Tag Archives: Mary Oliver

This Is Me Whole

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Esther Hizsa

The word for this new year that came to you –of all the words, this one and of all people, you– what if it isn’t what you should be but what you already are? What if it isn’t what you should do but what God is already … Continue reading →

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What Was

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Esther Hizsa

After Mom passed, sadness drifted in and out of my days like a hum in the distance, clearer whenever I looked its way.  It didn’t come from the one who had mothered my mother, nor the one who kept wishing for more. It came … Continue reading →

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Spared

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Esther Hizsa

Tell me, what is it you plan to dowith your one wild and precious life?-Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day“ Biking on a country road,eyes full of beauty,wind in my ears,I didn’t hear,didn’t look,didn’t see the car coming.As I was about … Continue reading →

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Smug Mode

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Esther Hizsa

So we got to climb one more mountain after all. And not just any mountain–Black Tusk. Bagging this peak is not just a walk in the (Garibaldi) Park. You have to backpack 9.5 kilometres and up 900 metres to a … Continue reading →

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Home Again

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Esther Hizsa

I love our camping adventures–being outsideexploring by bikehiking trails to a viewsipping wine from a jarwatching flames turn to coalsmusing about what we forgotand how we made docozy and warm in our tentgrateful for tarps and when the rain comes … Continue reading →

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I Am Fed

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Esther Hizsa

For me, church is often one long exercise of trying to stay present. Multiple times, my mind drifts off like a balloon rising far above the hymns, prayers, and readings. I find it again caught in a zephyr of thoughts … Continue reading →

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My Wild and Precious Life

Posted on February 4, 2022 by Esther Hizsa

Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism gave me the courage to schedule more time for writing. My third book won’t get published if I keep trying to fit it in around everything else. “Everything else” includes my non-negotiables–spending time with family and … Continue reading →

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Into the Light

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Esther Hizsa

Life has slowed down. My books have arrived; my calendar isn’t jammed. I can linger over meals and leave my phone in my pocket when I walk to the store. I shed an old skin in the rough darkness. After … Continue reading →

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The Narrow Space Given

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Esther Hizsa

This fall life has been packed tightly, jobs tucked into every spare moment. I write emails on the fly, make phone calls while I walk. I have to keep moving. It isn’t just that I have more commitments than usual. … Continue reading →

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Right Where I Am

Posted on November 9, 2018 by Esther Hizsa

I looked at this drawing of an injured bird and felt tender inside. I lingered for a while with that feeling and the sense of being held. Then, in the retreat’s spacious silence, I reflected on a poem by Mary … Continue reading →

Posted in Helpful Images, Poetry, Praying with the Imagination, Reflections, Spiritual Direction, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment