AS HUMAN BEINGS

AS HUMAN BEINGS, each of us has a ternary (3 options) choice to make—about our attitude toward life and the world around us. Upon reflection, the choice almost immediately becomes binary. The first choice is that you, or I, or any person, has a clear and complete understanding of How Things Are. The Way Things Work. As I say, with

Gibbous moon at the Church O’ The Pines

SOMETIMES, here at the Church O’ The Pines, when a gibbous moon dangles among the limbs of the tall timber, I can almost imagine I am camped on some old, favorite campsite, deep in the North Country wilderness. Of course, this is a favorite campsite, too; and in the times of Zebulon Pike and Schoolcraft, this, too, was wilderness. And

Church O’ The Pines this morning

THERE WAS NO POST from the Church O’ The Pines this morning, as I was visiting another sister church—the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of St. Cloud. There we had a lovely reading/signing/mini-concert and visited with old and new friends. One notices that a U. U. congregation is very nearly as nice as our Church O’ The Pines group. Well, maybe just

THIS MORNING the Pine Point Woods

THIS MORNING the Pine Point Woods and the old cabin are coated with a strange substance. It appears to have fallen from the sky, although that is uncertain. In any case, the fluffy coating—not seen much this winter—is lovely, and makes it possible to track some of our friends of the forest. This morning we see evidence of the nighttime

Valentines Day walk

THIS MORNING Kathy and I took a little Valentines Day walk. We decided to walk across the old Sartell bridge across the Mississippi—the only traffic bridge in existence when we first came here. In 1984 a new bridge was built, with the old one eventually transformed into a footbridge. But we had never hiked across it. So on this beautiful

The Father of Waters is booming

THIS MORNING AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES, the Father of Waters is booming and cracking as new river-ice forms. In this warm open winter the making of ice has seemed less common than the melting of it. With the Church thermostat turned down for the moment the sounds of winter have returned. Even with the colder temps the sun

LAST NIGHT it rained

LAST NIGHT it rained here on Pine Point. In February! Despite the misplaced timing there was a certain satisfaction in awakening at 3:00am and hearing the soft moaning of trees and the steady rhythm of raindrops on the old cabin roof. As I lay there I was reminded of the many nights I have fallen asleep to the lullaby of

MAN IS WHOLE when he is in tune with the winds

“MAN IS WHOLE when he is in tune with the winds, the stars, and the hills… Being in tune with the universe is the entire secret.” Justice William O. Douglas As I look around me, I see the sapphire blue of sky and a sparkling lake, the green shades of trees, the swooping arcs of gulls, and the clean hardness

IN THE LAST slanted rays of the sun

IN THE LAST slanted rays of the sun, as the sky fades to indigo, this old oak commands its last little piece of prairie. There used to be a ramshackle house/rowdy motorcycle club here. The house and the club are gone, but the tree, etching its art against the sky, remains.

Flower Sermon

IN ZEN BUDDHISM, the Flower Sermon refers to a time when the Buddha, in order to deliver a teaching on the ineffable ‘suchness’ of life in the present moment, simply held up a single lotus blossom. One disciple smiled. Thus indicating the direct transfer of wisdom without words. I love to smile at flowers. I think the smile is felt,