February 28: Flames of Fear

I don’t need to hear the news to know the world

is falling apart. I don’t need to read incisive 

analysis to know that things are messed up 

perhaps beyond repair. I don’t need live video

feeds from Washington to know our leaders

are once again betraying our trust, selling

us out and not necessarily even to the highest

bidder, are gleefully throwing under the bus

every vulnerable person they can find as fuel 

for the flames of bigotry that cruelly distract

from the institutionalization of corruption.

No, I can sense the suffering and fear

in the whisperings of the trees as they

try to keep up the pace of purifying our

putrid air, struggling to catch dark particulate

matter and release life giving breath.

February 27: Almost March

Almost March as 

evidenced by weather

this morning 

in the span of an hour

starting with light rain 

followed by bright sun

then winds so 

strong the trash cans tumbled

and now thick gray cloud 

cover as trees

sway in sympathy with passing 

gusts while mind and spirit 

move like shadow.

February 26: Connections

Connections among living things

exist in ways that often escape

notice, deeper than ordinary

attention, subtler than crasser

sense allows, but always just

there in peripheral perception,

like the way I am suddenly

aware that my breathing

has become synchronized

with the breathing of my dog,

who lies on the couch

across the room, completely

and transcendently present.

February 25: To Be True

Evidence of decline in values

like compassion, equality and

concern for the common good

lies all around us, in state houses,

in school boards, in churches,

in the White House, in the news,

in the inane bigotry of fearful

people and those exploiting them.

We cannot keep devaluing Truth

and expect people to be true.

February 24: So Many Things

There are so many things 

I could do with this day–

fly a kite, write a song, 

take a walk, sketch a tree,

but alas none of these 

will I do straightaway

for the periodontist 

is waiting for me.

February 23: Find a Stillness Prayer

It is difficult to find stillness and silence 

in a world of frenetic activity and noise.

It is difficult to find stillness and silence

in lives of constant motion and commotion.

It is difficult to find stillness and silence

in an era marked by turbulence and upheaval.

Yet some deep part of ourselves yearns constantly

for stillness, for silence, for spirit,

for some essence through which we might flower.

Let us pause in this moment for quiet reflection

that we might find stillness and silence in our midst.

May we return again and again 

to this place of stillness amid chaos and tumult,

to this place of silence amid shouts and sighs,

to this place of essence amid dissolution and division,

and in so doing may we find true harmony,

now and always, Amen! 

February 22: Spring Training

Spring training arrives a month before spring

as groundskeepers mow and trim, sweep,

scrub away months of stale dormancy, add

fresh coats of paint in clubhouse and pressbox,

new dirt and sand, chalk lines, readying space 

for players who have yearned all winter long

for this moment and the intoxicating aroma of

pine tar, sweat, oiled leather and bubble gum.

February 21: Don't Give Up Today

Don’t give up today. Put it off for one day

more at least, and find purpose in small

things before you, the stuff of which

our lives are made–put on the kettle,

make the bed, pack the lunch, wash

each dish with care and pause to stare.

Procrastinate on resignation and despair.

February 20: A Single Note

It starts with a single note, a word,

Pencil line or brushstroke,

A particular color or flavor or texture,

Leading to another and then another,

As something more begins to emerge,

Some structure or theme or idea,

Some story for the mind to follow,

And just then the phone rings

Or the dog barks and all is lost

Except this thin thread,

Fragile and fine as cobweb,

Which I will follow all day as it leads

Ever so slowly to what is next.

February 19: Fragments of Scripture

Each day contains mysteries 

that often escape notice,

clues concerning the nature of life 

and death and beauty,

pieces of wisdom that could help 

make sense of everything,

fragments of scripture 

from the book of one’s life–

but we tend to see just 

one damn thing after another.

February 18: Big Boy Pants

Must I put on my big boy pants again

today? I’ve grown weary of wearing

them these many years, and they’ve grown

threadbare while I play the role of what

I imagine a grown-up to be day after day.

Alas I fear they’re all I’ll have to wear

this side of oblivion, this side of the grave.

Come now, my lad, one leg at a time.

February 17: One Mindful Breath

One mindful breath

and everything seems

softer, more bearable,

less harsh and ruinous.

If I forget everything

else, may I remember

at least just this

one mindful breath.

February 16: Longest Shortest Month Prayer

Here, mid-way through a hard winter, 

in the middle of the longest shortest

month of the year, here in a time of toxic 

news cycles and political chaos,

here in this moment of personal 

and social challenges and crises,

we pause to recover a baseline awareness 

of who we are and what we are,

to regain some kind of equilibrium 

amid the disequilibrium of our era,

to remember that we are stronger 

together than we are alone,

to sense the power we possess 

that is rooted in love rather than fear.

