Category: Uncategorized
A Word or Two
A poem by Mary Oliver – “I Want to Write Something so Simply”
I want to write something
so simply
about love
about pain
that even
as you are reading
you feel it
and as you read
you keep feeling it
and though it be my story
it will be common,
though it be singular
it will be known to you
so that by the end
you think —
no, you will realize–
that it was all the while
yourself arranging the words,
that it was all the time
words that you yourself,
out of your own heart
had been saying.
Posting later today.
wishing His Grace and His Mercy for the morning,
wynnegraceappears
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Curve Ball
What joy I find in staring at this framed piece in my home. Gazing on it makes me happy. A nod to the light hearted, happy, carefree, the free-spirited side of life.
That big bouncing ball is life. Life is a ball. That orange orb of fun. Right in front of dog for the taking.
On the water floating, suspended by gravity, weightless, no tension. Held up by water, a life giver and life sustainer.
But what of those days when the ball is deflated and flat or slowly losing its ability to stay afloat.
When the pitch and toss on the waves bring unsteadiness. The ebb and flow bring trouble.
The unusually high tides cover us up, dry land is hard to find, terra firma for steadying the feet is in short supply. The dead low life tides leave too much exposed, abandoning life which needs a covering of water to stay alive.
Or a curve ball is thrown bringing surprise, uncertainty, unsettled emotion and the pain of “what just happened here”
What braces the heart in the dark shadows, the stormy places riddled with hurt.
C.H. Spurgeon says this in “Streams in the Desert” — “How can we have rain without the clouds? Our troubles have always brought us blessings, and they always will. They are the dark chariots of bright grace…. Our God may drench us with grief, but He will refresh us with mercy. Our Lord’s love-letters often come to us in black-edged envelopes.”
So today I take my ball and jump in the river of living water. John 7:38 — “Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.”
And I more than just stay afloat. I find Life from the Giver of Life.
Isaiah 12:3 -” Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation.”
Life is a ball, curves and all.
Isaiah 43:2 — “When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. when you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end.”
Drawing deep from the well of His Love.
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Learning to Savor
Stop, halt, pause, wait a dang on minute, hold up, hold your horses, freeze-frame, hold on, hold it – stop right where you are.
Searching for the words to stop life from moving forward right now. Seeking ways to savor and breathe in deep the here and the now, the moments of the present.
Knowing that there are precious moments and sub-moments and subtle micro-moments in the days of the now.
Looking for and longing after all that is in the present and pressing it down to the places of the heart.
A giggle, a grunt, a question, a statement, an expression, a comment, a look, a word – its all precious and its all worth capturing.
Learning to savor and breathe in all of the here and the now, the current, the present, the gift of the moment.
Because life won’t stop or hold on, I’ll seek to hold it, more closely, more tightly, more tenderly.
To capture, to record, to press into my memory keeper all of life thats happening now. To ingest and digest and marinate in all the good and the great and the joy and the love.
Because it is there for the capturing.
And is there to be cherished.
Sweet moments can rest in the places of the heart and be called back up again and again. But they must be recorded first. The historian of my memories is me and I must be fully awake and present.
Tonight we are having lamb and winter vegetables by the fire. I know it is more than that. It is a time for memory making and memory saving.
And I will be there seeking to savor the sweet taste of family. And by God’s grace I won’t miss a moment.
(the recipe and pictures of lamb and vegetables created by the Patient One will be posted under Home Sweet Home in a future post).
elizabeth w. marshall 