The 60-Second Sabbath

Compassion

  • Feast of Stephen

    Today, the second day of Christmas,    is the Feast of Stephen,the day, you may recall,    when Good King Wenceslas and his pageventured out to help a poor man,    who was struggling to survivethe wind and cold    of a particularly nasty winter night. When you hear or sing this… Continue reading

  • Self-Care

    What doesself-carelook likefor you? For meit's silence,solitude,a blank page,a pen. What doesself-carelook likefor you? Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.    Continue reading

  • Through Me

    Life, live through me,    not shame,        for shame drives us        to cut ourselves,    not fear,        for fear drives us        to cut others,    not perfection,        for perfection drives us        to… Continue reading

  • The New Question

    For a very long time,the question of spiritual identityhas been,"Who are you?" Now is the time for a new question:"Whose are you?" We are God's.We belong to one another. As Desmund Tutu said,"I am because you are." Text and image… Continue reading

  • Grace Waits

    They are the golden children,the ones for whom doors open,the ones who face few obstacles.And obstacles–when they do appear–can be stepped over or pushed aside,and turn out to be mere annoyancesthat barely impede their progress. And then, one day,the earth… Continue reading

  • Christmas, Day 2

    "Christ did not come into the world for gold."            –Bartalome de Las Casas (1484-1566)  Christ has not come for power.Christ has not come for gold.Christ has not come for fame.Christ has not come to shame or scold. Christ has… Continue reading

  • Christmas Wish #3

    May you cradle the infantand feel his warmthspread from your handsto your heartand carry you home. May you then hold a strangerand feel the infant's warmthspread from your heartthrough your handsand carry the stranger home. Text and image © 2012… Continue reading

  • Election Prayer

    I pray for our country,that we choose unity over division,hope over despair,poverty over wealth,surrender over dominance,humility over arrogance,peace over violence,compassion over power,the holy over the unholy.  I pray for our country. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights… Continue reading

  • The Death of Caring

    Compassion died in me today.Where empathy warmed my soul's hearth,cold ash and half-burned logs stink of char and death.I no longer care,and no amount of wantingbrings caring back. The timing of this escapes me–it just is;it has come as it… Continue reading

  • For Bonnie

    Somewhere in the city,this dark September morning,before light infuses the eastern sky,before the crows stir and lift and caw their way back into the day,someone I knowkeeps watch at the bedsideof her dying sister. This sister, the one hovering near… Continue reading