I just received the digital proofs from the printer for my brand new offering — Praying With the Elements — the first in a quarterly series of mini-journals/zines celebrating the spiritual life using words and images.  Grounded in Christian tradition, although I hope it is spacious enough so others will find wisdom there as well. I had […]

Posted in Spirituality, Praying with the Elements, zine journal | 10 Comments »

“My own belief is that one regards oneself, if one is a serious writer, as an instrument for experiencing. Life—all of it—flows through this instrument and is distilled through it into works of art. How one lives as a private person is intimately bound into the work. And at some point, I believe one has […]

Posted in Art and Spirituality, Sacred Everyday | 15 Comments »

A year ago today, I spent the day holding our beloved dog Duke as we waited for the vet to come over and put him to sleep.  Just a day and a half prior he began to show signs of illness and we discovered he had an aggressive liver cancer that only shows signs when […]

Posted in Nature and Creativity | 7 Comments »

I found this beautiful prayer at The Longer Look: 
Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry | 3 Comments »

Earlier this summer I watched the film “Children of Men” with Clive Owens and Michael Caine.  It is largely a bleak window into a future world where no children have been born for 18 years and everything is largely in chaos.  A young black woman becomes pregnant and there is a race to protect and […]

Posted in Aesthetic Spirituality | 3 Comments »

I have been tired today and not feeling all that well.  It has been a slow day.  So I make a simple offering tonight — go over to Anchors and Masts where Tess has created a beautiful video of images from Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries. It really is worth the click over (I am even too tired […]

Posted in Resources, Monastic Spirituality | 5 Comments »

Perhaps the most stressful part of our entire trip to Ireland in June was the driving and navigating. It wasn’t so much driving on the opposite side of the road, as the fact that almost all of their roads are extremely narrow.  Every time a truck or bus came the other way I cringed, sure that […]

Posted in organic spirituality | 5 Comments »

I am back home again from my travels.  Today was a very long drive from Ashland, Oregon where we saw a delightful production of As You Like It last night at the Shakespeare Festival.  I’ve been blessed with the opportunity for lots of trips and learning this summer — a season of playfulness and wonder that has done […]

Posted in Photos, Art and Spirituality | 7 Comments »

“After all, the goal is not to make art, but to be in that wonderful state that makes art inevitable.” -Robert Henri from The Art Spirit
“I don’t believe in it. . .Plumbers don’t get plumbers block, and doctor’s don’t get doctor’s block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to […]

Posted in Creativity, Art and Spirituality | 5 Comments »

“Think of the ways that questions illuminate the world around us.  Questions tune the soul.  The purpose behind questions is to initiate the quest. . . . We need to be introduced to our longings because they guard our mystery. Ask yourself what mystery is being guarded by your longing.”  -Phil Cousineau from The Art of […]

Posted in Spirituality | 10 Comments »