Presence

Reflections on the First Sunday of Advent

December 1, 2020

First Sunday of Advent 2020

My friend Patricia’s advent wreath. You can find her blog at www.paperthinplaces.com.

I am sitting in the car with my dog in the parking lot of the Nordic ski center.  My son has his first unofficial day of cross country ski practice today. Unofficial, because we still do not know if the state youth sports organization will allow sports to go on at all. His high school is not a mountain school, but we are close enough that they have fielded a team for many years. Nordic is more like a club than a fiercely competitive sport there; anyone can come and learn to ski. The school supplies all the equipment. We just have to buy his pass and get him up the mountain. It’s not a problem on a sunny, blue-skies day like today. It’s a little more problematic when winter storms finally arrive. They haven’t yet, and there is no snow in the forecast for the next few weeks. This is winter in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California these days.

Behind me, there is a beautiful, bright, warm ski lodge with a locker room, a fireplace, and hot chocolate. It’s closed now because of the COVID. So I wait in the car. Other parents are in their cars around me, all of us alone. It’s the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. I predict a slow drive home, as we will have to enter the traffic stream that will be crowded with Bay Area bound folks returning from their long holiday Continue Reading…

Presence

What the Berries Taught Me

November 28, 2020

A Guest Post by Renee Regacho-Anaclerio

Renee is a spiritual director, leadership coach, and equity trainer. She lives in Newcastle with her husband Vince, her Labrador Retriever Teddy, and her three-legged goat Sophie.
(from Robin) If you’ve been reading here for the past few months, you know that I’ve been captivated by the blackberries growing wild around my house. I’ve been doing my best to clear them, my personal Blackberry Project. The blackberries have been teaching me about commitment and the goodness of faithfully showing up. So I was thrilled when Renee shared this reflection with me. Renee’s writing  brought a new, deeper dimension to my blackberry pondering. I’m happy that she allowed me to share it with you.

During the summer, we walked in the early mornings—quiet walks down our country roads. It was a time to get some exercise, a time for quiet introspection. And for several weeks, a time to pick blackberries!  These picking adventures became spiritual lessons. I don’t wear gloves, so I carefully had to maneuver my fingers between the thorns to pick the juicy black gems. Here’s what I learned from our walks and what the blackberries taught me:

Lesson 1:  Our morning walks are prayerful and often offer surprises.  A fawn, a coyote, a tiny bird, a nest of bunnies.  It is important to pay attention.  It is as if God is saying, “Look! I am doing something new!”

Continue Reading…