The eternal town

Savior and friend,
How wonderful art Thou!
My companion upon the changeful way,
The comforter of its weariness,
My guide to the eternal town,
The welcome at its gate.
-Alister Maclean
Well, last night my uncle Bob was welcomed into the eternal town after a hard struggle with leukemia. That Celtic prayer says everything I love about God and his presence with [...]

A snippet of Ulysses

Something about this poem tangled itself in my thought today.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail [...]

Breathing Free

The speech has been given.
Books galore sold and discussed and boxed.
Old friends met and new ones made.
Bags (and oh so many boxes) packed.
Another conference comes to an end with grace given and received.
God has, as usual, been abundantly good.
And I’m breathing a deep, free sigh.
Rest after work is really quite lovely.
Happy weekend to you all!

Baba Ghanoush

Now is that not a fun word? My friends and I get some strange amusement out of saying it again and again, in rhythm. If you say it fast enough it sounds like you are chanting something profound in a mysterious language. However, the saying of the word is not half so fun as [...]

Today

 
Pondering: The Celtic saints remind us that we are “keeping house amidst a cloud of witnesses.” We in our own day, going about our daily tasks, are yet surrounded in our nice little safe and ordinary households by that greater household and company, the company of the kingfolk of heaven. – Esther DeWaal [...]

Ideals

The splish of a dainty waterfall is echoing off the marble floors as I write here in the old-world luxury of the Broadmoor. It is outrageously fun to act like I own this five-star hotel. I simply come for a day, buy coffee and chocolate, and wander the plush floors and art-bedecked walls. I’m on [...]

Days of White

January days are white days in my thought. Pristine squares of uncluttered time in which I sit, like a little girl in an empty attic, with a pale sunlight filtering in on my face. The cluttered color of December is gone, my mental garret swept clear so that the new morning of another year suffuses [...]

Morning

A dim aurora rises in my east,
Beyond the line of jagged questions hoar,
As if the head of our intombed High Priest,
Began to glow behind the unopened door:
Sure the gold wings will soon rise from gray!
They rise not. Up I rise, press on the more,
To meet the slow coming of the Master’s day.
-George MacDonald

Writing

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
Gene Fowler
That quote makes me laugh. And feel better about myself. This lifestyle of writing is certainly strenuous, but then, the fulfillment of an idea in the compact form of a story is [...]

Happy New Year!

A new year dawns.

I love the way that the light pierces the heart of the picture below, a single stream winnowing its way through tangled branches and solemn trees. And the children run to greet it; I love it that they run. They are called by the new light and it sets a path before [...]