Third Tuesday of Advent: Something Beautiful, Something Good from Knowing a Place

Lone Tree, Fall 2025
Pecos Benedictine Monastery

How many places can you say that you know like the back of your hand?

I woke up in the middle of the night. As I tried to lull myself back to sleep for a few more hours, I began to walk my grandmother's house. I tried to see how many details my mind would fill in. The jar of Hershey kisses hidden in the kitchen cabinet, the chalkboard in the den, the side porch with the washer and the clothesline in the backyard. The etched glass pattern on the bathroom mirror, the sound the drawers made when humidity made them stick, the list by the telephone, the birdbath and the picnic table taken over by plants.

Have you ever done that? Revisited a place you loved and a place that loved you back? 

To know a place by heart - it's something beautiful, something good.

The Wisdom of Redwoods: Reflections from a Silent Retreat

Watercolor Trees, August 2024

                     Oh Lord, 
                    

                    You are the dreaming tree

                          I have fixed my hopes 

                          and prayers to branches 

                          who shelter birds 

                          and barefoot children

                    You are the scent of 

                        magnolia and orange

                        You are the taste of crushed mulberries

                        that tell my mother 

                        where I've been

                    You are bright 

                        with the yellow 

                        of paloverde and huisache 

                        the pink of rosebud, 

                        tulip and rain tree

                    You are fixed with a rope swing

                        we dare each other to climb 

                        and catch hold

                        taking a freefall of delight 

                        under your blessed canopy

* Last Saturday, I attended a silent retreat gathered around the redwoods and trees as images for the spiritual journey. I recalled particular trees that had been part of my childhood, especially at my home and the homes of my grandparents. The prayer poem comes out of my reflections. 

Irresistible

 

Hackberry Emperor Butterfly, July 2024
Photo by Bryan Jody, College Station

Suspended in grace

you are irresistible

with light in your wings 

Planting in Faith

Red Spider Lilies, October 2023

 

Let me plant in faith

even when I've no idea

about the harvest

* I've had an affection for the red spider lily (sometimes called hurricane lilies) for many years. I first saw them in East Texas on youth retreats in the fall. I would slip away in the afternoons with my camera and roam the path around the lake to find them. Since then, I've planted a few at home and they always brighten up the garden after a long, hot summer. 

Gathered

Bur Oak Acorns, November 2021

 The promise of trees

begins in a humble way

with what has fallen