Always Held

For Lilia, my children, and  the many others around the world who ache for a different beginning... This is what really happened... You slip into the world raw and trembling, aching for tender touch. But instead, the one you most long for walks away. You huddle there, vulnerable in an abandoned building, or a slum…Read more Always Held

The Lies Artists Battle

Sometime in January, my heart froze over. I just gave up, like when a blizzard hits and you cancel all your plans, resigned to curl up with your book and your cup of coffee. Like a glazed creek covered in white that refuses to move, I stopped even feeling the desire to paint. The perfect…Read more The Lies Artists Battle

A 25 Year Flame (25 years of marriage)

When I was just twenty-years-old, God lit the flame. I stood in the kitchen with my mom, probably doing something mundane like cleaning up after dinner, and divulged - I know who I want to marry. Perhaps she thought I was too young; but then again, she pledged her heart to a lifelong love (44…Read more A 25 Year Flame (25 years of marriage)

Soul Cravings

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am writing a fiction book. Some days I think I'm crazy to invest so much time and heart into something that may never see the light of day. Discouragement pushes me down. But most days, I am urged along by something deep inside, stronger than the…Read more Soul Cravings

Love – The Search Is On

I once lived, moved and breathed right smack in the heart of the biblical parable of the lost sheep, albeit contextualized for Colorado Springs, Colorado. Now, in these parts, at least in the city, we don’t herd many sheep; but we do have cliffs, frigid winter nights, and hungry predators. And we adore our animals, especially…Read more Love – The Search Is On

The Final Portal

Just a few days ago we visited a friend in hospice care. I recognized the signs: he stood on heaven's threshhold. Today he crossed over. Strange, the straddling of two worlds. The one leaving, caught betwixt and between, seeing one and then the other. While those who walk with them weep for the coming reality,…Read more The Final Portal

Art on the Altar

Last year, 2017, dawned hopeful. At long last, I stood before a faint but visible trail in the forest. After years of scrambling in the brambles, I set off down the path. I stumbled on the trail-head in a gallery in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver. Late in 2016, I responded to a…Read more Art on the Altar

Hallelujahs in the Night

Isaiah 50:10, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the Lord and relies upon his God?” The treasures of darkness come not to those who avoid pain and suffering. Instead, the treasures of darkness lie…Read more Hallelujahs in the Night

All Flame

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” then the old man stood up…Read more All Flame

Shattering Into Light (2)

There is a tragedy that stalks me year after year. The precipitating event is over and done with, resounding in its finality; but the repercussions morph through time. It is a question with no answer, a terrible wrong that cannot be righted, a haunting that cannot be exorcised. Sometimes I am angry. Like Edvard Munch's…Read more Shattering Into Light (2)