Tag: parenting

• The Descent of Mother Phoenix

  Most new babies come into the world cloaked in celebration and the chattering of new life.   What my faith and experience has taught me, though, is where there is something new being born, something old is dying.  After spending a couple of weeks with my new-mama sister I was reminded of the sacrificial face of…

  April 13, 2015

• Sister Mama

  She who never stopped talking; she who whipped me with her uniform knee socks; she who can still push my buttons like a master engineer and make me laugh until I pee… my sister became a mother today.  I anticipated this event long before I even knew she was pregnant, but I love how the…

  March 25, 2015

• Today’s Icon: Amos the Undeterred

  Icons are images that invite contemplation; to the keen observer they reflect divinity.  Certain strains of Christianity have used icons of saints or biblical scenes for inspiration and education.  It’s in the spirit of this tradition that I start this series, “Today’s icon.”  We all have images hanging on our walls, saved in our phones,…

  February 26, 2015

• Anointing

  It’s the time when the tendrils of the day are reeled in, when little bodies look for warm holes in which to burrow, and the sound of quiet replaces the din of chatter.  That’s how I used to imagine bedtime with children.  And sometimes, on a rare sleepy night, we come close.  But often, especially…

  February 24, 2015

• I’m trying to just “Let it go!”

  “It’s funny how some distance makes everything seem small.”  Queen Elsa When Frozen hit the box office and smashed it to smithereens, I went into austerity mode.  “My daughter must not see it!” I thought.  “I don’t want her walking like a Disney princess, talking like a Disney princess, being needy and codependent like a…

  February 16, 2015

• Crawling

  My third baby is now crawling.  As a mother of two who have already crossed the threshold into this perilous stage I did not wish for or encourage it, but through it Amos sailed… and then immediately and repeatedly face planted on the other side.  Even though mobility means more tears and bruises for him…

  February 3, 2015

• a priest at the altar of my own life

  I occasionally stand at an Altar to call a community to gather.  There we are invited to lay down our gifts, our stories, our lives.  We consecrate bread and wine, asking Spirit to transform what seems dead into something living and new.  When I stand at the Altar, life is held suspended in mid-air and…

  January 30, 2015