For decades, I’ve had ambivalent feelings on the Saturday before Easter, or Easter Eve as I think I’ll call it from now on. Holy Week, as it’s known by those who keep the Christian calendar of holy days, is a time of somber self-evaluation and wonder at the amazing love that God the Creator showed […]
joy
Time to Get Ready
Time to Get Ready! We’ve heard it and may have already sung it this season… Joy to the World! The Lord has come Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing! In a couple of weeks Christians around the world will be challenged to celebrate the true […]
Catching the Updrafts
The birds that inhabit the Grand Canyon are an interesting bunch. I’m not talking about the visitors – they’re an interesting bunch, too – but I refer to the winged denizens of the Great Chasm. Most common and notable are the ravens. These big, black-feathered fliers love to snatch anything that falls to the ground, […]
Emptiness
Recently, I tried to take a sip of water and realized my water bottle was empty. Empty is usually not good. It may not be terrible, but emptiness can be a unhappy thing in many respects. From the inconvenient emptiness of running out of something, to the emotional emptiness of being left all alone, to […]
The Tyranny of the Convenient
The forecasts started a week before the “event.” Snow “accumulation” across the southeast of the US – a terrifying prospect for people who normally only see a light snow a couple of times each winter season – was coming in ferocious power. The rumored intensity of the coming storm was matched by the intensity of […]
A Season of Fullness
The smell is unique – gentle decay of a natural, wholesome sort rather than morbid. The skies are an honest blue, deep and clear. The crunch of acorns and leaves underfoot betrays all but the most careful movement. It involves a slow disrobing of a revelatory sort rather than sensual. It is a time of […]
The More You Look, the More You See
This morning, before dawn was offering its tell-tale hints along the eastern horizon, I stood on my front porch and looked at the sky. As always, I found joy in looking at the stars. This morning, there was a sliver of moon high up, and it made the stars hard to see until I stood […]
It’s Music to My…
Music. It’s there. In the background of my thoughts. Whispering or sung aloud, sometimes it comes out clear and strong or just as a hum. It forms and reflects my inner life even more than my other conscious activities. I can’t help it. I’ve been like this since I can remember. Sometimes it’s some tune […]