An image and memory from a recent walk, a poem of reflection and shadow for a mid-winter day... Walking through the woods near the lake at the end of a warm winter’s day the sun so near the horizon that it sends its golden carpet unfurling recklessly across the earth, I catch myself walking beside me. …
Tag: creation
I am very close to beginning a new walk, as retirement from my position at the university looms large (target date: June 14). The question I hear most frequently, you might imagine, is “what are you going to do?” It will likely come as no surprise to those who know me if I say, “I have a plan.” …
As I write this, St. Louis is in the midst of a winter snowfall that could leave somewhere between 6-12 inches of snow on the ground. It’s beautiful and all that, but I’m not amused. Just a week ago, I spent several hours of an unseasonably warm day walking the grounds of one of our region’s storied treasures — the Missouri Botanical Garden. Here's a photo essay of my visit. …
On the Road: An unexpected find on the way to somewhere else --a visit to the historic home and studio of Indiana Hoosier impressionist painter Theodore Clement Steele, the first major artist to set up a studio in Brown County, Indiana. The surrounding landscape and Steele’s growing fame drew other artists to the area and helped establish the Art Colony of the Midwest. …
Beauty, as the English poet David Whyte writes above, is the “harvest of presence,” it is the reward for sitting still and waiting for something to show up, of being so present in a moment that a finch is not just a finch but a reminder that God is at work in the world. …
Pondering, at least it seems for me, is a most appropriate approach and primer to a life of prayer. When we can arise each morning and listen for the sound of our favorite bird and then connect it to the movement of God in our lives, we are certainly on to something mystical and yet very real. …
Sometimes, the quiet we seek is not mere silence. Rather, it is silence enough to hear a whisper, the voice of God calling out to us in the sounds of the earth. For this sunny, warming Sunday morning, I offer a poem about what we can hear if we dare silence ourselves. …
Last night I had the good fortune to attend a lecture at Washington University (where I work) by Father Michael Perry, the American Franciscan friar who is the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor. Sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, Fr. Perry spoke on this theme: "What Do Francis of Assisi and Francis of Buenos Aires Have in Common? A 'Franciscan' Perspective on the Common Good." My write-up here is by no means …
As we head into the New Year this cold, cold, cold (did I mention it is cold here in St. Louis?) Sunday morning, I find myself yearning for spring and pondering two of the (many) great mysteries of life: First, why are we so gifted with the beauty, bounty and intricacy of the world around us? And second, in the midst of all this signal of God’s glory—small and hidden as we are as minuscule beings in the vastness of …
When the heroine of E.B. White’s classic children’s novel “Charlotte’s Web” first writes “SOME PIG” in her web in an attempt to save her friend Wilbur’s life, she was creating more than a PR campaign. She was creating wonder. She was making everyone who saw her web stop in their tracks, stand back, scratch their heads, and try to contemplate something they couldn’t fathom. That, in fact, is a pretty good way to go through life. …