(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
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. 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
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 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
This past winter, I led a retreat that considered the gifts of winter. This was held in my community and was a wonderful time of quiet and reflection, fitting the season nicely. But here we are in a different season and I’ve been pondering how the season of springtime points to God and his work … Continue reading
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
Now that it’s nearly spring (or mud season, as we call it around here, which may or may not include more snow), I thought I’d come back and finish the list of things that I am learning, which I started midwinter. Thanks, Emily P. Freeman, for the inspiration! 6. In addition to winter being a … 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.
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
"That got me thinking..." 