Category Archives: Healing

Bright sun on the sideyard lilac, snow buntings weighing down each branch. For years that bush didn’t bloom at all. Then, the year I planned to cut it down, it threw a couple of scrawny blossoms skyward. It has been blooming – awkwardly, sparsely, beautifully – ever since. Point taken, I guess. Angels abound. ItContinue reading “Advent Journal: Wind in the Lilac”

In Advent, suddenly, I can see again. Certain lights, currents of grace. Certain ways forward. I see you in the distance, coming back from the well, ready to disclose yet again (for those with ears to hear) the prerogative of love, the fullness of salvation. How grateful I am to no longer travel alone! InContinue reading “Advent Notes: Christ All the Way Down”

The furnace broke last night, coldest night of the year. We were up after midnight for hours seeing if we could jump-start it, and ended up just giving everybody extra blankets. The house is very cold today. My fingers are numb typing. I stop every few sentences, grab the coffee mug with both hands, andContinue reading “Advent Travels: When in Doubt”

Yesterday it snowed a little as the sun set: prismatic flurries tracing faded planes of light down western hills slowly darkening. I stood shivering on the front porch, breathless and grateful, now and then remembering to take a sip of coffee. I cannot bear the loveliness sometimes; I cannot compass the love the loveliness reflects.Continue reading “Advent Travels: Admitting the Wound”

Reading Humberto Maturana taught me that love was not a feeling but a state of being, a way of giving attention to life that was creative and nurturing, that was, in and of itself, life-giving. Through Maturana I discovered that love was inherent and fear alien, and that it was possible to be happy inContinue reading “Advent Travels: Behind the Barn”

Sawicki says that whatever Christ is, it is contagious (Seeing the Lord 327). What does this mean? When you say “whatever Christ is” you are tacitly saying you don’t know what Christ is. But when you say “Christ is contagious” you are boldly claiming a deep understanding of the experience of Christ. In a senseContinue reading “Advent Travels: What Dancing Looks and Feels Like”