“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” —Pierre Teilhard de Chardin It’s easy to set a goal and hard to reach it. Progress toward anything meaningful or worthwhile is fraught with challenge, obstacle and frustration. No one will make it out of this place without…
Branches swaying in the wind, a dervish mystic spinning in adoration, the flow of water, the rhythm of breath. All of creation is alive and moving around us, whether our eyes perceive it or not. From the light of distant stars, to the orbiting electrons of atoms, all of creation dances. Movement is sacred and…
What will we do with all the broken things? What will we do with the world, our feelings of frustration, our struggle with God? Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. It’s not just a practice, but it’s a meditation. Because the pottery is made stronger and more beautiful…
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…
“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…
“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…
“We should not be ashamed of anger. It’s a very good and a very powerful thing that motivates us. But what we need to be ashamed of is the way we abuse it.” —Mahatma Ghandi Yesterday, I happened upon one of those parody songs that have been proliferating on social media since the start of…
I am listening to the winter season Watching the sunrises and sunsets Marveling at icy fog in the mornings Noticing the beauty of animal tracks in the snow Feeling the pull of the frozen river Meeting sun dogs in the cold My eye following eagles as they disappear in the sun And praying, praying for…