I see them looking down from their perches. They’re talking to each other. “There are rumors of black oil, but those cylinders are running on empty.” I scoop seed from the bin and replenish the feeders. I’m distracted by a flicker on a nearby branch, so I hurry inside and come back with the […]
Seed of Yahweh
I’ve been thinking about this seed of Yahweh conceived in love, planted in the cave of a woman-child, confined and nurtured in soft dark womb, nourished with her every heartbeat. How cells of cell multiplied until he fluttered light, then stretched and rose like yeast bread in her warm belly, until her body could no […]
Feelings Fragile
Feelings fragile like delicate ornaments hung high out of reach by thin threads unseen untouchable precarious until with one small bump they plummet and shatter into ashes that lay and wait for Love to sweep them up. Tomorrow we will bury my mother’s ashes. This act will bring some physical closure to a long journey. […]
I’m Feelin’ It
I want to write, I say. But I’m not feelin’ it. Make a list of the objects that are around you, she says. Just play with the list. I look around. It’s a long list. A messy list. Stacks of photo albums in blue and brown and red and pink. A half-eaten peanut butter cup […]
Gifted in Grief
I realized it just this morning. She was my age. She was also a nurse. Instrumental, I understand, in birthing this place. She was admitted the same day we were, to the room next door to ours. She’d done battle for 18 years. A bone marrow donor stood ready, but she could not bounce back […]
Seasons of Serving and the Nature of Love
“I can’t,” I snapped. She faded back into the living room and left me alone with my pots and oils. And chopsticks. Newly married and still giddy from San Francisco and Chinatown, I planned my first dinner party from scratch–sweet and sour chicken, homemade egg rolls, and fried apple (?) somethings (I think) that kept […]
Unanswered Prayer?
Had I in some form learned the future would I have asked for unanswered prayer and would that prayer have gone unanswered? Would the gift of prayer for unanswered prayer have been unanswered prayer because He’s doing something greater than my prayer? I pray to God—my life a prayer— and […]
Through and Through Life: Stop Praying?
What if I said, “Stop praying?” What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us not to rush into God’s presence with words. ~Francis Chan in Crazy Love, p. 25 Stop. Quit. Hush. […]
If I’m Still Enough
Sometimes when the light is right and if I’m still enough I catch the glitter of tinsel dust that floats above melted memories of magic and mystery in the waiting and anticipation of gifts delivered in the night and I long for simple times when I delighted in an unseen omnipotent giver and all I […]
Weeping and Celebrating
We spend… too little time experiencing the griefs themselves. The result is that these griefs remain hidden and never open us to our joys. ~David Whyte as quoted in God in the Yard. Branches litter the yard from yesterday’s wind, and leaves block the garage door. A political sign lies in the side yard. The […]
