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Welcome to Walk & Talk, my monthly newsletter to share stories, inspiration, and hope. I’m Kim Knowle-Zeller, mama, pastor, and writer. I’ve lived in West Africa and one summer hiked 500 miles across Spain, and now I call Cole Camp, MO home with my husband, two children, and dog. I love to walk, talk, and share stories. Thanks for being here!  

Dear Friends, 

Two years ago I started this newsletter, and every month since I’ve shared a reflection with you and a few of my favorite things from online. It has been a joy writing, curating, and creating this newsletter and connecting with friends - both online and in real life. Each month as I think of you and where you’ll be while reading my words (at the pick up line, over morning coffee, late at night before bed, preparing your kids’ food, on the porch or at the kitchen table), I go back to the reason that guided my first newsletter: 

I’m seeing, more now than ever, words matter. They move and inspire us. They give us a way to make sense of our world and how we’re to move forward. Words help us to remember this time. Words give us prayers, cheers, and the unending chorus that we’re not in this alone. 

I started this newsletter because I believe deeply in the power of words to transform, inspire, and bring hope. 

These words have become a sort of mission statement for my newsletter and for the ways I want to show up in my writing. I deeply believe in the power of words and in the myriad of ways we seek connection in our lives. I’m grateful for the chance to show up in your inboxes and engage in conversation: to be present to each other, to share truths, to be vulnerable, and to know that we’re not alone in this life. 

Last year I celebrated with a giveaway for the year anniversary of Walk and Talk, but this year I celebrated through rest and Sabbath. To kick off a two-month sabbatical for my husband, he and I traveled to Colorado Springs, CO for a week. This coming August we both turn 40 and we’ll be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. So off we went to Colorado sans kids for a week of hiking, rest, and good food.

When we arrived at our Bed and Breakfast our eyes feasted on floor to ceiling windows looking out at Pikes Peak. Whether sitting on the coach with a book, eating breakfast, or sitting in our room, we could see the snow-peaked mountain. The B&B owner told us about her time teaching Kindergarten at a school where you could see the mountain from almost every window. She told us many people in the area take the views for granted. “At the end of the school day I’d line my Kindergarteners up and make them look for a moment at Pikes Peak.” She intentionally invited them to look up and see the beautiful gifts before them. 



See what gifts are right before you. 

I can’t think of a better reminder and message for this month’s newsletter. I did drive over 10 hours to gaze at the majestic mountain, but I can just as easily stare at the gifts right before me at home. I can turn my eyes to the wonders before me in my daily life: the way my son Isaac grips his marker and draws construction trucks, the curl of my daughter Charlotte’s hair and how she skips to school on our morning walk, the sunset over our neighborhood park, the morning dew on the grass, the hummingbird feeding on our flowers.  

Everyday I’m grateful to put pen to paper and bring words to life. I’m grateful for you, dear reader, for showing up, sharing my words, and encouraging me along the way. 

Here’s to seeing what gifts are right before us, pausing, and knowing that the world is brimming with holiness. 

What gifts are right in front of you that cause you to give thanks? Hit reply and let me know, or snap a picture and share with me! 

With gratitude, 
Kim

Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us,
if we only look, and see.
-Mary Oliver, Devotions

My Favorite Things
 
Remember how I committed to walking 40 hikes before I turn 40 this August? You can read how it’s going (or not going) here. 

Perhaps the question of where to focus our energy can best be asked, “What do we love, and how can we use that love to serve others?” Read more about serving as a family in my latest Growing Together column for Living Lutheran. 

A beautiful reflection on grief from my friend Matilyn who is wise beyond her years.

I adore this print of my friend Jenna’s poem, “Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters;" I’m looking forward to getting it framed and hung in my office.

My friend Crystal wrote a three part blog series on Discovering the Joy of Poetry. It’s a treat to read and if you think poetry isn’t for you, read her words and you may think differently!

A good reminder on how phones affect our attention and creativity. 

Beloved, I know sometimes you are tired of gushing.
So rest a moment. I wish for you Sabbath time,
time of rest, time to be Beloved, being without doing.
I am grateful for your presence, at work or at rest. 
So rest. The river will still flow.

Essays I’ve enjoyed: Joy’s Pieces on how she carries the places she’s been with her and Rachel’s Saturated on motherhood, holding tensions, and a world at war. 

What I’m Reading: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson and The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan were great vacation reads. I’m also making my way again through Laura Fanucci's Risen: 50 Ways to Live Easter, a beautiful devotional for the 50 days of Easter.  

What I’m Cooking: This slow cooker honey garlic chicken. 

Why I go to the Mountains
(thank you Mary Oliver for the writing inspiration)


Hello, mountain in the sky.
Hello, you who tower over the trees and birds
and stand tall
and reach towards the sun
and provide a home for the great horned owls and mule deer
and us, your people, even, the 
ones afraid to look up and soar - 
best preacher that ever was, 
dear land full of beauty and mystery
full of shadow and light
and streams of water
and snow, ice, and wind
almost touching heaven - 
good morning, good morning, good morning. 


Watch, now, how I turn my arms 
and reach to the skies in hope.

 

P.S. If you enjoy my newsletter, would you consider forwarding to a friend? The best way to support my writing is through sharing and inviting others to know my work. Thank you! 


I’ll be back in your inboxes the
first Wednesday of June!  

Kimberly Knowle-Zeller Writer Page
Kimberly Knowle-Zeller Website
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Copyright © 2021 Kimberly Knowle-Zeller Writer, All rights reserved.

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Walk and Talk Monthly Newsletter · 705 S Hickory St · Cole Camp, MO 65325-1177 · USA

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