Resisting the pursuit of more
I really like our new phone. It’s a cream-coloured touch-tone, the kind with the handset that rests on a cradle. When I use it I have to stay in one room, and I can’t walk too far in any direction, so I usually sit and play with the white cord while I talk and listen.…
A hard look at hunger
Once again, famine plagues the headlines and swollen bellies afflict the airwaves. The Horn of Africa is hungry. Babies are dying. Statistics are swirling. And the rest of the global village, wired as it is, has pulled up a front-row seat. Since the food crisis in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya debuted in the news last…
Seven gestures of contemplation
I find hope as I tend to my mystical side. As a youth growing up in church, I did this through prayer. But, in spite of my earnestness, it often felt formulaic and contrived. In my journey since then, I’ve been through a desert of no prayer and drab contact with God. I’ve been through…
Surviving eco shock
I long to find pristine wilderness and be thrilled by its sheer existence. I want the wonder of the wild to flow back into my domestic life and animate me as I sit in front of a computer on a street made for cars. But I’m afraid that the wild places are gone. Not only…
