Here we are in the first month of the New Year. Hope abides as I release some things of the past year and hold onto others. As I looked into the open door of my study with stacks of ongoing writing projects strewn on the floor, the sun was streaming through the windows onto my bookshelves and to the old rocking chair my mother refinished when she was but a new bride to my father. … Read more

— This past fall on my birthday, I came upon a large boulder just off the trail in the mountains. It was about 4 feet high by 4 1/2 feet wide, and to my way of thinking, it had the shape of a human heart. The perimeter of that stone heart seemed fairly intact, yet the center was split open and a beam of sunlight penetrated the very core all the way through one side … Read more

Pure and simple, there’s a fidelity to the turn of seasons. As reliable as the earth’s daily spin into sunrise and sunset, autumn has again arrived in the earth’s tilt and annual rotation around the sun’s fiery ball of our solar system. Despite the storms, erratic chaos, and tragedies that one might witness in a life journey, there is a beautiful predictability to rediscover in the transformative cycle of Creation. Seasonal change offers constancy in … Read more

Sometimes one thing leads to another. I happened upon this padlocked gate at the edge of a nearby lake and paused. Oh, the surprises that come to us! It didn’t take more than a second and then the laughter came in sheer delight as I looked upon this display of light-hearted frivolity. Someone has a marvelous sense of humor and I had to snap a photo. I smile every time I look at the cross … Read more

As June faded into July, I knew I had a reflection to capture in words. Sometimes it’s best to let things percolate a while amid the events of life–making space to simply let the pause bring perspective. Beauty has a way of surprising us and for me the astounding beauty of lush green forests, mountain peaks in clouds, and pure waters did not move my heart like the barren land of southern Wyoming scoured clean … Read more

Look! It’s there in the expressions of the two rushing forward in the just-rising sun, in the cool spring morning to the tomb reported empty, over ground called holy. See Peter’s hand over his heart, his other hand falling near his waist after gesturing toward something ahead. The folds of his weathered face are strained with emotional trauma and fatigue, and yet, his eyes shine alert, almost lamp-lit, as he hones something in front of … Read more

And so the question goes… Who doesn’t love a bluebird when it darts across the sky? In search of some great secret thing and of happiness, says the poet, perhaps one is looking for the bluebird. Whether it’s called azure or cerulean, the bluebird’s brilliant hue has inspired writers of verse, prose, song, and plays in various cultures throughout the ages. Often symbolizing happiness, the bluebird is also considered elusive. Interestingly, that elusive notion of … Read more

Sometimes one can look past a thing and see something else. It happened after celebrating Christmas Mass with the monks at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, lunch in twinkling Aspen, and a snow hike in the North Star Preserve. On the drive home, late Christmas afternoon, beneath the great, towering stone walls of Glenwood Canyon, something seemed amiss in the snow-dusted cliffs on each side of the highway. Huge slabs of stone were missing from … Read more

 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven –Ecclesiastes 3:1 Harvest. Gather. Gratitude. Bounty. Gifts. Curiosity. Beauty. The beauty in receiving and being given. Sparkle of discovery. Finding the lost and glittering jewel. One asks: “What is it that I have to give? Is it fear that locks the doing?” Let us harvest in confidence…. mine to yours, yours to mine—in good will. What holds us back? The little … Read more

On a recent trip to the West Coast, it was almost as if the sea were sighing. In every reach of the broken waves and the lacey foam rushing up the sand, I sensed a heaviness. For me, that rhythm of weight epitomized what I perceived as Nature’s sighs, as if the earth, the ocean, the sky, were exhaling some burden of impending change. Sometimes the natural world, in all its creative wonder, expresses a … Read more