January Palm fronds sing their song Is all creation singing? Shhh, let’s all listen February Today’s encounters Dragonfly, hawk, butterfly The wings are busy May Wrens, frogs, water’s flow How many songs make a day? Ears of the heart know August Pine cones cushion path Holy water falls from sky Wind is Spirit’s voice September…
For my husband, Matt, and I, Prairiewoods has always been a place for connection … connection with nature, connection with our spirit, and connection with others seeking to heal their mind, body, and spirit. We especially enjoy our walks through the beautiful gardens, woodlands, and prairies that provide opportunity to connect with nature. The many…
Gwen Frostic, Michigan ecologist and artist, wrote in 1973 that activism on behalf of working for a better future for our planet is not in creating big groups, big plans, unions and community ties. It is in being one who goes deeper into the world. To not belong, but to become. When I was a…
As Prairiewoods enters its twenty-eighth spring and summer, we are conscious of three horizons present simultaneously. The first horizon is our past—the very ground of our being. The second horizon is our present—a time of great awakening and preparing for the next evolution. And the third horizon is our becoming—the future to which Prairiewoods is…
Out for a run one day, I came across a stranger and their dog tucked away in the bushes. Surprised—and noticing the scope laying nearby—I asked if they were watching anything. “Yes,” the stranger said. “Have you seen this bald eagle nest?” I’ve always loved animals, and bald eagles were one of my favorites as…
A month or so again, we were having our weekly staff meeting at Iowa Interfaith Power & Light (Iowa IPL) where we were starting to dream about how we could build hope for what the future could be. Our mission is to empower Iowans of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on…
A few years back, while I was hiking with a friend in Appalachian Ohio, she commented on a tree we passed, expressing sadness for the imprints left by lovers who’d carved into the trunk. We kept moving, and a thought popped into my head, more of a question really. So I spoke it aloud, asking…
In “Don’t Forget the Spiritual Side of Earth Day,” Fr. Daniel Horan reminds us that Earth Day is not only about recycling or changing practices; rather, it is a reminder of our interconnection with Earth and an opportunity to reflect on how we find God in the world. It is a reminder to continue to…
My personal experience, and I know I’m not alone, is that it takes considerable courage to look the climate crisis in the eye. People dislike the climate crisis, to put it mildly, and people are afraid. I am afraid. People who lived through the Cold War are once again living with a kind of existential…
My youngest child learned to ride last summer. I watched her front bike wheel wobble on the loose gravel as she sought to find that elusive balance that only comes with time and tumbles. On our return route, she stopped abruptly and gazed into the shadows and underbrush of a one-track dirt trail. With wild…