Road Trip: California Summer 2025

Be freeway now

cascading over sun-bleached hills

into the restless city

digest the swelter the 

glare of glass and steel

carry the fast-flowing river of

human yearning and exchange the 

striving aching gluttonous rush the

drive to be anywhere 

but here

Be labyrinth now

bless the hands that built you 

stone by stone no dead ends 

your seven circles cruciform

welcome the feet of all who venture here

seeking the weighted stillness of the oaks

consent to crow’s harsh caws, the 

far-off drone of aircraft the

howling eucalyptus and the 

whispers of the Ponderosa pines 

Be forest now

and still

your redwoods soaring high while

far below long roots entwine

steady the community of saints

listen to their congress as you

shield the marbled murrelet the wandering

salamander the northern spotted owl

embrace the morning dew

make rain

Be ocean now 

and dance

receive the fiery ball of sun the greying 

clouds and the courage of fishers

readying for the night  

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Artists: Milla McLachlan is photographer of the sunset and trees pictures.

Linda Lueng, of Mercy Center Burlingame, CA, USA is photographer of the labyrinth picture.

All photos have been used with the permission of the photographers.

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Milla comments on the origins of the poem: 

“The poem grew out of recent encounters: Words of Father Thomas Keating recorded in the film Invitation from God that I’ve been reading before my morning sit for several weeks: “The basic disposition in the spiritual journey is the capacity to accept all reality; God, ourselves, other people, and all creation as they are;” and stops on a recent road trip – a three-day silent retreat at Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA, a day among the redwoods and time along the southern Oregon coast. Acceptance comes slowly, but it grows!”

Milla is grateful for a meandering life journey in which the call has always been to see more widely, experience more deeply, and to weave together the spiritual impulse and the daily demands of work and life. Encountering Cynthia Bourgeault’s teaching while studying ecopsychology and integral theory in Colorado felt like a homecoming for Milla, and it continues to enrich and challenge her. Milla recently joined the TCS Board of Directors. She brings years of experience as a team leader, coach, and facilitator in social development efforts in the USA and Africa. She has a passion for poetry and the simple joys of long walks and baking good bread. Milla lives with her wife, Elizabeth, and two cats in Oregon, and enjoys being Ouma.

E-mail Milla at: admin@contemplative.org