“What do you think is the most affective form of exercise?” The question was posed to me by my sister, a student of athletics and medicine at the graduate level. I started suggesting a list to her, “Aerobics? Swimming? Triathlon?” Finally, she gave the answer, “It’s the one that you DO.” Oh, of course. HowContinueContinue reading “24. The exercise of prayer”
Author Archives: nellskac
23. Dreams are free
This one is best read aloud. (And, even better, to someone you love). Dreams are free, my dear child, Dreams are free, free, free, Like the stars in the sky ‘Neath the tall pine trees Like the wash of the pebbles On the floor of a stream, Like the whisper of mosses, Like a feather’sContinueContinue reading “23. Dreams are free”
22. Old dreams
When we are children, we are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and the question is laden with so many unknowns–the unknown of what we want, the unknown of what being a grown-up is even like, the unknown of where life will take us. And so, we try on anyContinueContinue reading “22. Old dreams”
21. That moment when you’re done
I don’t have a poem today This morning I had a meeting, For work, It was one of those intense ones about assessment and people deciding a bit of my future. I didn’t sleep very well last night, Thinking about not only the meeting but, also, Everything I’ve ever done wrong in my entire life,ContinueContinue reading “21. That moment when you’re done”
20. Maybe there’s a better way of doing things
When I was a child, I liked eating over-easy eggs or, as I called them, ‘dipping eggs,” due to my brother’s practice of dipping a piece of toast into the golden, liquid yoke (my mom makes her eggs “easy,” or: just barely “set”). While I enjoyed an egg for breakfast, the action of consuming theContinueContinue reading “20. Maybe there’s a better way of doing things”
19. A game of chase
My friend’s dog once caught a squirrel, after years of chasing them. The basset hound, Millie, with the squirrel under her paw…suddenly didn’t know what to do. She looked up, droopy-eyed, to her owner. “Let it go, Millie,” he instructed. She obediently lifted her paw, and the critter frantically scampered to tree-high safety. The hound,ContinueContinue reading “19. A game of chase”
18. Internal symphonies
Every human person contains within them the art and depth, secrecy and mastery of a symphony. Every person acts/ speaks/ decides due to the measured unity of the systems playing together the music of existence and interaction. One section (in my mind, this is the percussion section) of the personal-symphony is the balance (or imbalance,ContinueContinue reading “18. Internal symphonies”
17. Beautiful desert
She told me she watched a special on the desert, Right as Lent started, a group-led activity About barrenness and discomfort. But, she said, she was not struck with dismay or deficit, Rather, She was mesmorized by the beauty of the landscape, The delicacy of the ecosystem, The intricacy of the creation. It changes theContinueContinue reading “17. Beautiful desert”
16. The Lenten desert
I enter Lent cautiously, tentatively. I want to be bravely holy and ambitious, but, I also know that 40 winter days stretch long into the future. “Lent is supposed to be like a desert,” the priest said, at Ash Wednesday mass–where we’re stripped of comfort and utterly reliant on God. I have traveled before. IContinueContinue reading “16. The Lenten desert”
15. Sacrament Haiku: Anointing of the sick
Breaths less steady now Travel with our blessings, friend A new life will come
Seashell Nell 