POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: Do not wait to rejoice. Do not wait to enjoy. Do not save and save and forget to spend yourself...

POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: An imaginative reading of Psalm 137 - By the rivers of Babylon we sit and weep.

POEM BY ASHTON WALTHER: What if we chose to be kind to everyone? What if we spent our days trying to be like Jesus? What if our to-do list was helping others? And our evenings spent with the sunset and the stars...

How I quit buying in on burning myself out and selling myself short.

ART BY SOFIA RECTOR: The eye of the Lord is on those who wait upon his love. Psalm 33:18

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: When an acorn falls, when a seed is planted, all I see is a drift of dirt. But so much is happening underground to bring life out of that dark place of brokenness.

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: Darkness deepens, presses down, and winds buffet. Lightning flashes -- Action! Thunder rumbles -- Reaction!

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: For me, the dandelion is an emblem; an icon of flourishing in the cracks, the in-betweens, the messy middle found at the vertices of polarized opinion. It roots deeply, reaches for the light, blooms brightly, and gives generatively.

The yearning for smaller, slower, sweeter has been growing in me for years, maybe even a decade. I don't just blame all the growth and progress in the area for this. I also blame Wendell Berry and Jesus.

REFLECTION BY KATIE FOX: What can we say about art and beauty in the face of mass shootings, war, evil, and destruction? Why discuss poetry, when the world feels like it's on fire? What can beauty and the arts offer to us when we’ve lost everything we hold dear?

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: As the light gentles, we gather, arms laden with food, blankets, drink. We come to feed our souls as much as our bodies...