STAY, in the Breath

letters from a writer & photographer's journey

Freedom

I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with a song in my heart about the worthiness of God and then it hit me; if loving another is loving God, then rejecting another is like idolatry. If idolatry is worship of anything other than God then when I fail to see the image of God in another, see their worthiness, that is idolatry too. To super over-simplify one of.. Read More

Feeling Numb, and He Called

Some of us, in relationships, have been asked (to say it numbly) to be numb in order to help numb another’s pain. Some of us have chosen to be numb. Some of us aren’t paying close enough attention to know whether any or what of that is true about ourselves. Anyways, if we did, wouldn’t that be painful? So, back to normalcy because ya know normalcy numbs… But then I.. Read More

Wanna know where new life is coming for you?

Hello my traveling companions, tonight’s post is gonna read a little bit like a travel journal, entries of exploration, discovery, and remembrance from me to you & me. If we’re connected on Insta or FB then you’ll have seen the first few entries, though revised (more below) but for those of you who don’t I wanted to share here as well. Tuesday, March 16, 2021: Snapshots of a little bit.. Read More

On the Mountains of God

There are mountains we will traverse in life, places, where one thought becomes seven prayers—a provision and help from the Lord that takes us beyond our own abilities. It’s what I imagine at Pentecost, a single tongue of fire, a flame splitting into many. When I am weak, then I am strong. -2 Corinthians 12:10 These simple words compete for the wonder of first light trembling on the horizon in.. Read More

The Friendship of God

Hello Friends, Welcome to 2021, a year of promise. In our corner of the wilds, it’s been a *chilly* start to the new year—in a few ways. As I look up into the sound of the wind blowing through the pines my heart feels full to bursting as I know I can truly say, “I would have lost heart, unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the.. Read More

Beginnings, Endings, The Myriad Unknowns and…It’s Okay

Thank You and a Give-Away! Seven years ago, this month, I began writing on this blog having no idea where it would lead and it’s got me feeling tender and misty-eyed as I recollect the time. Seven years ago my youngest wasn’t quite two years old, and my oldest was twelve. Now my youngest is asking me for a briefcase for his upcoming birthday because he is a full-fledged-eight-year-old-entrepreneur and.. Read More

Between the Darkenings (my friend C.T. Giles taught me those words, and…)

I’d been facing and hiking west most of the late afternoon, watching the sunlight play in the mist cascading down the mountainsides. I had been captivated. Then, as the sun sank low, I turned to a sound behind me. Facing east now, I was surprised when my eye caught the first rays of the moon rising over the mountain. Winter will be here soon and the days are growing darker.. Read More

Practicing Hope.

How does destruction happen among those born with the instinct not to be destroyed? No one is born wanting to die, wanting loss, wanting pain, and yet we are surrounded by all of these things. To take it even further and maybe even more personal? Have you ever known someone who once helped you see yourself and then their vision left, they left? It’s as frightening as it is devastating… Read More

Hope Heals, After it Burns

I’m at the threshold of a thing that on the other side of which I will likely want another 10 hours of talking late into the night and the early morning sitting somewhere waiting for the sun to rise. So, it seems right that at this threshold there is a pause, a moment in time to consider the path that has come before and all that lies beyond. I have.. Read More

In the Wind, In the Fire

I saw fire fall from the sky this week. Then I realized it was a leaf. A burnt orange leaf was spiraling rapidly downward as I rounded a curve in the canyon. The wind there whirls in that vortex much differently than in the open field where sometimes it can seem as though the leaves are falling in slow motion, meandering like a mountain stream around a pathway of rocks… Read More