Writings & Ruminations

How to Live More Generously
I once heard that there is enough food in the world to feed all the hungry children. It is not a lack of resources; it is simply a lack of...

Shaking The Dust Off
There is rich red dirt that is the foundation of Rwanda. By the end of a week it has made its way into your clothing, your pores, and has seeped...

A New Emancipation Proclamation
Women who are willing to speak their truth amidst their pain should find freedom and healing, not just for themselves, but for this culture that would still rather keep the...

A Love Letter to God on My 30th Anniversary
I offer my love letter to God filled with sketches of thistles geraniums, longleaf pines, as well as the thousand other herbs and plants that have taught me why the...
A Glimpse of Pure Love
When we glimpse at love in its purest form and feel its true power, we experience an eternal pull that has changed the world.
A Cottonwood Snow
Cottonwood snow lowers stress. It is to the woods that all lovers of justice retreat every now and again to stir their hearts and minds toward love for all creation.

After the Election
After the election, I will get up and go to work. I will work to help women who are incarcerated, on the streets, trafficked, addicted, and searching for hope. No...

I've Heard Her Story Before
Bearing witness means listening to a story again and again. It is seeing the woman in front of you, nodding along as you recognize parts, weeping together, and believing together...

Patchouli Dreams
With long nights falling in the season of epiphany, January is surely the time to celebrate dreams.One of my favorite things is reflecting on my dreams in my early waking...

Sacred Relics
This past summer a new collaboration, The Bethlehem Project, was born between Love Welcomes, Thistle Farms, and the Center for Contemplative Justice. We commissioned three hundred chalices and patens from potters living...

Cloudy Haloes
During monsoon season it rains every day, surrounding the mountains north of Kathmandu in distant cloudy haloes. It is magical seeing Tibetan nuns running through the rain towards their temple...

The Eternal Sundown
I recently returned from two and a half weeks in Africa, visiting and connecting with communities doing justice.

Hope, shiny rocks, and kind strangers
There is a miracle that happens when people offer tiny droplets, bits of rich soil, and seeds of hope. Something stunning begins to grow.

The Divine Spirit of Hope: An Easter Message
Wildflowers are harbingers of spring. Every year, no matter how hard the winter, flowers resurrect.

Grace to Keep Going
I am not sure why exactly, but I knew that grace, like mercy, falls on the just and unjust. I found comfort in changing the phrase so that when I witnessed...

We Can Do Better Than Being Civil
Civility seems like a low bar for our common life together, and yet it also seems that often we can’t even reach that. We struggle to be kind to one...

Beauty & Love in Brokenness
I love stained glass. I love the artistry, the history embedded in small fragments we piece together, and how it calls us into prayer. But when I walked into a...

It's About Friends
It's about friends. I have been thinking a lot about how we have grown Thistle Farms and Thistle Farms Global into a movement for women's freedom. It didn't happen by finding a life coach, a...

#ChurchToo
The latest incarnation of #metoo unfolded recently at a megachurch in Chicago, and my thoughts have been with the woman who brought her dark secret to light. I am in awe...

I've Been a Beggar Most of My Life
It is a gift in the season of Thanksgiving to show up to wherever you are, with gratitude. It makes all the small irritations fade into sweetness like marshmallows on...

Take Your Shoes Off
Once I learned the history of going barefoot, I was sold forever. I have spent the past thirty years preaching barefoot.

Beyond Words, Joining with Women in Ukraine
We need to move beyond words and help inspire people to join with the women of Ukraine in shared hope for healing.

The Woman I Am Today
Kristin McWilliams, a talented organizer, leader, wife and mom, reflects in the following blog on her first year as an Executive Assistant to me at Thistle Farms. Read on to...

Midsummer Daydreams
This has been a summer of travel, work, and high altitude dreams. From the Sleeping Giant Volcano in Hawaii, to Porter's Cabin 10,000 feet up in Idaho, to the shrine on the mountain...