Beloved Is Where We Begin – Mar. 10, 2023
“If you would enterinto the wilderness,do not beginwithout a blessing. Do not leavewithout hearingwho you are:Beloved,named by the Onewho has traveled this pathbefore you. Do not gowithout letting it echoin your ears,and if you findit is hardto let into your heart,do not despair.That is whatthis journey is for. …” –Jan Richardson, excerpt from “Beloved Is […]
That Shapes the Eye – Feb. 17, 2023
ChildrenCan easily open theDrawer That lets the spirit rise up and wearIts favorite costume ofMirth and laughter. When the mind is consumed withRemembrance ofHim Something divine happens to theHeart That shapes the hand and tongueAnd eye intoThe wordLove. -Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, The Gift, p. 66
The Journey – Feb. 15, 2023
Above the mountainsthe geese turn intothe light again Painting theirblack silhouetteson an open sky. Sometimes everythinghas to beinscribed acrossthe heavens so you can findthe one linealready writteninside you. Sometimes it takesa great skyto find that first, brightand indescribablewedge of freedomin your own heart. Sometimes withthe bones of the blacksticks left when the firehas gone out […]
Underneath
Beneath the feet of the monks, that which holds them and their houses of prayer, is this land. Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery on the coast of South Carolina, is where we’re on retreat. The land of my childhood. Beneath the years of their prayerful songs, as old as my dad, there is that which will outlast […]