Meanwhile, healing takes a long time, and the first stages look like a mess. The grasses are scruffy, the trees old and some dying. Windthrow and snags are a key part of a habitat in equilibrium anyway, but seeing them on a golf course makes…
Debra RienstraMay 16, 2020
Can we enjoy the process of puzzling things out when we’re not sure, at the end of it, that there’s an answer?
Debra RienstraMay 1, 2020
You may be surprised to learn that I am of royal blood. I’m serious. Through my father’s side, I can now trace an ancestral line back to Edward I, king of England.
Debra RienstraDecember 28, 2019
Morning, west window The sky feels oddly bright, considering the snow thickly falling in clustered flakes. The wind gusts, whirling flakes into powder, snowglobing my backyard vista. For a moment, a cloud of white obscures the trees, the neighbors’ backyards, the whole world. I exist…
Debra RienstraFebruary 2, 2019
What is the value of a thistle? We don’t entirely know. I suppose God does. I suppose the little prickler gives praise to God in its own thistly way, just by being itself in cooperation with other nearby creatures being themselves. Is that enough for…
Debra RienstraAugust 18, 2018
Suddenly I’ve realized how stupid I am. I’ve lived in this climate and latitude most of my life, surrounded by these fellow creatures going about their quick, fluttery lives, and I know almost nothing about them, not even how to recognize their voices.
Debra RienstraMay 12, 2018
We know what it’s like to be on display all the time, to be ever the responsible example, to be always leading and mentoring and discipling, striving never to fail anyone in the quest to model spiritual excellence. It’s a blessed life, of course—a privilege…
Debra RienstraMarch 3, 2018
Project: make a macramé plant hanger. Burning questions: Could I do it? And does crafting relieve anxiety?
Debra RienstraJuly 29, 2017
