Persistence in the Winds of Life
As I sit to write this post, spring winds are causing the chimes outside my window to spring(!) to life. It’s always this way in the desert southwest. As a child, I didn’t love this season (despite having a spring birthday) because it seemed I always had windblown...
The Flowers Are Not the Point
Cacti are blooming all over the Sonoran Desert right now. From ground-hugging hedgehogs to skyscraping saguaros, brilliant flowers are unveiling themselves in sartorial splendor. Many blooms last only a day, making it an exciting challenge for me to see how many I can...
Faithful Nurturing of the Easter Message
Summer vegetable seeds are beginning to sprout in my garden. Days of patient waiting for eruptions of bright green from the midst of dark, nurturing soil are now being rewarded. I anticipate summer’s fruitfulness, but we have a long way to go. Between now and first...
Becoming a Divine Evocation of Grace
Spring is appearing in various guises all over the northern hemisphere. Here in southern Arizona, various cacti are blooming spectacularly. It’s difficult for me to choose which route to walk each morning, because I want to check in on various plants that are showing...
An Eastertide Garden of the Heart
It’s transition time for my vegetable garden here in southern Arizona. It’s getting into the 90s in the afternoons, so I pre-emptively harvested all the lettuce in my garden (sharing a lot of it with various neighbors) and a huge batch of parsley, then dug out the...
The Greatest of These Is Love
Over the past three weeks on this blog, I’ve pondered faith, hope, and love. Today, as Christians begin Holy Week, I want to return to the theme of love (which is, according to Paul, the greatest of the three). A wise teacher is always learning, and during Lent I’ve...
Where Do You Place Your Faith?
I was listening recently to a brief video interview of the composer Arvo Pärt. He spoke of how music is an understanding, empathetic friend, forgiving and of comfort. Music offers liberation and flight. He’s woven his life around music until it infuses his very being....
Resacralizing Hope During a Challenging Lent
Over the past week, the American news has been filled with talk of first anniversaries related to the pandemic: churches and workplaces closing, masks appearing, people hunkering down around the world. It was a time of much uncertainty and many unknowns. One year...
Resacralizing Love as a Lenten Practice
Despite having recently led a retreat on Lenten practices, I’ve struggled with finding my groove during Lent this year. (It’s so true that we preach what we most need to hear!) I’m not necessarily seeking to perform perfectly (as would have been the case for my...
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