While I have never participated in such a thing, I understand the idea of progressive meals among a group of friends…one house for appetizers, one for the main meal, one for dessert, another for coffee, etc. It’s cumulative in many ways… The meal, for sure, and also the experiences, the number of people, the laughter,…
Tag: awe
And That Covers Just about Everything
Not long ago I found myself in the middle of a group of people and various means of communication, all trying to sort out a schedule…Multiple people, some texting, some phoning, etc. After several flips and shifts over the course of a couple of hours, it seemed as though everyone was at last on the…
Both Subtle and Flamboyant
Someone asked me once whether I searched for concrete knowledge of God. My response was that I preferred the experience of Mystery. Enticing, both subtle and flamboyant—in tolerable proportion, and always just that far away…until becoming part of its fullness. And, somehow, I don’t think we need to die to become enfolded in its expanse—we…
Until Quiet: A Poem
Until Quiet With you at the tip of my pen, I wroteuntil words found their branches, tucked infeathers, and nesting lightly, breathed inthe incense of lilac and pine,rose, earth, and cedar; until stillness,revealing its canopy, drew me intoall of its dimensions, offered meits hand to enter the depths of its colour-stained span of mystery; until…
Falling fearless
In Cynthia Bourgeault’s book, Wisdom Way of Knowing, she recounts a last conversation with a dying friend. He asks her, ‘Are you fearless yet?’ and adds ‘Fall fearless in love.’ In theory, I read the rest of the chapters that I was supposed to read for a conversation on a Zoom meeting. In truth, I…
Orion, Cassiopeia, Polaris
I went to the midweek contemplative service at Saint Andrew’s United Church of Canada last night. One of the many reasons I love going to this is the quiet opening I can feel inside of me…the combination of a grounding and a freeing that has me pick up a pen and paper with a certain…
The Assignment
The assignment was to fall in love. The details were up to you. -Louise Glück- This was a recent contribution to the near daily morning message exchange with a friend. Our on-line conversation began during the Pandemic and we have kept it up…sometimes a photo, sometimes a song, often a snippet of a work or…
A bit indescribable and I like it very much
This is one of those items that appeared before me thanks to a cascade of social media… It was posted by a friend who reposted it from Unvirtuous Abbey who saw it on Twitter where someone had gleaned it from a 2018 book by Deb Dana, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. Fair warning, I have…
A Tendency toward Awe
A tendency toward awe. It is something I have known since childhood—and something I shared aloud before I had full grasp of both recording it on a page and how to moderate my offerings. My father regularly enjoyed recalling a family trip from Ohio to North Carolina where, apparently, I chattered nearly non-stop about everything…
Creed
I have found it helpful to write a creed for myself every now and then… It’s been eight years or so and it felt like the right time. I believe in awe, wonder, and curiosity; I believe in listening and being still and cultivating an imagination that dares me to believe that just maybe, with…
Consider the Lilies 