Learning Lament, by Raynna Myers I stood at the forest’s edge Then I unshod my feet I found there The ground was soft The air’s scent was sweet I entered I Iooked up, into the fir trees Let their leaves dripping rain Roll over my forehead Anoint me I heard there a whisper Come close and listen Let moss surround you Look at the tree’s wrinkles And its beard move.. Read More
In the early morning, of this fairyland I live in, the air is brimming with sound. The roosters remind me I live in rural America but the other bird songs are still so newborn to me that it persists to feel as my first morning here, like the stuff of dreams. In a reverie it feels like I’m enclosed by tropical forest and its reverberations. The bright blue wing of.. Read More
Overwhelm and stress and the painful places in life—that is the place of love. The space we get to love comes in the harshest and, even what is most easy to perceive as, the cruelest of ways. Love’s kingdom begins at the water’s edge. Sometimes we find the gradual sloping edge, the gentle entry, only to learn in time to take it as grace when it does come so—because Love’s.. Read More
How is heaven to come down to earth? Often in the prayers of the early church God is referred to as Eternal One. In some records of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray, it ends with these words: Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. God is the forever One—an idea we both cannot comprehend and that the strangest things bear light upon it… Read More
In the Pacific Northwestern United States there are four distinct seasons, two with incredible contrasting “glory”, that is, presence—summer and winter. It strikes me as something to behold because it is new to me that the marked difference is not hot and cold as I have been accustomed to in the Midwest, but rather dry and wet. This year from the late Spring and throughout Summer to early Fall we.. Read More
Five months ago, when we first transplanted our family of eight from the Midwest to our new home in the Pacific Northwest, we would see deer families seeming to play tag in our field many days. Tag! It was such a surprise. And, gorgeous Stellar Jays, five or six at a time, would flock to and seem to be playing hide-n-seek in the magnolia trees. It didn’t occur to me.. Read More
There are wounds that wind our souls so tight we quit breathing from our bellies. That’s how babies breathe. Until the pain comes, we breathe from our bellies. Then we swallow the pain down to our guts and kill ourselves—but we simply think we’re trying to survive. And, in reality, we are. What’s so horrible about that? Why should surviving make us sick? It’s this question I have to capture;.. Read More
Did you know that the word for holy in the Bible, kadosh, was first used in reference to time, a day? “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy…”—Genesis 2:3(a) There’s a song we’ve sung, “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are filled with Your glory. Hosanna! (Save me!) Hosanna! Hosanna! In the highest.” My husband and I sang this at our.. Read More
Well, the day is beginning to wrap up as I send this out or maybe it already has where you live. Whether the sun is beginning to peak out or hide-away, here’s a story for you. But first, if you don’t have a lot of reading time tonight—I want you to have this free gift from me—my book is free on Amazon Kindle! Click here to go get it. Once upon.. Read More
When I got married I wanted to dance. I don’t mean I was so in love that I felt like dancing. I mean there was that too. But, really I wanted dance to literally be a part of our ceremony. Or, at least, afterwards? I had grand schemes, all locked away in my mind. For several reasons none of this occurred, but there was a woman I knew who did dance. So.. Read More