Ordinary. Common. Unremarkable. A weed that I pull up from my garden bed. True, I don't often see white violets like this, but its cousins---the blue, purple, lavender, and yellow violets ---are so abundant that I hardly noticed them when hiking on a spring day. I did read, however, that there are more than 400 species of violets and that few books or people bother to identify … [Read more...] about Practicing the Small Stuff
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Confessions of a Climber
The 13th century Persian poet Rumi once said: “Venturing into the wilderness that is God, you never know what you are dealing with.” Out in my own Appalachian Trail wilderness, it wasn’t the camping out, or the lack of creature comforts, or the heat and grime that did me in. It wasn't even the walking with a 30+ pound backpack that sent me into a tailspin. That is, … [Read more...] about Confessions of a Climber
Beginning at the End
I am home. That is, home on Mill Road. I now sleep on a bed with a pillow, although in my dreams I am still hiking. I wake up confused and wonder why my bones are still aching when I did not climb three mountains yesterday. I no longer can smell my sweaty body---my own unique, somewhat offensive scent that contributed to the smells of the trail and the outdoors … [Read more...] about Beginning at the End
“It is like breathing”
"How has praying the psalms seven times a day, every day, through the years formed your faith?" Perhaps it was a presumptuous question for me to ask. But the one place at the Abbey of Gethsemani , a Cistercian monastery in Kentucky, where the silence imposed on our four day retreat could be broken was in the lobby of the retreat house, staffed at times by one of the … [Read more...] about “It is like breathing”
Breath Prayer
In my last post, I talked about how I have begun to pay attention to my breathing as I climb up steep mountain slopes. Attention to filling my lungs with air and pacing breath with my steps will certainly be a part of the long trek up, down, and across the heights and valleys of Virginia. But my focused breathing can also be a component of something other than physical … [Read more...] about Breath Prayer