Filed under Prayers

The Flowering of the Cross

The Flowering of the Cross

(or what comes after) Not one but two deaths, to hammer home that we are but dust, as if smearing ashes on the forehead just wasn’t enough. A memorial service, followed by another vigil, sandwiched between math tests, Latin vocab and baking bread. Old stories heard fresh reread and retold through a book of wild … Continue reading

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday

Part 1 I find myself alone, a coincidence of one child old enough to fly a thousand miles on her own, and another still willing to go on a Daddy walk in all the old places. So I sit, coffee and pastel M&M’s in hand, feeling the emotions of the last two days roll through, … Continue reading

There comes a moment

There comes a moment

There comes a moment. Perhaps on a neighborhood walk, you realize it is warm enough to pull up your jacket sleeves and turn your face to the sun. Or one evening under a luminous moon with water a mirror for the heavens, when peepers come roaring to life, and you know a little slice of … Continue reading

Resurrection Rhododendron

Resurrection Rhododendron

When we moved into our home five years ago, an ancient rhododendron featured prominently at the corner of the house, its gnarled branches hanging ominously over the driveway. Gravity and age tugged at its branches, which scraped the windshield of our cars as we pulled in and out; what pale blooms there were peaked quickly. … Continue reading

Lines

Lines

lines etched in leathery hide concentric circles of memory & loss, of joy & wisdom radiate outward from eye to cheek to bridge of nose and always tugged back to your downward gaze. as if all your lumbering glory your searching thirst and desperate losses & joyful trumpets could be contained in that one single … Continue reading

Caim (Circle of Protection)

Caim (Circle of Protection)

I stand and point down, toward the floor and I breathe. Beginning here, a birth of air and light and I move. The circle widens as I follow the sun clockwise and in harmony. I stumble and pause afraid – to keep moving or to stay still. How will I know? Unbroken, I move again … Continue reading

Sights of the Neighborhood

Sights of the Neighborhood

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.

Advent Haiku

Advent Haiku

In a season of fullness, to scale back requires work and faith; freedom to fully see. I wrote this Advent Haiku 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