I met Leslie at the magical Laity Lodge at a conference in the summer of 2019. Little did either of us know what the next year would hold. The way she sees, the way she writes about what she sees, and the way she embraces her life and family reminds me of Annie Dillard’s quote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”  

The third voice in this series of thoughtful people is Jim Branch, author of the Blue Book and other books, challenging us that this season may be teaching us less is more.

The world has changed in a heartbeat—changed in ways that we could never have thought before. Sometimes I think of Mother Earth shaking us off her back because we have been handling her so poorly and now she is telling us to stop, become sensible, and listen.

Through this season, guest contributors will share their thoughts on this year of pandemics, social unrest, fire tornadoes, murder hornets, and whatever else 2020 throws at us.