The 60-Second Sabbath

Compassion

  • Valentine’s Day, 2012

    For all of youwaiting (afraid?) to say,"I love you"to someone: You're running out of time. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Woven Together

    We may share joy;we most certainly sharethe warp and woofof sorrow. Our woundedness weaves us one.  Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Love

    As Christian young people,we sang "Kum Ba Yah" and "Pass It On." We also sang: "Love, love, love, love–the gospel in a word is love.Love you neighbor as your brother.Love, love, love, love." What we did not sing,but is implied:"Love… Continue reading

  • To Die of Tenderness

    Is it possibleto die of tenderness? At times my heart so fillswith unexpected kindnessthat I fear it may burst. So many poets–with frightening beauty–bring to vivid lifethe inevitability of death. And then, in a second's time,I witness such delicate sweetness:one… Continue reading

  • Give Birth!

    Enwombing what the world wants(compassion, reconciliation, acceptance, hope),we approach our due date. Give birth! Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.  Continue reading

  • To Change the World

    To acknowledge life's sadness    is not to be conquered by it.One can nod one's head    to the inevitability of loss,but turn and embrace grace, compassion, hope, joy… This is the course of those who change the world–and the world yet to come. Text… Continue reading

  • The Family Nativity

    A few posts back (on December 27), I suggested kneeling before your home Nativity scene and imagining what each figure might have to say to you. This is a form of meditation, of opening yourself to the Divine to see… Continue reading

  • The Deeper, Truer Reality

    At timesthe evil in the world overwhelms me. I stand in awe of thosewho continue to stand in hope. I know hope comes from deeper truth,but that deep truthcan be so obscured,so pressed down,so weightedby greed, fear, alienation and hate,so… Continue reading

  • On the Sixth Day of Christmas

    If he's just arrived,isn't this when he needs us most–this neonate, this babe,so fragile, so absolutely dependent? Shouldn't we get the place ready,clean things up a bit,replace alienation with reconciliation,suspicion with trust,and greed with grace? He came in 2009,and we… Continue reading

  • Advent 11

    “Open your ears,” Jesus says,which means some of uschoose deafness. “Join the company of listeners;hear the sigh of your spouse,your neighbor,your heart.” Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.    Continue reading