I live under towering Ponderosa Pines, 70 and 90 feet tall, the most iconic native plant in the inland northwest region. They give shade — so much shade I can’t grow vegetables in my yard. Ponderosas live a few hundred years; seven generations or more. They offer beauty and color and habitat for so many… Continue reading Ponderosa Relatives
In my work in college admissions, I’ve been fortunate to spend significant time in Hawaii. Often, when people hear about my work there, they say something like, “Oh, that must be rough!” Usually, the implication is that I’m spending lots of time on the beach soaking up the sun. And while I do find time… Continue reading A “Sticky” Idea
Blog prompt: What anchors keep you centered as the beloved? Hope. Broader perspective. A return to center through intentionally meditating on feeling hopeful, easeful, beloved. And choosing thoughts through the day that support this. See story example below. What happens when you lose sight? It gets dark real quick! Yesterday evening I was sitting… Continue reading Was It A Sign To Remember My Belovedness?
I grew up in Saint Paul, MN in an area close by the Mississippi River. When I was younger we would walk down to an area we called our “secret spot”. It was an overlook where you could see a bridge, a church and Fort Snelling. Throughout my grade school education, I would go to… Continue reading Not on or for, but with.
For much of my life, I based the value of creation on what it had to offer me. I saw it as something to be used at my disposal and discarded at my whim. Beautiful flowers on my table, a day at the beach, skiing down the snowy slopes of a mountain – if I… Continue reading God Saw That It Was Good
Envisioning a sacred relationship with creation, the first word that comes to mind is “balance.” I’ve sometimes struggled with why God created animals and humans to need to kill other living things (whether plants or other animals) to survive. Similarly, human technology of life-saving medical care, transportation, and internet have allowed humans to learn from… Continue reading Reflecting on Near-death and Life
Growing up in the 80’s with the accepted mindset of “it’s all gonna burn” set the stage for my early passivity towards reconciling any of the brokenness in the created world. The hope was that if things got bad enough, Jesus would come back and we’d all be whisked away from this very broken, very… Continue reading Stories in Creation
