The often overlooked wisdom of children
Recently a dear mentor shared some stories of her current work, which explores how the particular gifts of children’s sense of the spiritual world might inform a sustainable response to the climate crisis
creation
The Godless Creation
I used to quote this passage to my students at the evangelical university where I taught for ten years. They always nodded in sage agreement, murmuring appreciatively—until I told them the verse wasn’t from the Bible. It’s an Islamic hadith, one of a large collection of wisdom sayings that complement and amplify the Qur’an.
Saint Francis: For the Love of God
I approach the Blessing of the Animals as an opportunity to share the reality that we are stewards of creation.
How Reconnecting with Nature Helped Me Reconnect with God
Little did I know that reconnecting with nature and my inner being would help me reconnect with God, too.
Comfort for Stubbed Toes
Our five-year-old son is notorious for running around outside barefoot and showing back up on the doorstep with a bleeding stubbed toe. It has not mattered how many times this has occurred, how many reminders we give to put on shoes, or how much it hurts him in the moment, the boy does this over and over again.
Nature Study and the Awe of God
Some of my earliest memories are exploring the forty-five acre farm I grew up on. I remember my cousin showing me how to find spit bugs and thinking it was a miracle that hundreds of these little bugs were there wrapped under leaves and yet I had never seen them before.
Empty Nest
My mom texted a picture to all seven of us kids at the end of August after Nathan, my youngest brother and twenty years my junior, left for his freshman year of college. “In the first week of empty nesting we found an empty nest!” she wrote.
Engaging Wonderment on the Lesser Feast Day of John Muir
Recently on a car ride, my four-year-old asked my ecologically-minded fifth grader and me the question, ‘Why do trees grow?’
The Gob-Smacking Nature of Grace
The scene generally looks the same: after my older son and I pick up his brother at preschool, I have a choice to make. Do I take the shorter route, the one that winds down MacArthur and through the center of town, complete with stoplights and traffic and grit galore? Or do I take the back roads that take a few minutes longer but guarantees a glimpse of the magical view?
Celebrating Creation Prayerfully, Day by Day
A new book of daily devotions – in watercolor and word – celebrates the beauty of Creation.
