God might just be making beauty from ashes, refashioning a gift out of a deep injury to my soul. This morning on our walk, Jim and I talked about our dawning realization that our energies and capacity for looking outward are returning, after several years of crisis and trauma related to our daughter Jackie’s health. … Continue reading Stop. Look. Remember.
Tag: community
The Truest Thing I Know
By my desk, there is written on a green index card this quote that I see every day as I sit down to write: “Say the truest thing you know, line by line.” In Writing I read it in a guide to writing poetry by Suzanne U. Rhodes, The Roar on the Other Side. My… Continue reading The Truest Thing I Know
Paradox, Part II: Solitude and Community
I’m fascinated by something I’ve been reading lately by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It’s this paradox: “Whoever can not be alone should beware of community; whoever cannot stand being in community should beware of being alone” (from Life Together, 82-83). Willa Cather says something similar: “Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship” (Shadows on the… Continue reading Paradox, Part II: Solitude and Community
The Gift of Presence
My family and I moved recently to colorful, gritty, spunky and historic Baltimore— “Charm City.” Our earnest desire is to plant ourselves here and not move again for a long, long time—as in decades. As such, we are doing careful research into where we want to buy a house, where we want to send our… Continue reading The Gift of Presence