On my walk through the neighborhood tonight….
Parties, and gifts, and time off are all through, but the Christmas trees still stand.
How We Live
Seed catalogs come on this deep dark cold winter day and we rejoice.
Terms of Endearment
Missy Woo, golden girl of the sorrowful eyes and triangle ears.
2018>Cross Fade<2019
I’ve created so many short video/photo compilations over the years, always making my best choice of transition for each scene change. Transitions can spin, slide, or puzzle. They can open a story or close it. I often use the crossfade transition where one image gently gives way to the next, and it seems that pretty …
First Day Promise
The Paperwhite delivers a first day promise: there will be beauty.
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dicken
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” I’ve been thinking about time. And the lessons found therein. …
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Barbara Robinson
Hey! Unto you a child is born! An annual read for many of the childhoods I can remember.
The Bronze Bow – Elizabeth George Speare
“Daniel, he said. I would have you follow me. Master!….I will fight for you to the end!. My loyal friend, he said, I would ask something much harder than that. Would you love for me to the end? “We can never know,” Simon answered slowly. “God hides the future from man’s eyes. We are …
Morning Girl – Michael Dorris
“Hello,” I tried again. “Welcome to home. My name is Morning Girl. My mother is She Wins the Race. My father is Speaks to Birds. My brother is Star boy. We will feed you and introduce you to everyone.” Generosity of Native American spirit meets Columbus to horrifying end.
The Winter People – Joseph Bruchac
“We are always within the eye of the Creator,” he said. “Wherever we look, we will find that each is connected to the other. Only those who live with the winter in their hearts cannot see those connections.” “….Keep the summer in your heart.”
The Arrow Over the Door – Joseph Bruchac
Sees-the-Wind held up an arrow in both hands. He broke off the arrowhead and dropped into the pouch at his side. Then he placed the arrow over the door to the Meetinghouse, balancing it on the two nails. “This arrow,” said Sees-the-Wind as Robert Nisbet translated his words into English, “is our mark. It will …
Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White
“Why did you do all this for me?” he asked. “I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.” “You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing.” A few weeks ago I discovered that my 7th grader doesn’t know the story of Charlotte’s Web!! And so I went …
On Haiku as Contemplative Practice
Poet and Peacemaker John Paul Lederach at the 2018 On Being Gathering: the seeking of the haiku attitude; that is, to prepare yourself to be touched by beauty, the noticing of the haiku moment that is the aha when the world is revealed for what it is — and that simple form, that five-seven-five that was …
Flygirl – Sherri L. Smith
It’s nothing new, Lily. They’ve been using the WASP to do dirty work since the program started. Testing planes that aren’t fit to fly. ‘ If a girl can do it, so can a man.’ That should be the army’s new motto. # Because I don’t feel Negro any more than I feel white. I’m …
This Is A Healing Song
No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night. – Elie Wiesel Our family has been on a twisting, turning, terribly hard journey through these years. We’ve been knocked down. Bruised and battered. Those are trigger words, but I use them with care. I mean them for …
Scarred By Struggle, Transformed By Hope – Joan D. Chittister
Hope and despair are not opposites. They are cut from the very same cloth, made from the very same material, shaped from the very same circumstances. Every life finds itself forced to choose one from the other, one day at a time, one circumstance after another. # By losing everything, we come to the realization …
Fireweed and Snow: Keep Showing Up
Several weeks ago I wrote a really long post about being grumpy in August in Alaska. The fireweed had largely burned out and I was certain I’d be stuck under all those dark heavy rain clouds until they finally gave way to snow. But then the unexpected happened. September showed up with record breaking warmth and …
Synchronicity or Super Weird Coincidence
I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness, no more night. Mumble, mumble. Mumble a little bit more. Praise the Lord, I saw the light! These lyrics and their accompanying tune broke into my brain and out my mouth while running errands with the boys last week. I couldn’t think of the …
The Most True Things…..
The boys and I listened to Where the Red Fern Grows this summer and I’ve been meaning to get back here to make this note….. About 1/3 of the way into the book, Billy has survived the Dog Wanting Disease and hunting season is about to begin. On the big opening day he cleans and …
The Voyage of The Dawn Treader – C.S. Lewis
“But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder.” For now they saw something not only behind the wave but behind the sun. They could not have seen even the sun …
A Crazy, Holy Grace – Frederick Buechner
If God speaks anywhere, it is into our personal lives that he speaks. A Crazy, Holy Grace is a solid compilation of my favorite Buechner themes.
Inspired – Rachel Held Evans
While we may wish for a clear, perspicuous text, that’s not what God gave us. Instead, God gave us a cacophony of vices and perspectives, all in conversation with one another, representing the breadth and depth of the human experience in all its complexities and contradictions. ** In the Bible, wisdom is rarely presented as …
Paradox on Wisdom Road
Rob Bell on The RobCast 8.19.18: ….there is this paradox. This tension. This polarity that we all carry around between what we can control, and what we can’t. That which, when our hand is on the wheel, we can actually steer. And that which exists outside of our power, will, and dominion. That which is simply …