Several months ago we would have described our windows as “old and drafty.” After serving well for 85 years, we finally had to replace them with modern, energy efficient models.

All 273 of them!

But “old and drafty” would only have described the physical state of the windows. As it turns out, a window is much more than a wooden frame with glass.

Windows are also the view beyond them and the view through them.

At the monastery, we mostly look OUT of the windows — onto the gardens, across the prairie to the mountains beyond. In a figurative sense we can see our past ministries as well as our present ones — museum, Spirit Center, land stewardship, hospitality, education, health care and more.

Rarely, if ever, do we look INTO our windows to glimpse our communal life framed there.

But you do look in. And when you do, you see our life and share our future.