The poet John O’Donohue wrote that “A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen.” He said, “To be in the world is to be distant from the homeland of wholeness. We are confined by limitation and difficulty. When we bless, we are enabled somehow to go beyond […]
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I am afraid of fire. Ever since I fell into a campfire, hands first as a child, I have a fearful memory for the searing pain it causes. Now, following George Floyd’s murder by a white police officer last week, my city is in flames – fires set long ago with the persistent heat and […]
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It was easily the widest threshold I have come across in an interior doorway – a beautifully finished piece of Pippy Oak stretching more than half a foot on either side of the door. It was sanded smooth as a riverbed stone and varnished like a sacred text written in the script of the tree’s […]
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Every few days, a new word will be posted at the top of this post as a daily writing prompt. The description of this practice follows the most recent prompt, and previous prompts are listed at the bottom of the description. Clicking on the photo will also link you to a video also describing this […]
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Many years ago, my daily bus commute crossed the Mississippi River on the old Lake Street bridge. Then almost 100 years old, the quarter-mile bridge connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis was a wrought iron structure built well before the invention of the automobile. And one day, engineers inspecting the bridge’s integrity, determined it could no […]
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Rhythms of Resilience I’m watching for the first delicate crocuses to break through the hardened crust of the March ground. Yellow, purple and white, their short blooms open like small cups of sunlight. But by night, the delicate blossoms close up, waiting until dawn coaxes them to yawn agape again. Their daily opening and closing […]
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My grandfather knew how to keep time moving. Head bent over the wooden jeweler’s bench at the back of his jewelry store and peering through a small magnifying loop attached to his glasses, he repaired watches. He patiently disassembled gears and springs, then putting them back together so they could once again keep time. In this […]
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