Earlier this winter, on the morning of our first major snowstorm, my tub faucet started dripping suddenly. I immediately called my dad to ask how to fix it and had the necessary repair parts in hand within 48 hours, but I have to admit that it took eleven days from the time of the first…
The expression “for the birds” has always intrigued me. My grandparents and parents employed it when they wanted to discredit a claim, practice,\ or belief as trivial or meaningless. “Wearing shoes with no socks is for the birds,” they might say. In my family, “Nichts taugen (nothing good)!” was the German equivalent. According to Grammarist…
The pandemic clearly surfaces some deep cracks in the economic foundations of the world. We invite ourselves today to reflect on our personal economics and the impact our daily choices have on the greater common good. The following “Economic Justice Examen” was prompted and published by two beautiful spirits in Seattle, Washington: Kelly Hickman and…
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I have a small collection of art supply holders (think pencil bags of our childhood) that have been gifted to me over the years. They remind me of important things…
“I included a fellow in my book, Callings, who described an interaction he once had with his seven-year-old daughter. She came to him one day and asked him what he did at work. He told her that he worked at the college, and his job was to teach people how to draw. He said she…
I am finally reading a book that has been on my to-read list for a very long time: Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. My sister and I recently attended a Saturday afternoon Zoom book discussion facilitated by Green Iowa AmeriCorps through the Iowa City Public Library. I am still in the process…
Text-critical biblical scholars are often occupied with the arduous, sometimes frustratingly tedious task of studying palimpsests (pronounced ‘paləm(p) sest’). Palimpsests are ancient manuscripts/parchments often made from animal hides in which the original writing has been effaced—usually washed off or scraped off—in order to be reused. Traces of earlier writing remain and are visible, but the overall effect…
So many people, resigned to the fact that we can’t go back to pre-pandemic routines, seek to live into a new rhythm post-pandemic. Just a few weeks ago, the New York Times published an article, “Can Spiritual Directors Help?” citing that one gift of meeting with a spiritual director/companion is the opportunity to take a…
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” —Hebrews 10:24–25 The creativity and resilience we foster in one another are only…
As the artist-in-residence at Prairiewoods, I recently had the gift of spending a week in one of the Hermitages. The space itself, a compact one-room cottage, invites us to live more simply, to leave behind what is not essential. To slow down and reconnect with our deeper selves and the living world around us. As…