We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us.

If another strains to breathe, may our voices be the gentle rise and fall. If another chokes on tears, may our voices be an opening to hope. If another has forgotten, may our voices be a memory upwelling. If another is adrift, may our voices be the calling of community.

All that we have been separately and all that we will become together is stretched out before and behind us like stars scattered across a canvas of sky. We stand at the precipice, arms locked together like tandem skydivers working up the courage to jump. Tell me, friends: What have we got to lose?

EARTH, clay from which we are made and to which we will return. Soil, rich and aromatic, crumbling in my fingers, dark under my nails. This, cleansing dirt, the natural filter for aquifers, holds life....

I am frequently astonished by monarch butterflies. Delicate beyond belief, they fly thousands of miles each year from all parts of the continent to settle in the forests of South America. To my delight, their migratory route takes them along a bridge near my home. A few days ago, I was driving on...

Spirit of Life, Ground of our being, Root of unified mystery Growing into myriad branches of expression, Bring us together now....

They teach us to read in black and white. Truth is this—the rest false. You are whole—or broken. Who you love is acceptable—or not. Life tells its truth in many hues. We are taught to think in either/or. To believe the teachings of Jesus—OR Buddha. To believe in human potential—OR a power...

Our time is short here on the earth. Around us swirl immensities of time and space, A universe infinite in all directions. How small our hopes and cares seem Amid the panorama of creation....

We join together now in a time of meditation or prayer, spoken at first and then for a time in the peace that silence brings.

The strength of the Earth is the stones And the same is the source of our bones. The Water flows across the ground And within our blood. The Air blows around the world And brings us our breath. The Fire streams forth from the Sun without ceasing And sustains our lives. By these elements We are...

Once upon a time, a thief snuck into the room of a sleeping Buddhist monk. As the burglar rummaged about, the monk awoke. The startled thief ran into the snowy streets with the monk racing after him, "Please stop!" the monk called, and the man finally did, realizing that his pursuer was no threat.