At the beginning of the year, I promised you to send you a quarterly email to take you along with the Rule of Life. It’s nearly the end of the first three months of the year, the end of March. Did I write at the beginning of the year: “not sure if you had them—a few good intentions for 2023.” By now you probably even do not remember your good intentions! No worries! Research shows that behavioral change is not easy.
Category: Home making
Socks from Serbia for a refugee from Syria
“Please, do take a picture,” I ask a passerby who has stopped for a chat, bicycle in hand, at the table on the road in front of our workspace in Wageningen. High in the mountains…
And? What’s your harvest?
It’s the art of life not to compare yourself with others, especially not who are very experienced, to see if you have a good harvest. If I think about the amount of seed that I’d…
On the shoulders of our ancestors
On the day Queen Elizabeth is buried, we are awakened at about six in the morning by loud cackling. Unfortunately, I’m not awake enough to take action but turn around once more in bed before…
A Prayer letter
Do you sometimes have trouble finding the right words when you pray? I know I do. That’s why I love to use The Lord’s Prayer as a guideline—after all, it is the Lord Himself who…
Week 4 Wooden shoes from the Holy man and: My Rule of Life: HOLD ON. Let’s get Organized!
Hello you all! I hope that you had a nice week. Here in the Netherlands, we celebrated Saint Nicholas, a yearly celebration of generosity. We give each other presents and present them in creative ways…
Photoblog: On the necessity of beauty in the bedroom (and beyond)
“The necessity for beauty and harmony is a basic need for a creative soul and a breeding ground for the true, good, and beautiful that I like to nurture in the most intimate space of…
Your Very Own Personal Retreat
You are a God of distance, and yet very near. I do not see You, but I want to experience You. I invite You into this room and into my writing. May I be aware…
Online Retreats, a reflection
Be still and know that I am God. (That is an invitation). I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. (That is a statement) ps. 46: 10 A reflection:…
The Story of Torrie
Laurens wrote and illustrated this story in his notebook around the days of our move from Osijek to the Netherlands. My first book was published in the autumn of 2020. Jelle and I published it…
6 suggestions for contemplative writing
Come now, insignificant man, fly for a moment from your affairs, escape for a little while from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toils. Abandon yourself for…
You are warmly invited for an Online Retreat!
You’re warmly invited to join us for an on-line small Retreat. During covid, o, we all like it and decided to have a monthly retreat. Small, because we are just with a handful of people…