Blog: Musings on the Earth, Mindful Living, and our Connections
Martin Luther King, Jr: Compassion in Action
This past Sunday I had the privilege of being one of six faith leaders to speak at an interfaith service in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his legacy. The service was held at First United Methodist Church in Ames, Iowa, and was beautifully organized by Rev. Deb Hill-Davis of the Unity Church of Ames, Iowa. The theme was “Compassion in Action.”
In addition to a moving clip of Dr. King imploring us…
Growing Food Grows Us
Last week I had a wonderful and unexpected visit. An intern who worked with me in the summer of 2015 was in town visiting his family and took the time to get together with me. Lucas was a high school senior when we met at Chicago’s Good Food Festival – a celebration of gardeners, farmers, food justice groups and businesses concerned with providing healthy food for all. He and I were in a presentation together on urban farming, and we wound up in the same breakout group. Lucas was seeking summer work in an urban farm and I was seeking an intern. A match was…
Why Give Back?
As this year draws to a close, many contemplate resolutions and plans for the future. Yet in order to successfully move forward, we must first acknowledge where we are at present and what we have accomplished to date. This often cultivates a sense of appreciation in our lives – whether for family or friends, for abundance, for our love of nature, for something unexpectedly good that came our way this year… and this evokes a desire to give back.…
Bringing out the Light
This weekend two world religions will celebrate their holidays at exactly the same time. While Hanukkah is considered a minor festival in the Jewish calendar, and the confluence of its first night with Christmas Eve is unusual at best, the convergence of these two celebrations provides an opportunity included in the mission of both faiths that might be overlooked.
Each of these…
You Are Loved
On Friday I arrived to my part time congregation in Ames, Iowa, in the frigid cold to see chalk paintings on the walks leading up to the country-feeling congregational building. I thought to myself, How lovely. The religious schoolteachers must have brought the children outside to make chalk drawings. I remember that as a child, drawing peace signs was a common pastime.
The next day…
Listening to the Silence
I spent last week in silence. I was at the JMMTT—Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training—a 15-month program that began last May. It is an advanced step from the 18-month Clergy Leadership Program in mindfulness practices that I completed a year ago July.
As I posted on my Facebook page, I celebrated my birthday in silence. That was different. I also observed Election Day in silence. Our retreat guides were sensitive enough to the issues of our country to host an optional “election practice” evening in…
Kindness Shining Through
Throughout this High Holy Day season, I have been thinking about the importance of kindness, and what an important difference it makes. In that spirit I would like to share a (slightly updated) blog post with you that I wrote in February of 2012 for Find Fulfill Flourish, a book I co-authored with Steve Weitzenkorn. May it inspire us to offer kind deeds of our own, with the hope of setting greater kindness in motion in our world.
Last night…
Shanah Tovah U’metukah — A Good and Sweet Year from In the Gardens
Shanah tovah! That means “A good New Year to you.”
We are approaching the High Holy Days in the Jewish calendar. These days begin with Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Days of Awe or the Ten Days of Return. The season quickly gives way to Sukkot, an eight-day holiday celebrating the harvest and the earth’s bounty. We acknowledge that the Creator and the earth have provided for us for another year. We pray for rain so that next year, too, will be…
In Praise of Water
I spent an extended weekend in southern California this past weekend celebrating my father’s 83rd birthday. Having lived in California for about fifteen years, it is always a treat to go back.
I was struck by the beauty. Palm trees overlooking the panoramic ocean view are bordered by blue skies filled with sun. Although I didn’t see any vegetable gardens growing in the places we were visiting, I remembered that plants…
Oh Deer, What Can the Matter Be?
… Growing food most closely informs my relationship with the earth so that is where I go to source these writings. Each year there are crops that grow well and others that disappoint. One crop, however, enthused and simultaneously disappointed beyond all: the grapes.
Pruning grapes is critical for a good crop. This year I discovered that April is the right time to prune, but still convinced I had no idea what I was doing, I feared that I
The Worm and the Beanstalk
I think I have a worm. Or maybe it is a canny, selective squirrel. The bush beans (beans can grow two ways – on a bushy plant that is low to the ground, or as runner beans or pole beans, on lengthy vines that need to be trellised) are ripe and ready to be picked. And eaten. Yum. This is one of my favorite times of the season. All that hard work of cultivating the soil with compost, organic fertilizer and other amendments, of planting the beans and laying and testing the water system, of keeping away critters and pests, of…
Feeding Each Other
There is a Jewish story about a man who dies and meets an angel at the gates of heaven. The angel tells the man that he has the choice to go to heaven or hell, and the angel will take him to both places so he can decide. When he goes to hell, the man sees a large banquet table filled with every kind of food imaginable. Each person sitting around the table has arms with no elbows, so while they can lift their fork, try as hard as they may, …