Sometimes the light of the new day feels faint like the late December sun rising over Chesterman Beach in Tofino (above).  There is mist around us, we can’t quite make out the shape of the future, but we place our hopes in the faint glow making its way upward across the sky.
While I have some mixed feelings […]

Posted in Photos, Creativity | 8 Comments »

We had a lot of rain while up in Canada, but one evening was particularly beautiful and the world was on fire for a brief window of time.  We often think of endings as only sad, but I find there is a beauty to them as well.  Against the fierce edges of life, things around […]

Posted in Photos, Nature and Creativity | 12 Comments »

I am back from my trip to Tofino, it takes about 9 hours to travel back between the 3-hour drive to the ferry, waiting for the ferry, the 2-hour ferry ride, the 1-hour wait at the border and then another 2 hours home.  But it is so worth it because Tofino feels wild and remote.  […]

Posted in Photos, Retreat | 8 Comments »

It is no use saying that we are born two thousand years too late to give room to Christ.  Nor will those who live at the end of the world have been born too late.  Christ is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts. But now it is with the voice of our contemporaries […]

Posted in Advent | 10 Comments »

I discovered this wonderful reflection by Ron Rolheiser at Antony’s blog: Coming to the Quiet.
During my last years of seminary training, I attended a series of lectures given by a prominent Polish psychologist, Casmir Dabrowski, teaching at the time at the University of Alberta. He had written a number of books around a concept he called “positive disintegration.”
Positive disintegration. […]

Posted in Advent, Seasons | 3 Comments »

**I added some information below on the tools I used for the stamp carving
I have been really captivated by rubber stamp carving these days.  Bette got me started and now I keep thinking of things I want to carve.  I love making a design and then carving away the excess until only the form remains.  […]

Posted in Advent, Art and Spirituality | 12 Comments »

What fun that so many of you jumped in on the “Things I Love” meme, I had as much fun reading yours as I did writing mine!  Here are those who participated (click on their names to go read a celebration of gratitude!):
A for Kayce at Diamonds in the Sky with Lucy
B for Antony at Coming to […]

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

I measure my life in vessels.  They trace the contours of my days.  Teacup, bowl, oil lamp, pitcher, baptismal font, Communion chalice, basin, bathtub.   I sleep in the belly of night and wake under a downturned bowl of blue. I ponder their shapes as I begin to understand my own longing: wanting to be held, […]

Posted in Advent | 4 Comments »

There are many metaphors for spiritual transformation: birthing, unfolding, awakening to name just a few.  I love the image of waking ourselves up from the ways we have been asleep to our callings and to the nature of the world.  Milton at Don’t Eat Alone posted a wonderful poem by Antonio Machado who writes:
Beyond living and dreaming
there […]

Posted in Poetry, Advent | 3 Comments »

This is a “Things I love” meme that I found at Cathy’s blog.  She assigned me the letter T.  A little holiday fun and a good time to reflect on some of the things that mean a lot to me.
Ten things I love beginning with T:
1. Tea with cream and sugar, although I mostly drink […]

Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments »