As empires shift and change, I’m continually drawn to the quiet persistence of the natural world. Nature moves forward on its own peaceful path, reminding us—again and again—of the enduring beauty of this earth.

Over a thousand years ago, the Bishops at the Council of Trosly wrote:

“You see before you the wrath of the Lord breaking forth… There is naught but towns emptied of their folk, monasteries razed to the ground or given to the flames, fields desolated… Everywhere the strong oppresseth the weak, and men are like fish of the sea that blindly devour each other.” (909 CE)

In moments of chaos—past and present—I find grounding in landscapes that remain, tides that return, and light that continues to fall on the water.