Balance

Bird in the Hand: On Daughters and Swift Time

Balance by oysteronahalfshellDecember 31, 2015December 26, 2016

Spirit by oysteronahalfshellJanuary 28, 2015August 14, 2015

What was in the Pope’s bag?

And so what was really inside the Pope’s bag? Pope Francis didn’t pull out rabbits. But he spoke similarly of greedy pigs, of excesses and dark places. Of beggars and weeping, the misshapen, the orphaned, the homeless and how we are compelled to see them instead of shuttling them to luxury resorts and keeping them out of sight. The Pope did not keep holy relics we could touch and make us whole. And he didn’t quite fancy the limelight. Or that we take our relics home and so be doubly blessed. Quite the opposite, he begged: bring the sacred out of our altars and resting places; carry the light to the fringes, the periphery, and those hidden from view; and on our own, touch others and make them whole.

Spirit by oysteronahalfshellJanuary 8, 2015August 14, 2015

The 13th Day of Christmas

1. You have to get out of bed, and there’s no holiday or festival, there’s only everyday. 2. The Poinsettia plant is blooming its glorious red but you have to hide her somewhere. 3. There is still leftover lechon in the fridge. And cake. 4. You don’t know how to explain to your 7 year […]

Spirit by oysteronahalfshellDecember 8, 2014December 30, 2015

Full of Grace

It’s been raining outside. I hate the cold and the foreboding. Except this stillness and solitude have bestowed on me a visit from Grace. I often feel as though I do not merit this grace. As though I have to be this or that and thus worthy of being blessed. But then again, grace is […]

Balance by oysteronahalfshellAugust 4, 2014December 8, 2014

Homemaker, Mover, Shaker

And truly, the occupation is Mother/Homemaker, with nothing to append. What becomes of homes, what becomes of human beings, those are the tasks that should upstage any man at the top. Schedules, grocery lists and recipes- that’s an unrivalled operations manual. Paying attention to what world a child takes in and wrestling with the distorted world that escapes anyway- that calls for more than knowing supply and demand. And that we are the starting point, “the bow that sends forth living arrows,” to the men who will later climb ladders and stay at the top, I say that trumps them all.