This Week, April 13, 2025
Six Things of Interest
1) Good news: There's still time to do Lent.
I'm an à la carte faith person—no single tradition has all the answers for me. But the two practices I return to again and again? Sabbath and Lent. Because both ask me to face my limits.
And yes, with seven days left, you can still do Lent.
Lent is a season of remembering you're not in control.
The headlines remind me daily.
Feeling like lamenting? Try Lamentations.
Need to wrestle with God? Job’s your guy.
Craving a deep convo with the Divine? Call on Abraham.
Stormy feelings? See Jesus, walking on water toward Peter.
Can’t do it all perfectly? You’re not supposed to.
Even if you follow Jesus as a philosopher, a mystic, or a curious seeker—not just The Son of God—there’s still room for you.
Lent is for you.
Even now. Especially now.
2) Last Call: Watercolor 2 at Hawkeye
Starts next week. There’s Still Room!
Watercolor 2: Preregistration required
Take your watercolor painting skills to the next level! In this class, you will become better acquainted with watercolors, explore fun tools and techniques, and create finished paintings. Discover advanced texture techniques, expanded brush techniques, and how to get a good edge with your brush. Tuition includes materials to be used in class.
Classes run on Wednesdays, April 16-30, from 6 to 8:30. Note the change of location: the class will be at the Cedar Falls Center.
Preregistration required. Click here, or call 319-296-4290
3) April Enquirer
Embracing Limits & Finding Peace in Enoughness
This month, I explore the quiet blessing of “It can’t be done”—how limitations, far from failures, can be invitations to rest, remember, and return to ourselves.
Also inside: Last call for my painting workshop! Poetry, creative retreat details & a perfect radish sandwich.
4) Feet Prayer
"We are nature and we are it all the time, no matter how far away or how close we perceive it to be at each moment." FABIANA FONDEVILA
I’ve consciously recommitted to walking each morning—rain, shine, or snow.
This quiet prayer by feet centers me. Grounds me. Offers peace, even when the headlines swirl with noise.
Step by step, I remember: I am a creature of the earth.
How do you remind yourself that you belong to nature?
5) FREE Author Seedbed Workshops Launch
The Author Seedbed 2025 Series kicks off with an Abecedarian Invitation: A Poetry Writers' Workshop, Tuesday, April 15th from 2-3:30 at the Waterloo Public Library.
This unique poetic form organizes each line to begin with a successive letter of the alphabet.
Join Dr. Hannah Carr-Murphy, the James Hearst Writer in Residence at the Hearst Center, to explore classic and contemporary abecedarian poetry! Dr. Carr-Murphy will guide you through a hands-on workshop, where you can craft your own abecedarian poem.
Hope to see you there!
6) When I stumble,
my first thought is sharp and swift:
It must be me. I did this.
Guilt arrives early,
blame not far behind—
a reflex wired into my bones.
But no one thrives beneath
the weight of endless fault.
So I look outward:
the weather, the timing,
the moon in its waning phase,
a butterfly in Brazil stirring storms.
Lately, I’ve unhooked the wire—
the one that runs
from misstep to blame.
I’m learning the art of curiosity:
pausing, wondering,
asking gentler questions.
What else might be true?
Could there be a softer story?
Joy doesn’t always tap-dance in.
Sometimes she arrives
like a cat—
quiet, watchful,
curling up beside you
just because.
What are you unhooking from lately?
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