One day a stunning, iridescent green insect appeared on the boards that had been laid over the swampy creek bottom. We turned over a log near the old garden shack, and a red-striped salamander presented itself like a small jewel. There’s no telling what may be revealed, and when.

I recently participated in a conversation in which dissatisfaction or dissonance was a recurring theme poignantly and piercingly captured in a line quoted from a Mary Oliver poem: I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment…...

Strange as it may seem, our flaws, discords, and long, perhaps even unreachable goals are what make our projects viable and strengthen our community. The frays in our hopes and plans are what catch the light.