Turtle’s Waiting – Nov. 28, 2022
“Sunk in its bottom-mud, for six months she will not draw air into her lungs. To survive a cold that would kill her, or slow her so that predators would kill her, she slows herself beyond breath in a place where breath is not possible… It’s this radical simplicity that will save her. And deep […]
Waiting: The Seedbed of Hope
Everywhere I go, people are busy with their cell phones: scrolling through emails, muttering messages, playing games or watching some video snippet. Filling time with our cell phones is now possible, and so we do it because others are doing it. On the Metro, in line at the grocery store, or sitting in a doctor’s […]
At Home Among the Animals – Dec. 7, 2018
“In the fullness of time, the Christmas story says, a girl gave birth ringed by animals. She lay the baby in one of their feeding troughs, where animal bodies would warm the air around his fresh-born human body. Mother and child fell asleep and woke to their chuffs and shuffling hooves, their calls and the […]
The Right Balance – Dec. 6, 2018
“To fuel his life, winter leaves him only seeds. As the cold sharpens, he needs more seeds to fuel his furnace to its 105-degree Fahrenheit survival heat—just when other seed eaters also need more and snow is apt to cover the uneaten seeds… Too little fat, and he will fall. But too much fat, and […]