We pause now for a moment of silence 

to regain our equilibrium.

to remember our strength, 

and to sense the power of our love.

May we find our balance even as we sometimes fall.

May we build upon our shared strengths.

And may we always face fear with love.

Amen!

February 15: Snowy Saturday

Snowy Saturday, silence falling, covering,

enveloping all, trees outlined in white,

cars still, sitting frosted in driveways,

rabbit tracks near trash cans, perfect

repose–this moment, too, is real and true.

Awaken and cleave unto the righteous now.

February 14: Grade School Valentines

More fun than the grade school valentines themselves

Were the homemade boxes, bejewelled, beribboned,

Glitter-glued, gloriously guileless creations, celebrating

Not so much love as a particular idea of what love

Might be, as seen through the eyes of those who know

More about longing and wishes than anyone else on earth,

Those who know that each of us is just such a container.

February 13: Existential Dread

Existential dread ought not be our default position 

as we awaken. Beginning each day with a spiritual

gut punch, an emotional belly flop, a metaphysical

kick in the head, is not healthy or helpful or kind.

Heal yourself: put down the news and take up a song.

February 12: Fighting the Good Fight

Fighting the good fight not just now but tomorrow and beyond

Requires appreciation of the absurd and willingness to laugh,

Acceptance of failure–one’s own and that of others in our circles–

Readiness to act, even when you don’t know what to do, and

Grace, extended and received, beyond all reason and imagining.

February 11: No Straight Lines

We are surrounded by reminders of the cyclical

nature of all life: season followed by season,

tides rising and falling, day after night after day,

seed to plant to flower to fruit to seed–

and yet, despite these and other reminders,

we insist on going about as if everything in our lives

exists only in straight lines toward either

eternal unqualified bliss or unending misery.

No wonder we are so often desperately unhappy!

February 10: Learn to Love Them

Loving the people is the thing, even

when they break your heart, even

when they act foolishly, even

when they are contrary and stubborn.

Nobody ever said you have to like them,

but it helps if you can learn to love them.

Even so, you cannot love them all the time.

February 9: More Love Somewhere Prayer

Sometimes it seems as if there is no love to be found

anywhere on earth–no love in the heartless acts of

self-centered political leaders, no love in the hate-filled

invective of bigoted demagogues and their followers,

no love in the cynical manipulation of public institutions

for private gain, no love in abandoning the most vulnerable

in order to embrace the most vile–seemingly, no love anywhere.

And yet we keep on looking, keep on working, keep on keeping on,

knowing that there is, or will be, more love somewhere,

that the source of this love dwells in our own hearts

and in the hearts of those around us, waiting to be

unleashed, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be made real

in every kind gesture, every compassionate action,

every justice-seeking effort that we undertake together.

We pause now to consider how we might manifest this love

in our own lives and in the life of our world.

May we act in such a way as to bring more hope.

May we live in such a way as to bring more peace.

May we go about our work in such a way as to bring more joy.

And, in so doing, may we keep on, finding more love

and more love and more love, now and always, Amen!

February 8: Only Holy Spirit

Only holy spirit work will do now,

embracing all frightened dejected,

filling now empty joyless,

raising trampled torn,

freeing forgotten imprisoned,

healing soul-sick broken,

empowering, emboldening,

lifting lonely downtrodden with love.

February 7: Somehow Despite

Somehow, despite our careful planning,

hours and days and weeks of meetings,

discussions, debates, workshops, seminars,

emails, texts, phone calls, videoconferences,

anxieties, frustrations, harsh words, apologies,

bylaws, guidelines, policies, processes, promises–

somehow, we still occasionally communicate.

February 6: Strong Misreading

Finding joy, love, laughter, hope, compassion, beauty, 

music, possibility, mystery, light in the world as it is 

may be simply a strong misreading of our situation.

But it is a necessary and life-sustaining misreading,

and one that I choose to lean into, again and again.

February 5: Ghosts of Dead Presidents

Ghosts of dead presidents have started issuing

cease and desist orders. Washington no longer

wants his name associated with this nation’s

capital. Lincoln refuses any reference to being

Republican. Even Eisenhower, dragging behind

him the chains of war, has demanded a new

name be given the office building that now

houses Musk’s cold dead-eyed hatchet men.

Newly arrived, Carter gazes on and weeps. 

February 4: Schleiermacher Was Right

It turns out that Schleiermacher was right: we spend

too much time understanding rather than feeling,

too much time conceptualizing rather than experiencing,

too much time analyzing rather than connecting.

When will we stop using religion as means toward an end

rather than as an intuitive sense of meaning without end?

February 3: Soften the Shell

Soften the shell that protects

against both sorrow and joy.

Loosen the grip that holds on to life

but chokes and bruises the living.

Open the heart that closes

to fear and also to love.