When at the end of the dog days of the Lion and the garden is again conducive to prayer, arrange the knees bent in homage to the winter. It is time to pray the garden into being; the stage for the winter solstice. It is time to oil the tools to store in barns designed…

The words we chose to speak could not be construed to be words of great love, but they were. It was with gaiety that we chatted about the commonplace and laughed a lot. We were happy. I sat in my chair at the dining room table and watched with joy a moment rare in our…

I sought my God in pleasures great and small. In beautiful places one was told, He would be found. I have traveled much this world to know if God be found across the sea, in foreign lands, I had to seek. The Roman soil was holy, surely He would be there! Though history stirred my…

Take ye  and do likewise He said and I believed Him. When effort becomes the way and in a blink of an eye, becomes a pleasure, nay fun, one becomes suspect. For in layman’s terms work is not pleasure but desultory means of making a living. Woe is the pilgrim who in life respects the…

This morning I took spade in hand and dug the young and fragile marigolds out of their crowded rows and thinned them out. With dowel in hand I lifted these slender stems into holes I designed for them. I eased their change in residence under a cloudy sky promising rain.  It did. And their trauma…

Conscience is a mouth guard I wear to keep my heart from spilling onto the cold, hard ground. I would want my words to meet your thoughts, to brighten your furrowed brow and dismiss the fear from your eyes. But only when I see an invitation to speak will I let loose the guard. This…

It is a time for making peace. . . . for actions that struck the core of the heart. . . . for words that sucked life out of a body still intent on breathing. Those were actions and words that should have been vented when anguish and outrage stole the child’s innocence. And now…

The snowflakes were just barely visible when the younger looked hopeful and asked if we could make a snowman.   Well I said, there really had to be a lot of snow on the ground before we could roll it up into a ball and make a snowman.   But we could stay up later he said…

There is a need I see and hurry to respond to before calamity mounts and doubles the work. You are driven by forces different than mine and your gaze dismisses the need I see. Your eyes focus instead on another sight which my eyes fail to see; completely outside my frame of reference. How is…

I ask, Where did you find your courage? On what tree was it hanging that you could reach up and pluck it from its hiding place to wear as epaulettes on your shoulders? The children whisper during the night, saying their Aves to each other, hoping they will grow into courage with a red badge…