~ Karen Maezen Miller
Summer Peace-Time To Slow It Down
Posted on June 13, 2013 by Jennifer Wolfe
~ Karen Maezen Miller
loving fiercely | teaching audaciously | thinking deeply
Posted on June 13, 2013 by Jennifer Wolfe
Posted on February 16, 2013 by Jennifer Wolfe
Take a walk with me.
When I need to be alone, this is where I head.
When I need to remember to look closely.
When I need to hear prayers whispered to me,
and see the color, witness the adaptability and the tenderness of the world outside myself.
When I need to be reminded that life is a study in contrast.
and that we are merely the recipients of her beauty.
The world is holy.
We are holy.
All life is holy.
Posted on February 9, 2013 by Jennifer Wolfe
The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing — desire.
I’ve driven by these structures many times in many seasons. They could be any remnants from the days of the Westward movement, seemingly randomly placed alongside a now-busy highway. Their walls, still sturdy, form the outline of what used to be. Gaping holes which once must have boasted much-sought after glass and framed for heavy wood doors. What were they dreaming of as they carefully hammered each nail, hoisted each plank, and lifted each shingle into place? Why would they choose this place, this spot, to claim for their own? Did desire pound through their hearts as they searched for the American dream, longing for just a piece of land to call their own?
What remains of their hopes are just abandoned walls, clinging to life under the havoc of the elements, of time, a forsaken dream of what once could have been.
What do you cling to when you feel beaten down by your dreams?
Posted on January 19, 2013 by Jennifer Wolfe
“Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors.”
Quiet wonders…when do you feel like one of those? Or are you more the warrior in life, fighting every battle?
After this week’s announcement of the White Houses’s gun reform plan, it makes me think that we need both. Or better yet, maybe a combination of quiet wonder and warrior.
We need to listen to each other, quietly, to think beyond ourselves, and work for the children.
We need to have the strength to put aside our own agendas and pay attention to the messages in the Universe.
We need to use courage and conviction, intellect and emotion, perseverance and politeness.
We cannot stay quiet. We cannot go to war with each other.
We must find the balance. We must work for the children.
Quiet wonders. Warriors. Together, we can create gun reform.
Posted on January 12, 2013 by Jennifer Wolfe
“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.”
– Kurt Vonnegut
I wonder sometimes how close to the edge I can really get, where I can take risks and where I need to crawl back to the safety of the middle.
Where do I teach my children to stand, and where do they naturally gravitate towards?
So different from when I was a kid.
I wonder how to live life close to the edge without falling off. Tipping over. Or tripping into the abyss.
I wonder what would happen if I took one. step. closer.
Who would follow me?
Could I balance like this, on the railing of life, arms wide open? At my age?
I wonder if this is something only a 13-year-old boy could do. Would do.
Life has a funny way of showing us.
Right now I think I’m cruising along in the fast lane.
Straddling the center median at times.
Like a bumper car, hurtling back to the middle at one moment, then flooring it back to the edge.
I am seeing all kinds of things I never saw from the center.
Out here on the edge.