One lesson many people learned during COVID was the small grace provided by overlooked miracles. Things once taken for granted became essential — like the joyful explosion of color in […]
Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center
Find your church in one of these three local nature preserves designed for ecospiritualists
In our pandemic lives, many of us have deepened, discovered or rediscovered our relationship with nature as a way to cope with the new restrictions on our lives. The benefits […]
Engage in the Great Conversation — with a tree
At first it may sound a bit kooky to talk about “conversing” with nature. But the oddness of that idea is really due to the inadequacy of our words, even our human conceptions. What happens when entering the Great Conversation is much more profound than trading mere words, or even human ideas.
UR Here: The Japanese art of forest bathing invites you to soak up nature, hug a tree
On an unusually warm but cloudy March day about two weeks before the vernal equinox, I took a group hike in the woods at Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha. Over an hour and half, we traversed about a quarter mile, a half at most.
UR Here: Sweating the small stuff
We are in midsummer, and that means sweat. It’s the time of year when our body regulates its temperature through perspiration, when the heat of the season beads up and runs down our skin with our slightest effort. It’s summer in Iowa…