Art

Always – lament for a father taken too soon

On a balmy October afternoon, we gathered on a green slope saturated with sinking-sun amber light. Sentinel trees swayed in a swan dance of brilliant-hued Autumn. We clustered amidst names engraved in stone, contemplating the eternal promise of Scripture, swelling with tears to the last lingering notes of Amazing Grace. Each of us clutched a…Read more Always – lament for a father taken too soon

Where true joy can be found

I know a place where unhindered joy pulsates. But you won’t believe it when I first take you there. Perched on the edge of desolation, humble and inconspicuous, a gray cement block building crouches behind ramshackle shops. Barefoot children play on a pile of rubble, and rusty-corrugated-roof shacks lean on either side. Before we go…Read more Where true joy can be found

Covering: Reflections on 20 years of marriage

In the early days, I was a kite and he was the string. I, the idyllic dreamer, tempted him with crazy ideas like living in a 700 square foot hot tub wing/studio apartment of a house nestled in the mountains west of Denver.  We looked at other places. Still, to this day, we laugh when…Read more Covering: Reflections on 20 years of marriage

Free Indeed

Red patterned light trickles across black curtains. A fanciful bouquet erupts on stage right: black-and-white-striped poles adorned with pink sparkly netting, fuzzy green puffs dripping with silver strands, orange tufts dotted with pink. Green cardboard-cut-out leaves ground the arrangement. Expectant silence swells as the curtain draws. Lilting music evokes the changing moods of “My Many…Read more Free Indeed

Reach

“You only get just one time around, you only get one shot at this, one chance to find out the one thing that you don’t want to miss.” One Life to Love by 33 Miles This song lyric often plays in my mind. Life on this earth tumbles by and falls off the final cliff…Read more Reach

Songs in the Valley

“It doesn’t look as bad as it did yesterday,” my ever-honest 12 year old tried to encourage me. I asked my husband, “Is it really bad?” “I like some of your other pieces better,” he conceded. I gave it one last look, and shredded it. Every piece of artwork, for me, seems to pass through…Read more Songs in the Valley

Orphans in Nepal

Nepal is world-renowned for towering majestic mountains, fertile terraced fields, and verdant valleys. Nepal is no less than the magical, enticing destination that Tourist Guidebooks claim. But Nepal also subsists amongst the ten poorest countries in the world. Until a decade ago, she was the world’s only Hindu Kingdom; now secularized, karma, fatalism, dharma, and the resulting caste system still…Read more Orphans in Nepal

Trees

As a kid growing up in Black Forest, trees were my favorite place to while away a summer day: scent of pine, sticky sap, whispering wind, choosing the next limb to climb ever higher, a quiet kingdom of my very own. Still at points of stress, I like to think about trees. Something about their…Read more Trees

Healing

In my heart I keep a safety vault for fossils:  petrified wounds from the past. Bricks of self-protection mount an imposing barrier. As long as these hardened relics remain quarantined (even from myself), perhaps they can be kept from provoking further pain. But, what if there is another way?  What if these fossils could be…Read more Healing

Safe passage

Life is anything but safe. Its twists and turns leave me breathless, sometimes in wonder and sometimes in shock. “Is all of this going anywhere?” I am prone to ruminate in my weaker moments. But for all my own wrestling, my heart’s greatest vulnerability lies in watching my children tangle with the dangers of life, particularly…Read more Safe passage