“Conversation is perhaps our greatest hope not only for healing the rifts in human understanding but also for restoring and reinspiring our relationship with the natural world, which is our first and most profound home. Care of the world is always essential, and care arises from conversation.” —Thomas Dean, Introduction, Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of…
Details10 years ago, I attended a panel talk at UNI. The stage was set for inviting a discussion-style offering between esteemed community voices and … the Dalai Lama. My initial disappointment around attending the panel vs. his keynote quickly faded as I watched. I had so wanted to focus on listening to what this world-renowned…
DetailsIn uncertain times, we look to the wisdom of our elders, our sages and our most cherished teachers to help us understand or at least cope with what frightens or bewilders us. For many years, I cherished the wisdom of Wolfie, the magnificent Siberian Husky named for my Grandma, who blessed me with her wisdom…
DetailsGood morning, Prairiewoods family, The first line of Wild Geese by Mary Oliver came to me on Tuesday evening. “You do not have to be good.” David Whyte, in his Poetry of Self Compassion, shares that the whole poem IS good, but you really only need the first line. “You do not have to be good … You do not…
DetailsSynchronicity, isn’t it, that we celebrate spring amid this pandemic—pan-deepening? All around we observe creation in the midst of birth pains. The slow, sure greening is generative hope. New birth is not only happening around us, it’s within us. The Spirit is arousing within us, praying us. With Earth, we too experience birth pangs as…
DetailsYou’ve likely seen them, but do you know what mandalas actually are? Mandala is the Sanskrit word for “circle” and represents any circular work of sacred art. Mandalas start in the center and build outward, and all of their beauty and energy are contained within the circle. They include organic or geometric shapes that are…
DetailsI vaguely remember the first Earth Day in 1970. (I was only 9.) Like many things pre-internet, it took a while for Earth Day to enter the midwestern consciousness. However, four years later my junior high school newspaper was publishing a special Earth Day edition. My assignment? To write a book review of Rachel Carson’s…
DetailsI’ve been slowly reading a lovely book called Lectio Divina—The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer by Christine Valters Paintner. Lectio divina, which means divine reading, involves experiencing sacred text and then listening with the heart for a word or phrase that calls out to you. It is a process that Valters…
DetailsThere is a story of four friends who met in school where they studied meditation. One day, they made a pact to observe absolute silence for seven days. On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils…
DetailsLosses and the Coronavirus, and Grieving: The ways in which our lives have changed and are changing in reaction to the coronavirus involve many losses and the normal, healthy response of grieving. The sense of certainty and predictability that helps us feel safe and secure has, in so many ways, dissolved into the experience of…
DetailsDreams grow holy put in action, Work grows fair through starry dreaming; But where each flows on unmingling, Both are fruitless and in vain. May the stars within this gleaming, Cause my dreams to be unchained. —Caitlin Matthews, Celtic Devotional The daily reading goes on to say: “We live in a world where the divorce…
DetailsAcross the country, caring people of every faith tradition are coming together to respond to the climate crisis. As we approach the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, we are grateful for Prairiewoods’ partnerships with many different faith traditions. In collaboration with Interfaith Power & Light, we invite everyone to a…
DetailsEarth and its solar system are nearly 14 billion years old, and rocks are one of Earth’s oldest residents. Rocks are natural formations made up of one or more minerals—the same minerals that formed Earth, the stars, even us! Over millions of years, these minerals bonded together because of heat and pressure. They were shaped…
DetailsIn the neighborhood where I grew up, there were so many lilac bushes you could get lost in them. Hollyhocks grew wild along the bases of tall limestone walls and bluffs. There was a secret patch of lilies-of-the-valley hidden between my grandfather’s box hedges and the neighbors’ garage. Moss roses grew out of the wall…
DetailsSister Joann Gehling, beloved friend (and one of the Prairiewoods foundresses), once told me joyously that “singing is twice praying.” I love this notion and have thought about it many times since Joann shared this with me, a phrase she learned from another FSPA sister who was her choir director. So many beautiful prayers and…
Details“Breathe deeply, until sweet air extinguishes the burn of fear in your lungs and every breath is a beautiful refusal to become anything less than infinite.” —D. Antoinette Foy Lovely and evocative words, but if the advice to breathe isn’t working for you, I completely get it. If you’re like me and being told…
Details“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” —Genesis 1:3 “The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered…
DetailsAs we practice greater physical distancing and even isolation from people in these days of pandemic, we have the opportunity to embrace a closer relationship with the natural world. But how do we do that? One good way is to start a habit of nature conversations. As I say in the book I co-authored with…
DetailsToday amid religious traditions, such as Yom Kippur, a Jewish day of serious reflection, and Ramadan, the Muslim 40 days of fasting, abstinence and prayer, Christians mark the silence and stillness of Good Friday, the holy day between Passover and Easter marked by many as the most somber, reflective day in the Christian year. We…
DetailsHoly Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means “command.” It refers to Jesus’ new commandment given on this day to love one another as he has loved us, not superficially, but selflessly. On Holy Thursday—the day before the crucifixion…
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