I have ascended to the highest in me . . .

I have ascended to the highest in me, and look!
The Lord is towering above that. In my curiosity I have descended to explore my lowest depths,
yet I found God even deeper.
If I looked outside myself, I saw God
stretching beyond the furthest I could see; and if
I looked within, God was yet further within.
Then I knew the truth of what I had read:
In God we live and move and have our being.

--Bernard of Clairvaux

In the infinite reaches of the sky above, and in the bottomless depths of our souls, in the ever-expanding interior space we sometimes occupy in such loneliness, and in the inexhaustible wonder of the Other, in the eternal conflation of the sacred and the profane, in the mystery of our lives and loves, God is present for us to discover and to love. As Julian of Norwich wrote six centuries ago, we exist because God loves us. God therefore loves us in the beginning and now and forever. Let’s not trample God’s preciousness under a cloud of forgetting but enter the cloud of remembrance in the sight of God.

Miracle on Highway 10

Just two weeks after Molly, a terrified and timid puppy adopted our community, she is behaving just like any dog her age would: sniffing, chewing, and playing her way through each new day. I find it absolutely amazing to think this is the same dog that arrived so recently in our lives. She responds to her name; has learned what “no” means; wags her tail when she hears (so frequently) “good dog”; walks with us without a leash; explores the property independently; and, is a self-feeder. She is happy, relaxed, and social, while maintaining her independence and dogness. Molly has grown a bit, too. She is a joy to have and to hold!

A Wild Pup

As you can see, our new puppy, Molly, is adorable. Everything a puppy should be. This five-month old darling was found wandering around Dickinson and taken to the pound there. She seems to have been abused, or traumatized in some way. When Sisters Ruth and Paula went dog searching (our beloved Lucky died last fall), Molly cowered in the corner of the pound pen, and shrank from any human touch. But when Molly and Sister Paula’s eyes met, it was love at first eye-lock. Molly was destined to be lovingly added to the community roster.After just a few days, Molly is letting us pet, groom, feed, and even play with her a bit. One of these days, she might even catch that tail she chases around and around . . .

MEET OUR NEW PLAYMATES

We have new playmates! Meet Arabella, our new cat who joins the feline cohort in the little and big barns. She was found in Bismarck, and adopted by the community and our other furry, four-legged friends. Arabella is very sweet. . . she leaps on a right shoulder, and snakes around your neck like a boa. She seems to be not more than six months old. She is getting lots of love from the Sisters, and even I--who am not generally fond of cats--think she is a great addition to the menagerie.