The 60-Second Sabbath

awareness

  • If God Is…

    If God is,than God is so much greaterthan anything we've been taughtor can possibly imagine. If God is then we live in a universeconquered by love. If God is,then (what relief!)we can cease our strivingto convert, to persuade, to change,… Continue reading

  • Autumn Song

    This coming coolnessintroducesan edgeof uncertainty. Autumn(my favorite season)is a time of transition. Here in Denver,    nights shift from cool to cold,    trees from bold to barren,    the patio from flowered and fragranced to emptied and wrapped,   … Continue reading

  • The River of Grief

    The river of griefebbs and flows like the tide,unstable its banks,its floodplains wide. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Identity

    I love the stuff of which I'm made:the brightening sky, the darkening shade,a heart that glows with generous heat,a soul that treads to death's dark beat,a varied mix of eclectic stuff,of heaven and hell, the smooth, the rough.I'm forth and… Continue reading

  • The Meaning of Autumn

    because fall winds blowwe know of endingsthe bending of branches barednot spared the site of witheringthe shivering as we witness the demisedespise the coming coldthe coming old not just of hard groundbut all 'round the freezing of the selfthe teasing… Continue reading

  • The Transition

    The moment will comewhen I movefrom non-existenceto existence,from pseudo-beingto true being,from illusionto life,from the image of the Divine,to Divinity. What will I carryinto and through this transition?A handful of longing?A handbag of hope? Perhaps only a heartthoroughly emptied and cleansed,prepared… Continue reading

  • The Castle

    St. Teresa,Avilan mystic,mystery see-er,observer of God's loftiest grandeurand tiniest marvels,explains that my soulstands as a vast castle,a many-roomed mansion,an extraordinary, multi-storied highrise,gilded and jeweled. Given that–in the marvelously graced mindof this, our outwardly simple sister–my soulholds the essence of my… Continue reading

  • Las Vegas Bids Me Good Riddance

    My apologies to the good folks of Las Vegas,most of whom never make their wayto the Stripunless they work here(or so the few I've talked with have said),and no doubtthere are other seedy, sad, money-grubbing,    facile pockets of American… Continue reading

  • Slots

    I walk through the casinoto get to the pool.Slot machinesin a taped-off area,have been opened uplike patients undergoing heart surgery,their dark, mechanical innards exposed–lights off,sounds silenced,hearts excised. Not playmates.Not friends.Simply gutless machinesprogrammed to fool  youinto giving them your money. I… Continue reading

  • Just off the Strip

    I walk off the Strip,carrying my camera,documenting my experience. Next time you're in Vegas,try this. Two blocks away,you'll find fenced off,walled offrubble. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading