TODAY AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES the sun rises as a golden orb over the Father of Waters. It is cold, but not as cold as it has been. The golden star begins to spread butter on the pines. The chickadees gossip and sing. The pileated woodpeckers laugh and the Three Crows announce the new day to all the congregation in the woods.

Yesterday I wanted to go somewhere beautiful and do something special. “How about a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art,” I asked Kathy. She said, “How about we clean the house?”

Guess what we did?

But, still in need of a trip to a beautiful place, I wandered to the orchid corner of my office, put water in the mister, and snapped these photos. Included in the flower gallery are also a few of my geodes, gathered years ago from a gully near Keokuk, Iowa with my great friend, Judy Smithson. A beautiful day in another beautiful place. And every time I look into those sparking mini-caverns of crystals I remember… the excitement of finding a plain brown rock on the ground, the anticipation in that moment just before tapping it with the hammer to see what fairyland would be revealed.

Here at the Church O’ The Pines Caretakers’Cabin there are many such mementos and memories. And as the sun streams through the windows and the orchid blossoms, we never have to go far to find beauty. Even on house-cleaning day. Good Sabbath to you!