Pause

Pause. Need a swing out on the porch where you can sit and think? Need a gentle breeze, a quiet mind, and some cool shade as the sun melts the colors of a summer afternoon? Such a place exists. It … Continued

Pause. He said, in leadership –like symphonies– the stunning moments lie in silence at the end, in waiting, not rushing in. I thought of how that’s true in other things as well, in nature, and in Shakespeare, in skiing, and … Continued

Pause. Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota, Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian ponies Darken with kindness. They have come gladly out of the willows To welcome my friend and me. … Continued

Pause. My son brings me a stone and asks which star it fell from. He is serious and so I must be careful, even though I know he will place it among those things that will leave him someday, and … Continued

Pause. All day in shelter on a granary floor, rain on the roof like buckshot in branches. Aroma of wet earth, dry grain. The air unhurried and intentional. I have made a chair of hay bales, spread a saddle blanket. … Continued

Pause. Consider the lilies of the field, the blue banks of camas opening into acres of sky along the road. Would the longing to lie down and be washed by that beauty abate if you knew their usefulness, how the … Continued

Pause. Settle in the here and now. Reach down into the center where the world is not spinning and drink this holy peace. Feel relief flood into every cell. Nothing to do. Nothing to be but what you are already … Continued

Pause. Sometimes you look at an empty valley like this, and suddenly the air is filled with snow. That is the way the whole world happened— there was nothing, and then… But maybe some time you will look out and … Continued

Pause. Breathe the same breath the trees in the rain-forest breathe that so brings their vibrancy To life — you too can awaken like that. Cry the same full-skied tears the clouds cry that refresh the world and nurture the … Continued

Pause. Come within the circle, all you who have been standing before the wind, chilled to the bone by what you have seen, tired to your soul for the sake of those who have been swept away, weary of war, … Continued