Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity I was in Houston visiting family when I heard the news about the massacre in Orlando. Like everyone else, I was stunned, horrified and deeply saddened. Now just over a week since the shootings, I continue to cycle through an array of emotions. Mostly, I feel grief for all the lives that were lost and heartache for the families of the victims. I've also been wrestling with a bleak despair over the state of our humanity and…
I must concede that Christmas is indeed the most magical time of the year. Between the cheery lights, the upbeat snap in the air and the bright faces of excited children, there’s an inescapable wonder to it all. Whether you believe or not, even the elegant mystery of the Nativity can stir the most cynical spirit. It is the season of joy and possibility: the ultimate celebration. But Christmas can also break your heart. The holiday, with its relentless merriment, can exacerbate the ache of…
Maybe it will all make sense in the end. Maybe things will all tie up neatly and in our last gasp, we will say: "Aah…Now I get it." Maybe our longing will be sated and our curiosity will be satisfied. Maybe there’s a plausible explanation for every second we’ve spent here. But we don’t know that now. We can’t know that. We have to bake a little longer. Still, we want respite from this ambiguity. We jump up and down impatiently like a…
A week ago today, I was riding across the rocky hills of Texas on a beautiful Appaloosa mare named Dee Dee. The sky was wide and endless. The cypress-lined vistas were peaceful. Dee Dee was a sweet and steady girl. I grew up riding horses, even competitively. Still, it had been at least 30 years since I’d been on a horse. I wondered if I’d remember what to do. But the moment I climbed into that saddle, it all came back to me. The southern…
I spent the weekend trying to write a new post for this blog. My plan was to kick off a new series about the creative process, starting on the topic of inspiration. Although I’d riffed on the subject in my journal for a week or more, when I sat down to write this weekend, I couldn’t seem to get there. All my thoughts were on Japan. As I read the news stories and watched the horrifying video clips, I knew that anything I had to…