM, One Another Coffee & Nuevos Vecinos Thrift Pop-up, Fellowship Hall
July 7 - 10, 9 AM - 12 PM, Vacation Bible School, Kinder - 5th, Sunset Ridge Church
Event Rentals - Interested in hosting your event at Charis Park or in our facilities? Please email rentals@sunset-ridge.org
Community Partners: For updated schedules and events please follow One Another Coffee, Sunset Ridge Farmers Market, NYX Wellness, Scott’s Pizza, Mission Compost, Sprouts School, Good Acres, and Community First Food Pantry.
Inhale: Attune my eyes
Exhale: to the small renewals around me
