A necessary balance to the shorter and darker days of winter is found in the blazing fireplace, the cheery string of mantle lights and a scented candle, which brighten both space and spirit. Lots of natural light floods the picture window during the cold winter: bare trees, arms outstretched offering only what is necessary, are … Continue reading
As part of an online course with Abbey of the Arts, we were encouraged to take a contemplative walk – a purposefully slow meander, just to notice what we notice around us. I offer here a few photos and reflection from my brief sojourn around the neighborhood.
“It’s not the experience that brings transformation,”says author and teacher Jan Johnson, “it’s our reflection upon our experience.” Emily P. Freeman Mid-Winter is an invitation to pause. We’ve already had significant snow (though the yard is mostly bare and brown now), the holidays are done and our attention at church is drawn toward Epiphany, days are … Continue reading
In a season of fullness, to scale back requires work and faith; freedom to fully see. I wrote this Advent Hiaku last year as part of an online course through Abbey of the Arts. It speaks to me now as much as it did then as I embrace the paradoxes of the season and prepare … Continue reading
Penny, a sweet furball the color of a perfectly baked croissant, is my teacher. Her recent lesson? That my ability to attend to my surroundings, and thus to God, is inversely proportional to how rushed I am. When pressed for time, Penny and I hustle around the small block. This is a focused mission, a … Continue reading
the way leaves danceswaying and sighing melancholythin, spidery and fragilethe way light dancesstreaming and bursting throughholes, cracks and tearsthe way that I lovewobbling and triumphant sometranslucent with effortthe way that you loverising and setting everover, around and through This post is inspired by the WordPress online course, Writing: Finding Everyday Inspiration (Day 4: A Story in a … Continue reading
“Hey!” I barked, with a furious rap on the window. “Get out of there!” The offender whirled back, black eyes pools of panic. He darted, limbs pumping, careening crazily from the carpet of green across the smooth concrete and into the safety of the neighbor’s yard. He stared; I stared. Beady eyes afar calculated the … Continue reading
Parenting is chronic. Sometimes you need to take a break, lest you lose your everlovin’ mind. Locking yourself into the bathroom alone, or miracle of miracles, stepping outside of the house without the kids, provides a blessed bit of space, which allows you to remember that you do, in fact, love these funny little human … Continue reading
the way the ocean pullslong and slowscraping and kissing the shorelike one deep inhalethe way the shells crunchsatisfying underfootas if hard steps canground out shatteredand shared painthe way the sky singsexpansive and openwind whipping up and calling me out
Why do I write? Well, the better question is why don’t I write? What keeps me from putting pen to paper (clickety-clacking away) when it feels like I have so much to say? I suppose the short answer is fear. Fear of what? Let’s start with the external factor(s): what will others think? What will … Continue reading
