Growth
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Making Progress
I review my spiritual journey: I needed clarity then.I need mystery now. I needed definition then.I live in the vast Open now. I needed safety then.I am falling now, ever upward. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All… Continue reading
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The Choice Is Yours
Catherine of Siena tells us, "It's heaven,all the way to heaven.It's hell,all the way to hell." Which road have you chosen? Jesus tells us, "The kingdom is here and now,within you,available to thosewith open eyes and hearts." Where do you… Continue reading
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Grand Opening
My mind: a spring leaf unfurls to the sun.My heart: a warmed seed opens to moist soil.My body: a dry chrysalis splits to new life. This is the momentof divine encounter:mind, heart and body,naked and willing,cupped and… Continue reading
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Child of God
Jesus stands before the crowd.I wonder what he sees.We are, after all, a diverse lot: Jew, Christian, Muslim, atheist… man, woman, transgendered… gay, straight, questioning… believers, doubters, skeptics, seekers… He reads my mindand begins to pointto… Continue reading
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On Growing Old
He witnessed the aging of his bodywith detachment–as if it were happening to an uncleor a neighbor. The graying hair,the sagging in the face,the loss of mobility and strength–no, not after a lifetimeof doing it right–eating, exercising, making all the… Continue reading
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Simplicity and Innocence
In the second half of life,there often arisesthe yearning to returnto simplicity and innocence. Have you felt it?Do you feel it now? It is the yearningto see with wide-open eyesand an equally wide-open heart. That seems to us a paradox:How… Continue reading
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At the Brink
Visiting the Grand Canyon,I stretched out on a flat rockand inched forwarduntil my head was over the edge.I looked down into miles of emptiness. My brain said,"Ninety-five percent of youis secure on the rock."My spirit–dizzy and unseated–said, "You will fall–are falling,plummeting… Continue reading
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Hiking with Death
Climbing the trail,I'm joined by a young woman. We chat,observing the shift toward winter,the changing colors,the increasing coolness,how this path of gravelwill soon be packed with snow,rutted by cross-country skis,pocked with snow-shoe tracks. "Your name?" I ask. "My friends call… Continue reading
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For Me
My poems,my photographs–they live for me, to please me, to nurture me, to move me. Through them,I journey onward. Or, perhaps,they manifest for their own sake. Or, perhaps,for God's. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries.… Continue reading
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Looking Back on the Day of Epiphany
So the tree is down and gone for another year.The living room expands, which is a plus,and the furniture breathes deeperand eases back into its familiar placement. But gone, as well, are the colored lights,the sparkle of ornaments,the friendly jostling… Continue reading