Nairobi, June 2005 She refused to eat. Her forehead felt warm. She cried incessantly. Nothing alleviated her discomfort. As a sojourning foreigner, I lacked even the name of a pediatrician in Kenya, much less contact information. Even if I knew who to call, I couldn’t easily access transport. My one solace – I knew that…Read more Just to Touch the Hem
art
Redemptive Art
I wandered for many years, searching for the space where art, social justice, and faith interweave. For decades, I felt that art and social justice were separate compartments of my life; and I could not find overlap. I painted here and there, but focused the bulk of my energy on the urgent social justice issue of…Read more Redemptive Art
Silence
There was a time in my life when I was stunned into silence. I unexpectedly received news of harm done to someone I love, two days later met the person who caused the harm face-to-face, and then several days after that received medical confirmation for my loved one of resulting lifelong disability. It was too much,…Read more Silence
The Power of An Artist – Chihuly
Lately I’ve been craving a little magic. Just a little lifting from the tedium of monitoring my children’s homework, some temporary relief from the shock of global violence. Today’s adventure soothed my soul. Entering the Denver Botanic Gardens, vivid cobalt tendrils strike the sky, like a sentinel gesturing over a new and wild land. This…Read more The Power of An Artist – Chihuly
Summer Day
As summer exhales its last breaths, I give thanks for its many gifts. Soon spontaneity will yield to regimen, a house cascading with myriad voices of four children and friends will settle into silent swaths of hours. The solitude I crave beckons. Like the wistful weary feeling at the end of a hot afternoon spent playing with…Read more Summer Day
Quelled
rapid little heart so undone thrashes fragile feathered chest, wings frantically fan fiery fear seen and unseen so in need of just one word held quelled in tender hands cupped and quiet
Of Birds and Parenting
Scampering around in the grass barefoot, my son suddenly squealed and leapt for the concrete patio. I went to inspect the source of his alarm: a quivering huddle of feathers. He assumed it was dead like another hapless victim, a naked nestling, we found earlier that evening on a nearby rock. But as I knelt…Read more Of Birds and Parenting
Do Dogs Go to Heaven?
If dogs wore clothing, Rico would have been a tuxedo-clad gentleman. I'm sure he would have played the saxophone in a jazz band. Rico, a brindle greyhound, came into our lives most unexpectedly. A co-worker rescued him after he retired from racing, but shared her concerns about keeping him in her apartment. My husband and…Read more Do Dogs Go to Heaven?
Summer Has Come
Time and space for painting and writing is scarce this summer. Without accessing those deep creative parts of my being, at times I feel dry and out-of-touch with myself and with God. But I am simultaneously aware that my heart is storing away moments like treasures from a far-away land. Moments in time that, when there…Read more Summer Has Come
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 