“Search engines find the information, not necessarily the truth.” ― Amit Kalantri"How do you make the best vegan chocolate?” This simple question started a three-hour journey down an internet rabbit hole. One video led to another: Coconut oil or cacao butter as a base? Raw cacao or cocoa powder? Sug
"I live constantly with the awareness that there are no maps for what I am doing; that I am making the path as I go. Yet …even as I move across what seems like uncharted territory, there is a way that lies beneath the way that I am going. We are all creating the road as we go. Yet beneath this, und
“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” —Amelia EarhartMy friend Ty is a rock star. I mean, he’s literally a rock star. His band Vintage Trouble has played shows all over the world, headlined music festivals, and opened for the likes
“Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom [the Spirit] will next bestow this life from heaven.” —John 3:8 (The Living Bible)Fred didn’t have very long to live; that’s why he had called me to see him. I
“Shards of glass can cut and wound or magnify a vision. Mosaic celebrates brokenness and the beauty of being brought together.” ―Terry Tempest Williams, "Finding Beauty in a Broken World"I made a beautiful piece of art in a mosaic class this summer, but there were times when I was frustrated at my o
“Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.” ― Marcus Aurelius, MeditationsI remember once leaving a party, held at the house of some friends from church, and being told, “You shouldn’t use the alleyways to get home.” I had not been living in the city
“…and the ones who stood without sweet company will sing and sing back into the mountains and if necessary even under the seawe are the ones we have been waiting for” —excerpt, “Poem for South African Women” by June JordanWe are gathered at a Walmart in downtown El Paso, forty-six days after the Aug
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice.” ―T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"New Year’s is without a doubt the most meaningful winter holiday for me. As a religious humanist, none of the other winter holidays have ever really called to me. But to me
Blessed are you in whom the light lives, in whom the brightness blazes— your heart a chapel, an altar where in the deepest night can be seen the fire that shines forth in you in unaccountable faith in stubborn hope in love that illumines every broken thing it finds. —Jan Richardson, "Blessed Are You
"Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make
“Level Two is where you become privy to the giant mystery, the fabulous conspiracy that is Santa. You are entrusted with the secret, that Santa is SO much bigger than you imagined, that you, in fact, get to be Santa, too.” —Rev. Joanna Fontaine CrawfordOne year—but not the year the Christmas tree fe
“My storehouse having burned down, I can now see the moon.” — Mizuta Masahide, 17th-century Japanese samurai poetContent warning: This reflection refers to the author experiencing abuse as a child.In Japanese, “crisis” (危機) and “opportunity” (機会) share a character: 機. This character has many meaning
“The most delicate flower is still a badass, it sucks food from roots, stares at the sun and basks in it. It wrestles the wind, and drinks rain.” —Rob GradThe world feels like a hot mess and while this isn’t breaking news, it seems like every other Tweet, Facebook post, or article is a wind causing
“What one does is what counts. Not what one had the intention of doing.” —Pablo Picasso I heard the incoming screams from the far end of the parking lot of the home improvement store. The vehicle swerved crookedly into the lot and abruptly stopped. Someone inside was forcefully hitting the driver
“…[L]et the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” —Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”On August 29, 2018, Roger Cooper (@RogerC137) tweeted plaintively:“Could we, without relentlessly criticizing, let people have their pumpkin spice, and avacado toast, and their fandoms, and their D&D, and their too-e
“Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them.” ― Paulo CoelhoEver since the beginning of this school year, I've had a hard time getting ready in the morning. Hard time getting out of bed, unfocused, glued to my phone, jus
“Gardens are a form of autobiography.” —Sydney Eddison, “The Wilds Within,” Horticulture Magazine, August/September 1993.The six-year-old and the nine-year-old, co-creators of our neighborhood garden this past spring and summer, survey the backyard plot after our first good, hard frost: “Ooo, that’s
“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” —Maya AngelouI’m delighted by how Spirit moves through our spiritual communities. A few summers ago, a member of our congregation drafted architectural plans for a Little Free Library (LFL). The brilliance of the d
“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” ―May SartonI spent an entire year brooding over whether and when to come out to my family. I had had a little practice with some close friends in college, and later with a few friends from high school. Looki
"...You are given the questions of others as if they were answers to all you ask. Yes, perhaps this gift is your answer." —from "A Gift" by Denise LevertovIn my town, the annual harvest fair is a big event. All the groups in town have booths. The Boy Scouts make root beer; the Women's Club offers ho
“Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of This Moment.” —Rumi“Did you feel that!?” No. I didn’t. I was distracted. My hand was to my partner’s belly, trying to feel a move from our soon-to-be-born second child. I had waited so long with my hand pressing on the same spot that my m
“Tango is a social dance, a dance of the people. What would be the point of having lessons with teachers if we all taught the same? That is the charm of tango: with each person you find a different character and style.” —Miguel ZottoWhen I find myself struggling with a person or group, I sometimes c
“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.” —Louis PasteurWhen I was a child, in Georgia, we took a field trip to a nature center called Oxbow Meadows. At the time, I didn’t know what an “oxbow” was; I just knew I totally loved the name. Later on
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. —Anaïs NinMy house came with a mess of a garden. It was as messy as the divorce I was going through at the time: a forest of thorny, 6-foot-tall thistles with a rusty fire pit and an old plum tree. Cleaning up this garden and keeping it tidy ga
