purpose
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The Purpose of Beauty
While walking solitary in the mountains, I emerge from the woodsand step out into clear and open air,into a vista of astonishing beauty,into sacred space beyond breathing. I ask:"Am I the only one to see this–beauty this piercingly expansive–which may… Continue reading
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Business Meeting
Our stated task? Refine the budget.Our defined goal: Increase the bottom line. Ha!Our real goal? Embody compassion and beauty. Be God for each other and all people– God's hands, voice and heart. That makes all… Continue reading
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Great and Historic Virtue
We see our lives small:what have we accomplished, really? Yesterday I spent three hours ironing–did this heal the world?Did this advance the reign of God? From the 13th centuryechoes the voice of St. Bonaventure:"The perfection of a spiritual man [woman]is… Continue reading
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Why Wait?
Why waitfor your life to begin? Why not start with,"This is what I want my life to be"and make it so? Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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Rain 2
Thomas Merton speaks poeticallyof the "voice" of the rain:"…all that speech pouring down,selling nothing,judging nobody,drenching…" I delight in rain's intentional purposelessness. "I am here for my own sake,"says the rain."I am eternal.I am life. "Close your eyes and listen:hiss, plash,… Continue reading
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A Day with the Cats
I spend the day at home with my cats,doing exactly what they do:I sleep when they sleep;I eat when they eat(from my own dish on the kitchen floor);I play when they play;I remain on all fours,keeping as much as possibleat floor… Continue reading
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Ten-Thousand Poems
Today, around the globe,ten-thousand poems shall be written,one, perhaps, by me. Each begins with an ache,likely echoing another's ache–answering, enflaming, soothing… But most(this one?)may never be sent beyond these few, ruled lines,never find life beyond this page,lost to all but… Continue reading
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When I Lost My Parents
When I lost my parents(as in death, not in the grocery store)I questioned the purposeof their life's creative output: my mother's needlework; my father's woodworking; my mothers hand-written, stained recipe cards; my father's watercolor paintings of… Continue reading
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Taking Pictures
You can photograph to showcase pretty things.You can photograph to expose truth, irony or cruelty– the off-kilter and out-of-whack.You can photograph to bring forward the overlooked.You can photograph to remember.You can photograph to revision, recast, reinterpret.You can photograph for… Continue reading
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Belonging
I want the one I loveto find his place,his happiness,his passion. I know he has found his home,as I have found mine,here where our hearts rest together. But like us all,he yearns to be neededby the world beyond. We are… Continue reading