I Tell You (excerpt)
I could not predict the fullness
of the day. How it was enough
to stand alone without help
in the green yard at dawn.
How two geese would spin out
of the ochre sun opening my spine,
curling my head up to the sky
in an arc I took for granted.
And the lilac bush by the red
brick wall flooding […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Lent | 4 Comments »

My beloved and I went up to Canada for a long weekend retreat together, a time to be still and reconnect.  On Thursday night we made the long trip to Vancouver Island, driving a little way past the village of Sooke.  We had been to Sooke a couple of years ago and I longed to […]

Posted in Nature and Creativity, Lent | 4 Comments »

For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!  (Song of Songs […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Lent | 5 Comments »

Last night was the New Moon, the time of darkness that comes each month inviting us into the womb of the night.  I am trying to live with more awareness of the moon’s phases even if I can’t see the night sky very often because I live in Seattle which is both urban and gets lots of cloud […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Lent | 2 Comments »

One of the things that I grieved the most when my mother died was that I didn’t have more time to be in her presence.  In the last few years of her life, she had become a bold and vibrant woman, unapologetic for who she was and what she thought was worth fighting for.  I […]

Posted in Spirituality, Lent | 4 Comments »

Are you willing to be sponged out, erased, cancelled,
made nothing?
Are you willing to be made nothing?
dipped into oblivion?
If not, you will never really change.
The phoenix renews her youth
only when she is burnt, burnt alive, burnt down
to hot and flocculent ash.
Then the small stirring of a new small bub in the nest
with strands of down like […]

Posted in Photos, Lent | 9 Comments »

To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be nonpossessive. Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to. A nonpossessive life […]

Posted in Photos, Lent | 6 Comments »

The reflection below is written by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton:  
We didn’t even know what moderation was. What it felt like. We didn’t just work: we inhaled our jobs, sucked them in, became them. Stayed late, brought work home - it was never enough, though, no matter how much time we put in.
We didn’t just smoke: we […]

Posted in Lent | 10 Comments »

We are the guardians of His Beauty.
We are the protectors
Of the Sun.
There is only one reason
We have followed God into this world:
To encourage laughter, freedom, dance
And love.
Let a noble cry inside of you speak to me
Saying,
“Hafiz,
Don’t just sit there on the moon tonight
Doing nothing  -
Help unfurl my heart into the Friend’s Mind,
Help, Old Man, to […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Lent | 7 Comments »

What will you give up for this season,
to help life along
in its curious reversals?
As if we had a choice.
As if the world were not
constantly shedding us
like feathers off a duck’s back—
the ground is always
littered with our longings.
You can’t help but wonder
about all the heroes,
the lives and limbs sacrificed
in their compulsion toward the good.
All those who […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Lent | 7 Comments »