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Zen of Housework

Rachel at Swandive left me my 1000th comment and so is my drawing winner! Another wonderful poem about finding the sacred in the most ordinary: The Zen of Housework I look over my own shoulder down my arms to where they disappear under water into hands inside pink rubber gloves moiling among dinner dishes. My hands lift a wine glass, holding it by the stem and under the bowl. It breaks the surface like a chalice rising from a medieval lake. Full of the grey wine of domesticity, the glass floats to the level of my eyes. Behind it, through

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Sacredness of All Things

I love poetry that speaks of the holiness of the ordinary, the sacredness of all things. We make artificial divisions between sacred and secular, between what is worthy of our awe and gratitude and what is not. This is one of the elements I love most about Benedictine spirituality. In the Rule, Benedict wrote that “all utensils and goods of the monastery” are to be treated as “sacred vessels of the altar.” (RB 31:10-11) Esther DeWaal writes that Benedictine life “simply consists in doing the ordinary things of daily life carefully and lovingly, with the attention and reverence that can

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New Article on Spirituality and the Arts

In the fall the editor of the UCLA Spirituality and Higher Education Newsletter found my website through a search and asked me to write an article for their upcoming issue on spirituality and artistic expression. The article is titled “The Relationship Between Spirituality and Artistic Expression: Cultivating the Capacity for Imagining” and you can find it here. To the left of the article are links to a couple of other articles you may be interested in as well. The article on “The Empowering of Art and Spirituality” is written by Marilyn Russell, a Native American woman and scholar. You can

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Loving Into Wholeness

  It has been just over a week now since Tune has come into our life.  If you had told me ten days ago that I would now be completely smitten with a nearly ten-year-old dog I would have been very surprised.  These are the things that can happen when you allow the Spirit to lead and open your heart to hidden treasure.  It feels especially significant to me that we first met her on the feast of Epiphany for she has been a great gift.  We were going to wait until after our big trip this summer to adopt

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Snowy Wonder

Last Wednesday night it snowed and then the temperatures dropped down below freezing so schools were closed because of icy roads and Thursday my husband and I had the surprise gift of a day off together.  We walked up to Volunteer Park and delighted in snowy wonder.  It is unusual for Seattle to get any snow at all so people are unprepared when it happens, although this is the second time in a month and a half we have had this front of arctic air move in, and the third time for unusual and severe weather patterns.  So I finally got

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Sabbath Feasting

Last night we invited four of our neighbors over for our Sabbath evening meal.  Below I share two new recipes I used that turned out really well and were not hard to make.  We feasted on good food and wine and then laughed for hours playing board games.  Our neighbors are delightful people, not folks we would probably get the chance to know otherwise.  What we seem to have in common is an ecological commitment, a commitment to our building and neighborhood, and a desire to enjoy the company of others and have some fun.  The table was prepared in the afternoon as I gathered

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Sacred Earth

I am the vine and you are the branches. -John 15:5 God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. -Exodus 3:5 This earth we are riding keeps trying to tell us something with its continuous scripture of leaves.  –William Stafford I love the element of earth. I adore trees and mountains. I love the feel of dirt or sand under my feet.  The earth feels solid and secure, grounding me here in this place, in this moment.  When I am deeply rooted, my branches can reach far and wide. When

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Sacred Wind

A feather on the breath of God. -Hildegard of Bingen On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty. Today is such a day.  -Rumi The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.  -John 3:8 And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there

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Holy Fire

Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and said: Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and, according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: now what more should I do? The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire.  He said: Why not become fire? -Desert Fathers Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves and gravity, we shall harness for God energies of love. Then for

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Gifts of the Winter God

My teaching days were filled with good energy and a sense of exploration.  I love teaching this program and the women who participate so freely and joyfully.  The focus of this session was visual art and the first day we explored “gush art” and art journaling methods, using clay and drawing materials in a free and spontaneous way to express what is stirring inside of us.  The second day we focused on images of God and “letting God out of the box” and making a triptych (out of a shoebox) and collage materials to create an altar for the sacred images that

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