Cover page of my book
Yesterday I finished what might be the last edits on the essays I wrote for my photo book project. The book is called, “Looking For God,” and it’s about
Holy Curiosity,
the kind of curiosity that makes one feel wonder, awe, and grace in ordinary scenes from nature.
I’m so happy to have completed the selection of photos for my book, ordering of those photos, and writing the essays and text for the book. It has been a labor of love filled with moments (and sometimes days and weeks) of discouragement followed by the satisfaction and joy of seeing it come together and come to life one photo and one essay at a time.
Soon I plan to begin printing and assembling the hand-made book. What a beautiful journey this has been so far.
Everywhere I look, I see something holy.
― Carpe Jugulum
Back to My Favorite Woods
Yesterday I took my first walk of the year at Wolsfeld Woods SNA. It was wonderful to be back in this wonderful remnant of the Big Woods that once covered much of this part of Minnesota.
The maple trees towered over me creating a dappled canopy of green leaves and tiny patches of blue sky. At my feet I found many Jack in the pulpit flowers in bloom and a few scattered rue anenome wildflowers. Fresh bright green ferns swayed in the breeze and the maidenhair ferns were not quite fully grown yet.
The path was a bit muddy. And at the stream where there used to be a lovely wooden bridge for crossing stream I found a crushed mess of tree trunk and splintered wood. A huge tree had fallen and destroyed the bridge.
Instead of a bridge, someone had sawed rounds of the downed tree’s trunk into thick “stepping stones” for crossing the stream.
It may have not been the most sturdy construction but it did the trick and I managed to get across the creek without getting muddy feet. It’s been at least 25 years since I first set foot in these woods. Back then, there was no footbridge over the stream, only some downed tree limbs thrown haphazardly across the water. It was always a challenge for me to balance as I walked across on the unsteady tree limbs.
Though I’ve walked here many times, each visit I see or experience something new. The sense of holiness that I experience hiking in these woods never leaves me. I feel like there is always something new to greet me on each visit.
Everything feels inexhaustibly holy. This is not what they taught you in the church of your childhood. Your soul has been formed in the forge of life’s losses, galvanized in the crucible of community, fertilized by the rain of relationship, blessed by your intimacy with Mother Earth. You have glimpsed the face of the divine where you least expected it.
―
Sometimes I swear that I sense fairies in these woods. And in the fall it feels like God’s cathedral as the tall old maple trees’ leaves turn to gold and begin falling. Right now everything is filled with the prana of new growth. The greens are fresh and bright, leaves smooth and perfect.
I hope you have the time to take a walk in a park or in the woods this week to enjoy the beauty of this time of year. Perhaps you too will experience holy curiosity as you explore this bright beautiful world.
May you walk in beauty.
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