A Real Mother

It’s not conception, not pregnancy, not nursing, not even wiping snotty little noses. After all, dogs and cats give birth Continue reading →

Sasha’s Beads

Odd beads, too long and twisted to be a hippie’s necklace. I hold them softly between thumb and forefinger. Not Continue reading →

Why Do I Go to Church?

I go to church because I like holding hands while we walk forward. We’re all lost, but we’re all walking. Continue reading →

Joys of the Day: Late January

Northern Minnesota It’s not quite dawn as I write. Even here in the main room, inside the thick log walls, Continue reading →

Walking the Plank

It’s never as fun as in Peter Pan. It’s murder—A public execution. Peter Pan flew, but I don’t know how. Continue reading →

A Meditation for the Election

Here’s a meditation or prayer for the next few days: We hold a vision of light that shines brighter than Continue reading →

The Space Only God Can Fill

When I’m not singing in the choir,  I like to sit right over there. In years past Barb R. usually Continue reading →

Christmas vs. Easter

Christmas comes as the darkness grows. Easter comes after the darkness is complete. At Christmas, we light candles in the Continue reading →

What Women Know

Every evening, a nurse’s aide helps the old man eat. She knows that he cries because they’ve put him in Continue reading →

Getting to Joy

Last week a song made me cry. It threw me backwards into the thick sadness of 25 years ago. I Continue reading →

Wilderness Love

As Mom came around the corner and saw it, she gasped, stumbled against me and started to cry.  “There are Continue reading →

Deep Winter

As I drive, snow stretches from the road across an open space to dense balsams. Beyond the road’s grey crust, Continue reading →

The Song I Hear

  Wake up and listen. There are sounds you’ve been taught not to hear: Joy is as real as despair. Continue reading →

Words for a Bad Day

I can’t make it stop hurting. You’ll have to do that yourself, and you’ll get it done. I know you. Continue reading →

Where Fahrenheit and Celsius Meet

The Celsius and Fahrenheit scales come together at -40.  I had read it in chemistry textbooks, but never thought to Continue reading →

A Tale of the Ghost of Christmas Past

“Come with me, my child.” I glare at the shining spirit. “I’m old—not really a child any more.” It shakes Continue reading →

The Christmas Seed

It is dark and getting darker. Under the snow is bitter ice, and under that, brown earth. I remember standing Continue reading →

When Christmas Hurts

I once made up my mind to get a divorce on Christmas morning. My alcoholic husband had not come home. Continue reading →

Mrs. Stanley’s Lesson

It’s how these things so often happen. Early on a Monday morning in about 1979, after I had finished meditating, Continue reading →

5 Steps to Healing and Peace

Meditation helps us heal. It’s a healthy, smart thing to do. It eases pain by changing our bodies and by Continue reading →

Burrowing into Darkness

Things seem a shambles. Outside, I question if democracy is worth it. Fire deaths, atrocities, shootings and massive hardship blare Continue reading →

Visit My New Website!

Meditation heals people, and I’ve been teaching a meditation class for Christians at my church.  Here’s the link. There are online Continue reading →

Be gentle enough

Like a fawn, the tiny girl stands nearby and says nothing. She watches it all and still stays silent, safe Continue reading →

There is light in the darkness

There is light in the darkness. No matter how much it hurts, no matter what has happened, a star is Continue reading →

Meditation Class: Guided Meditations

Below are links to some of my guided meditations. Writing a guided meditation just for yourself can be a very Continue reading →

Meditation Class

— Welcome! This week we talked about guided meditations and music for meditation. Below are some wonderful links.–Jean Guided Meditations Continue reading →

Narnia now

It is winter in Narnia, and I am as old as Mrs Beaver. The prisoners at the castle got turned Continue reading →

They kept vigil

Two women bend over the bed. The room is dark. They stretch like dancers towards his face, reaching to touch Continue reading →

The Comforter

  [Painting: The Best Of Dreams, by Liliya Garipova]   It happened while I was jogging on a wooded path Continue reading →

Singing Hope

[Part II of “Inner Rooms”] If I were singing the poem of my husband’s life, I’d sing of his laughing Continue reading →

Mama’s Secret Smile

April 23, 2010 Two weeks ago I watched my mother die. She was 87. Old people die, but this terminal Continue reading →

Sweet Islam

   She sits in prayer, eyes closed, holding the limp infant. Although she is wealthy, her baby is starving to Continue reading →

Mohammed the Scot

[Published in The Timberjay, January 1, 2016] “They deny me my birthright!” The taxi driver’s eyes flash. He’s upset, and Continue reading →

Inner Rooms

[published in the Winter 2017 edition of “Tiferet Journal”] It’s 2 am on a cool November night in 1970. I’m on Continue reading →

Flashes

It’s only when love shines through that I see the flashes. It turns out that happy or tragic doesn’t matter. Continue reading →

Not Good Enough to Die

“Is this it?” Mildred clasps my hand tighter. Her voice is eager. “Am I dying?” One of the nurses frowns Continue reading →

What Is Real?

I was wrong about what is real. The taste of buttered toast on my tongue, the vibration of my viola, Continue reading →

No Easy Wind or Downy Flake: Mongolia

  I’ve run away again. I’m an old woman standing in a high valley in Mongolia’s Altai Mountains. The mountain Continue reading →

Marie Endres

When I play my viola, I go back fifty-one years to Miss Endres’ studio on Regent Street in Madison, Wisconsin. Continue reading →