When Death Comes by Mary Oliver … When it’s over, I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t…
This week the 2020 Olympics have been taking place in Tokyo, Japan. They are a year late and accompanied by controversy over the decision to host such an endeavor in the midst of a global pandemic. One of the biggest stories of the week was gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to remove herself from both the…
What are you reading this summer? And what spiritual reading are you doing this summer? I love to read any time of the year, but there’s something about summer reading when the days are longer and the sunlight mingles with the printed word that turns my bookworm self into a book butterfly because my imagination…
One of our three-year-old family mystics teetered precariously on the top step of the stairs, clutching his stuffed “Bun-Buns,” and peering over the abyss. “There’s something down there,” he whispered, eyes wide with primal terror and simultaneous wonderment. VERY still, riveted with one toe over the edge, he listened with all ears, eyes and nose…
Saint Francis, who valued the natural world as “a place where God is revealed,” encouraged his followers by his own unique celebration of creation. God’s goodness, generosity and love were not off-limits somewhere in far-off cathedrals, but rather to be found in creation as a whole. This Franciscan spirit called Prairiewoods to create space to…
As we approach this national holiday to celebrate “Independence Day,” I’ve been praying with my heart’s longing for our nation to rename it “Inter-dependence Day.” What would the world look like if we really stepped more deeply through our independence to a world-wide, collective consciousness that held “inter-dependence” as one of its highest values? How…
We are living in extraordinary times. Even if a single day feels ordinary, the compilation of days that make up this week, this season, this pandemic is extraordinary. But what are we doing to commemorate this historic time? How are we living every day as though it is an ordinary but marvelous day? In 2012,…
“A huge shift in consciousness is underway in our time. A sea change from the “I and it” marketplace conception of the world to an “I and thou” sense of communal identity. Joanna Macy describes it as a “Great Turning,” an ecological revolution widening our awareness of the intricate web that connects us. Teilhard de…
Do you have a favorite place within the Prairiewoods land? A special spot? A reflection area where you feel especially at home? Maybe under a particular pine tree. Or at the center of the labyrinth. Maybe sitting on one of the logs encircling Grandmother Oak … The prayer circle in the woods. Sitting on the…
What are the sounds of silence? What speaks when we are brave enough to be still? What song does creation sing as we wake to a new language that might sound foreign? As my beloved other Mom propped herself up on one elbow in her hospice room, the wide smile and tears of joy indicated that…