I am thrilled when my ordinary life offers up an extraordinary moment that brings some solace or insight or enjoyment to others, and such has been the good fortune of that moment in the late 1980’s when I was driving the “dog shift” in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What is noteworthy about that moment, beyond it’s poignancy, is that I did not create it; I merely experienced it and let it unfold.

Life gives us all such moments — I call them “Blue Moments” (See Letters to My Son for an explanation) — where a brilliant light shines through the ordinary moments in our ordinary days. They come unsolicited and unannounced, and provide us the gift of significance and, if we are lucky, the opportunity to serve.

What it is important is to remember that these ARE gifts, and that we cannot receive them if we are not open to them. We need to listen closely, watch closely, and take care not to rush past or through them when they arrive. They are the fabric of our lives, and they will weave themselves with complexity and beauty if we give them time to do so.

I bring this up because I’d like to make you two offers — one big and one small. The small one first: If any of you would like to read the original piece, unmodified and in the context in which it was written, I would like to offer you the opportunity to buy a signed copy of Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace: Living in the Spirit of the Prayer of St. Francis. It is one of my lesser known books, but one of my favorites. In it, I tried to write an extended meditation on each of the lines of Francis’ famous prayer and to illuminate them with stories from my life and the lives of others. The cab ride story is one of those.

The second offer — the big one — is made to all of you, but especially you readers in the U.K. I will be in the U.K. next spring. The exact dates are not yet set, but they will likely occur in April and early May. If you would like to have me come to speak to any group of yours, please contact me and we can try to make the arrangements. The same holds true for any group anywhere in America. I enjoy going out to speak because it allows me to meet my readers. It also allows me to share some of the stories and insights that my journey through life’s “blue moments” has offered.

So, thank you again for your continued interest in my work. I will keep trying to earn your trust by doing my best in everything I write. It is the least I can do to honor the faith you have shown in me.

This is because To Walk the Red Road was done as a reservation project and was published only locally, and in very small numbers. But its effect was huge. The photos it contained and the way it gave voice to the tribal elders caught Dan’s attention and resulted in him inspiring me to write Neither Wolf nor Dog.

I’ve always felt that to really understand Neither Wolf nor Dog it is important to see the photos and hear the authentic, heartfelt voices of To Walk the Red Road. But up until now that opportunity has never been available.

Now, for a short moment, that opportunity is here, and I’m excited to be able to offer it to you for this holiday season. The Red Lake School Board has authorized me to do a limited reprint of To Walk the Red Road, and these are now available. My sisters at wolfnordog.com have packaged an autographed copy of To Walk the Red Road with an autographed copy of Neither Wolf nor Dog and are offering them at a special holiday price of $34.95. They have told me that they will do free gift wrapping and work out special gift boxes if you so desire. You need only to go to their website, wolfnordog.com, to place an order or to find out more.

I know that a lot of you have asked about To Walk the Red Road over they years, since it figures so prominently in the story of Neither Wolf nor Dog. It has always been a frustration to me that I could not help you find copies. Now I can, at least for as long as the few hundred we have printed last. I think the book by itself is a wonderful accomplishment, because it gives you a glimpse, through photos and memories, into one of the few closed reservations in the country and a place that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for the last several years. If you want to see what it was like to grow up on a reservation, and to hear the stories as the elders told them to the children, To Walk the Red Road offers you the rare opportunity to do so.

I hope this posting gets to those of you who have asked over the years, as well as to those of you who would find this pairing of books to be something valuable to own or give. I don’t keep track of the numbers of remaining books, so I can’t guarantee how long this pairing will be available. But, for now, we have them.

Click here to go to wolfnordog.com to order your own copies.

Immediately after the publication of Neither Wolf nor Dog I began receiving inquiries about To Walk the Red Road because of the fact that Dan made mention of it in Neither Wolf nor Dog. I would direct people to Red Lake High School or the tribal archives at Red Lake, since the school held the copyright. But since we had printed so few of them and they had become so popular around the reservation and throughout Indian country, there were none to be had.

School districts are not notoriously wealthy entities, and those on reservations are especially poor. So there has been no money to reprint the book. But now, the school district has granted me permission to reprint a limited number on my own.

I am making them available to you through my sisters’ website, http://wolfnordog.com/. Go there and click on What’s New and follow your way down the text to the place where you can order To Walk the Red Road.

