Can and should the concept of normality, and therefore the expectation of it, go on retreat, not just during this time of pandemic, but always? Should the use of this word, currently said with hesitancy and a catch in the throat, be banished always to the category of the trash heap? For myself, or that…
The New Year threshold might feel something like a raucous homecoming after what we have all just lived through in 2020. Perhaps like the Prodigal Father of Luke’s famous parable, known for his outrageous welcome and embrace of the Younger Son who has disgraced himself and his family, enraged his righteous Elder Brother, dishonored his…
Our entire Prairiewoods staff celebrates with you as we turn a new year. In the depth of our hearts, we know this turning as so much more than a calendar page. This great turning of time acutely attunes our awareness to an ever-present, loving invitation to loosen our attachment to all we have associated with…
Two weeks ago, my blog post Word of the Year talked about how beneficial it can be to name the outgoing year with a single word. It can act as the period at the end of the year’s sentence—the summation of a whole year of highs and lows, insights and feelings, growths and setbacks. I…
“We may have ten possible images of tomorrow and for each one of these there may be ten images of the next day, giving a hundred possible images of the day after tomorrow and a thousand of the day after that, and so on, which means that the uncertainty of the future increases rapidly as…
A few years back my Grandma gave me a lovely book of daily meditations called The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have by Mark Nepo. (My Grandma knows all the good books!) This book is written as a daily reader. Each day there is a…
“Who is this that grows like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?” —Song of Songs 6:10, New American Bible Love stories are best told with music and poetry, and the best ones sing us with timeless wisdom and beauty. Love stories touch us…
The ancient story retold again and again and again through the centuries, conveyed via comic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeVDOu2_Fuc) and cosmos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMMkWvGz9jI and https://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/links/Watch-Live-See-the-Great-Conjunction-Christmas-Star-of-2020-573451941.html), enlivens us anew THIS Christmas Day, 2020! The very energy that stirred people over 2000 years ago to travel to see and celebrate the radiant birth of Jesus still fascinates and animates us today.…
I’ll admit it—I love the over-the-top-ness of Christmas. I love finding—or even better, making—the perfect gifts for family, friends and coworkers. I enjoy watching cheesy holiday movies on the Hallmark channel as I wrap presents in shimmering paper, ribbons and homemade gift tags. I love seeing the light displays in my neighborhood as we take…
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago. —Christina Rosetti, “In the Bleak Midwinter” How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts The…