Happy New Year!! Enjoy this post from several years ago! "A tree gives glory to God by being a tree."Thomas Merton Merton continues, "The more a tree is like itself, the more it is like Him. If it tried to be like something else which it was never intended to be, it would be less […]

I have moved on to Krista Tippett's second "Foundations" podcast episode, which is a mere 8 minutes long this time. These four short podcasts are Tippett's re-launching of her On Being podcast and they are stunningly rich and beautifully simple. Each one leaves me with more to think about than my aging brain can take […]

Hi. I'm Alice and I have a proclivity toward melancholy. And as the days grow short and the cold settles in, I almost revel in this proclivity. I spend more time in my flannel pj's, candles lit, soft music playing, cozy socks on my feet and deep books about waiting and suffering and well, melancholy, […]

When my daughter was young, she had a ruthless Eastern European piano teacher. Ruthless. My girl was learning to overcome some shyness and self-consciousness, and we had hoped learning to play the piano would instill confidence. Not with this instructor, though. Our daughter practiced and practiced, playing the same song over and over again until […]

One of my favorite writers, David Benner, states that much of our lives are made up of "little deaths and little resurrections," following the pattern of Jesus. Simply put: things end, dreams die, seasons transition, egos are bruised. And, when surrendered to, these little deaths often bring little resurrections: new life emerges, a new dream […]

As I enjoy my final months of being 59, I resonate with this writing: "The human soul is like a fine wine that needs to ferment in various barrels as it ages and mellows. The wisdom for this is written everywhere, in nature, in scripture, in spiritual traditions, and in what is best in human […]