The feeling of abandonment is real and terrible.  Some of us have had more experience of it than others. It is a harsh reality of life, whether it is circumstantial or imposed upon us by others.  It is a form of death. …

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
 (JN 20: 1-9)

It is paradoxical in a way that here in Louisiana, as the COVID19 pandemic rages in the population, Spring is spectacularly making its presence known in blooms and scents. …

Here we are! In a world of liminal space – that in-between-ness where time seems to stand still.  This is the threshold experience, transition or perhaps transformation, the chrysalis time between what was and what is next.  It has a timeless quality, an eternal-feeling of waiting, crouching possibility, which can result in both anxiety and hopeful expectation – fear and joy. …

I am forgotten like the unremembered dead;
I am like a dish that is broken   PS 31: 13

My beloved has done wonderful things in the backyard of our home, especially since the self-isolation and stay-at-home circumstances surrounding the pandemic.  Besides creating different gathering spaces around garden areas, part of the process has been finding interesting locations to place garden ornaments, many of which have been given to us by dear friends and family. …

For many of us, we don’t like to be told what we need to do or even what we should do.  It can feel like an imposition, and indeed it very well can be just that – a force of someone else’s will over my own. …