If peace were a verb…
Wage Peace Wage peace with your breath. Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of redwing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields. Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees. Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact. Wage peace with your […]
Be Their Healing
My mother was dearly beloved by her maternal grandfather, John K. Leigh, or so my grandmother told me. Doted over, actually, and perhaps a bit spoiled. Apparently, he gave her whatever she asked. “There was one thing she wouldn’t ask for,” Mamma told me. “She really wanted a horse, but she knew he couldn’t give […]
The least common denominator primes us
Every class has those kids. The smart ones, the curve-breakers, who pick it up early and run with it. They get it on the first go around. Hardly need our help at all. They have natural aptitude. Sit in the front of the class, graduate first in their class. They are on their way. Hardly need […]
Sound Cancellation Magic and Mystery
Close your eyes and what do you see? Pin your nose and what do you smell? Shut your mouth and what do you taste? Cover your skin and what do you feel? Hold your ears and… you still hear what you heard before, just a bit quieter. I can’t shut out sound like I can […]
I go to prepare a place for you
Until that which we write, we think, we pray, comes to life, we are noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. This is the pre-Easter world, the pre-Easter us. Oh, the list. Thank God, the baby Jesus was born into a smelly stable. At least He knew what He was getting himself into, or at least He […]
In Sync
Imagine walking into a room full of people, totally unannounced, and having one remark, “Ah, it’s amazing what prayer can do!” And they meant you. They didn’t know you were coming. Had no idea to expect you. They weren’t looking for someone to save or rescue them; they were just fine before you came. Yet, […]
Where is the line between heaven and earth?
Where is the line between heaven and earth? When people pass, what do they pass? Where do they cross from here to there? If we’re headed toward something, shouldn’t we see it so we’ll know when we get there? I see you…. you line on the horizon. But you are fickle. Yes, as the sun […]
Staying the course
It’s so hard to stay on track. What with everything pulling us this way and that. Attractive things. Tempting things. Necessary things. They all tug at our sleeves insisting we pay attention. Perhaps this is something of the sense Jesus had in the crowd when the woman who had suffered hemorrhages for years touched the […]
What runs through the center?
In the beginning, we agreed. Then there was the smallest ripple of discontent. A mere, “Aw come on.” And so we did. But we didn’t. Agree, that is. There was the tap, “Look at it this way.” Which led to the shoulder shake, “You have to admit…” which resulted in the back turn where after […]
Transparent but not invisible
I don’t know much about art. The arts appreciation sessions of my youth were probably mostly lost on me. Oh, I can describe what I see: the colors, the form, the brush strokes, the character, his expression, her touch. Perhaps, if the artist is clever I can even sense three dimensions even though the canvas […]