Month: December 2021

The End of Fire Season

Autumn is my favorite season, but here in Northern California I have learned to thrive in winter, when rain dampens the threat of wildfires.

In the midst of drought, an ever-lengthening fire season, and the annual stress of smoke and nixle alerts, I am grateful for the early storms that allowed us to enjoy fall in safety this year.

This early end to fire season confused all the plants, so we basically had fall and spring at the same time. Flowers bloomed as the leaves turned beautiful colors. I’ve never seen anything quite like it!

This autumn was a breath of relief, a good gift to our communities, and this poem is my celebration of that gift.

May you and your loved ones also enjoy peace and security this holiday season!

Continue reading “The End of Fire Season”

cry yes

Back in college, I read global news every day. I was hungry to know more about the world, to be engaged in humanity’s struggles. At some point, the number of problems got too huge for me to process, and now I’m pickier about what news I read. I don’t want to be bombarded with stories designed to put me in a spiral of despair, but at the same time I don’t want to be in ignorance!

These days, the news reminds me of our great need for a solid foundation on which to build a reconciled world. The work of reconciliation between persons and peoples and creation itself is too difficult to build on anything less than the rock of reconciliation with God! At the same time, we mustn’t sit around on the foundation singing nice songs and pretending the work is done.

I didn’t write this poem for Advent, but it seems appropriate somehow. As the darkness of winter reflects the darkness of a desperate world, so each little candle we light illuminates the One who brings light to otherwise impenetrable darkness.

Entering into our flood of pain and failed solutions, the Christ child is God’s great “Yes!” in a world of human “No”.

Continue reading “cry yes”