What you will find in this book is the voices of ordinary folks talking about their upbringing and their memories of what their elders told them. There are stories that range from one man’s memory of his grandfather being brought home on a travois after a battle with the Sioux to a woman’s recollection of making a joke to a white woman in a store that had the white woman believing that the Red Lakers made soup out of dogfood.

What makes these stories so wonderful is that they were told to the young people. These were not people talking to an anthropologist or professional interviewer. These are the parents’ and grandparents’ memories and teachings that they want their own children and grandchildren to hear.

I want this book to get out to the general public, so I will probably reprint this post several times in the future. If I don’t, it will simply scroll into obscurity, and new visitors to the website will not be aware of this wonderful treasure that is finally available to them.

I will also post a bit more about the book in the next few weeks. I’d like to share a few stories about its creation with all of you.

So, if you’re interested, go to http://wolfnordog.com/ and order your copy. You can, of course, order it as part of a gift box or basket or with Neither Wolf nor Dog if you know someone to whom you’d like to give Neither Wolf nor Dog and the book that helped bring it into being.

And to all of you who have waited — thanks for your patience.

I’d like to tell you a little bit about this CD.

I had wanted to make a CD of one of my smaller, more spiritual books, for years. They grow out of my background in theology and spiritual traditions, and they have about them the quiet musicality of poetry and prayer.

This is not accidental. I have always believed that words have power and language has music. Rhythm, pacing, space and silence; crystalline images and internal poetry — these are the tools of my trade when I set out to write from the heart.

I have never before had the opportunity to allow you to hear my books the way that I hear them — the way I want them to be heard. This is my chance to offer them to you with the intimacy of my own voice and feeling.

I chose Small Graces for the first audio book because so many of you asked for it. I was also deeply touched by several people who said that their parents or wife or husband kept it by their bed when they were ill, and took solace in hearing it read aloud.

Now I can offer it to all of you to hear aloud. Whether as a private meditation, a quiet moment while driving, or a friend to have nearby while going about your daily tasks, this audio version of Small Graces will offer you the book in a new and richer way.

I hope you will go back to the main page and click on the CD links right below the banner. There you can read a review of Small Graces by the wonderful reviewers of spiritual books, music, and films, Frederic and Maryann Brussat, and listen to two sample tracks from the CD itself. The cello interludes between sections were composed and played by a friend, Patrick Riley, who was a member of the Baltimore Symphony before he chose to devote himself to developing the talents of young musicians.

I’m thrilled with this CD. It is like a light in the clearing, revealing moments that had been hidden up until now.

If you have friends of family who can no longer read, I hope you will consider purchasing a copy to share with them. In this CD, they will hear the heartbeat of the book.

I want to thank you again for asking me to do this recording. It allowed me to meet my own book anew. I look forward to hearing if you, too, feel that the audio version brings the book alive in a new and special way.

And I look forward to the chance to read to you.

——

Addendum

I just happened to open an old blog while looking for something else. Who says there aren’t concurrences in this universe? It was from January th, 2004 — almost exactly three years to the day from today, and, I gather from the blog, that it was a day much like today (it was -30 here last night).

Here is what the blog said. You may go back in the archives and find it for yourself, if you’re so inclined:

Technorati : CD, nerburn, small graces, spoken word

In response to requests from many of you, I have, with the help of my family and the good people of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, put together what I feel are some very unique and meaningful gifts for you to share with family and friends.

I did this for a reason.

Giving has become harder for all of us. We have so much; we need so little. We struggle to find meaningful symbolic gifts or gifts that speak from the heart.

Those of you who value my books often do so because they give voice to your own beliefs and feelings. They reflect something of your own heart given voice through my words.

The Quiet Moments basket and Heart of the North gift boxes allow you share these beliefs and feelings with others, and to do so in a way that has a gentle, graceful formality.

This is why I have taken the time to sign each book by hand. I want those who receive a box or basket to know that you cared enough to offer them something personal with the touch of another human hand upon it. I want them to know that you went beyond the ordinary to offer them a gift that speaks from your heart to theirs.

Please click on the images or visit the Gifts and Products page to learn more or place an order.

We have them ready and can ship them to you as soon as your order is received.

We can also answer questions or personalize a box or basket if you should so choose.

Within the next two weeks we should also have the CD of Small Graces available, and we can always offer you the simple gift of a personalized book with a message inscribed inside.

Please contact us with your thoughts or ideas. We want to help make this a season of giving in the best and truest sense of the word.