The beauty is in the walking;
we are betrayed by destinations.
-Gwyn Thomas
Author: Jason Kanz
I am a neuropsychologist at the Marshfield Clinic and author of Soil of the Divine (2017), Living in the Larger Story: The Christian Psychology of Larry Crabb (2019, editor), and Notes from the Upper Room: Lessons in Loving Like Jesus (2020).
Red
I dream of red apples
crisp in the fall, sun
hanging high in the afternoon sky
like a rosy tomato
succulent, bursting with life, blood
coursing through well-worn channels,
never to stop
signs of life, dazzling and sparkling wine
tasting Merlot with hints of cherry
jam, laden with sweetness upon my lips.
*This poem came about from an exercise in The Roar on the Other Side by Suzanne Rhodes.
-English poet, John Donne
Creation is complex, so intricate, so profuse with life and form and color and scent! And I walk through it deaf and dumb and blind, groping my way, stupidly absorbed in putting one foot in front of the other, seeing a mere fraction of what is there.-Eugene Peterson
Attentiveness is the heart’s stillness,
unbroken by any thought.
-Hesychios of Sinai
I would love to live as the river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.-John O’Donohue
God is the beauty of creation and humanity multiplied to the infinite power. -Richard Rohr
We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die. -WH Auden
What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?-Mary Oliver
God, grant me clear eyes, to see the beauty in every person.
Grant me open ears, that I may listen with compassion rather than judgment.
Grant me a gentle tongue, that I may speak with grace and kindness.
Grant me strong hands, that I may serve those in need.
Jason Kanz 