Basking With Dickinson

Here's a post I've had sitting around in my drafts folder since Jan. 5. Enjoy!

March 30, 2017

I see thee better in the dark, 
I do not need a light.
The love of thee a prism be
Excelling violet.

I see thee better for the years
That hunch themselves between, 
The miner's lamp sufficient be
To nullify the mine.

And in the grave I see thee best-
Its little panels be
Aglow, all ruddy with the light
I held so high for thee!

What need of day to those whose dark
Hath so surpassing sun,
It deem it be continually
At the meridian? - Emily Dickinson

If you've been around here for a while, you'll remember that I've gotten into poetry over the last few years and that however cliche it sounds, Dickinson is one of my favorite poets. I meandered over to the poetry section at the library on the last day of the year and came away with a small volume of her poems in my hand. I devoured a good bit of it while I waited for my Mom to get off of work.

The sun was shining as I sat in the van reading poem after poem. When I got to this particular poem, I stopped and read it through several more times. In these four stanzas, Dickinson had captured what I had been learning from God. It goes along so well with my word for 2017 that I had to share it here with all of you.

Oh, that I would be one whose dark had a sun that made it seem as though I lived right at the equator (or as I have since learned, that "meridian" can refer to the noonday sun). As one of God's own, I DO have such a sun. My prayer for this year is that I would bask in it whatever darkness threatens to draw me away.

Have you read any poems that are especially good lately? 

Has your word been showing up? 

You Might Enjoy

January 11, 2017

Since the middle of February I have been consciously collecting a list of things that will help me (or have prepared me to) DO this thing called BASKING that I've set out to do in the year ahead. If I'm honest, the occasional blue skies and the sun poking out from behind the clouds are my steadiest reminder, but there are things along the way that have done a lot of work too.

Here are some resources that have prepared me for 2017:

A sermon: The Glory of God in the Good Resolves of His People by John Piper - I'm not sure how many times I've listened to this sermon, but I've had it on my iPod for two whole years now. It's a theme that's on my mind often. I wrote about it here and it influenced the word I chose to focus on last year.

A book: Grace For the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman - I've read Freeman's blog for YEARS. She writes the way I long to write, connecting her faith to the most ordinary of moments in her everyday life. I read this book a while ago, but it was in its pages that I finally GOT what it was for Jesus to be about His Father's business. This book made me DIG around in the Bible. It encouraged me to look to Christ's example as I sought to BE a Christian. This is NOT another women's book about "letting go and letting God". It will breathe TRUTH into your soul and it will  challenge you to stand firm.

Some prose that reads like a poem: Scrolling through instagram one day back in October, I came across these words by C.S. Lewis (it turns out they were taken from a section out of Mere Christianity). It goes like this:

NEARER

"If you want to get warm

             you must stand 

            near the fire: if

           you want to be 

               wet you must get 

           into the water.

             If you want joy, 

                    power, peace, eternal 

              life, you must get 

                  close to, or even into,

        the thing that 

 has them."

                         - C.S. Lewis

Here are some things that are keeping me focused in 2017:

A playlist: Bask 2017 - This won't be for everyone, but it's the kind of music that I can't help but be grateful to have in my life. These songs have been encouraging me and teaching me and challenging me for years. Hit shuffle and ENJOY!

A plan: Stay in the Gospels - In light of the task this word spurs me onto, I felt the best place to go was to the example of Jesus Christ, Himself. So, I've been spending time with Him in the Gospels. I started with John, then moved on to Mark, and I'm going to start Matthew today. I can't remember who said it, but a theologian of old encouraged every Christian to always have their thumb in the Gospels no matter what other Scripture they were focusing on. In different seasons, I've attempted to do that.

Resolves: Going for walks in silence. Keeping a list of prayer requests handy and going over it or checking back in with the people that have asked me to pray. Journaling out Scriptures and lessons and prayers and preaching the Word to myself. Staying in touch with friends and listening to the stories of grace that they have to share or the burdens of faith they are carrying.

Is there anything you would recommend to me? 

What are some things that have been pointing you to God lately? 

The Best Somebody

Here's a poem by one of my favorite writers. Over the last seven months, our lives have been gravitating around theatre which may be why this poem appealed to me. I have a feeling you're going to enjoy it too.

Act III, Scene ii by Madeleine L'Engle 

Someone has altered the script.
My lines have been changed.
The other actors are shifting roles.
They don't come on when they're expected to,
and they don't say the lines I've written
and I'm being upstaged.
I thought I was writing this play
with a rather nice role for myself,
small, but juicy
and some excellent lines.
But nobody gives me my cues
and the scenery has been replaced.
I don't recognize the new sets.
This isn't the script I was writing.
I don't understand this plot at all.

To grow up
is to find
the small part you are playing
in this extraordinary drama
written by
somebody else.

Theatre life or not, I can relate to these words soooo much! It's a lesson that we all have to learn. The thing is, that somebody is the best somebody. We can trust Him. His script is far better than ours. I'll be keeping this poem close by for a while!

Who is one of your favorite writers? 

Spring's First Conviction

January 31, 2016

"Spring's first conviction is a wealth beyond its whole experience." - Emily Dickinson

On the last Sunday afternoon of January, things had warmed up just a little bit and I had stepped outside with my Mom to turn my face to the sun that was peeping through the clouds. I couldn't help but notice that the large bush that hangs over the fence from our neighbors' yard was full of fuzzy little buds. 

Just the day before I had read Emily's words about the first conviction of spring and made the decision to look for it so that I could document it as soon as I found it. When I read those words, I didn't expect this spotting to come for MONTHS. 

Emily is right though...Seeing those buds and taking that picture did something for me. They reminded me that for all the snow and cold and fog, spring IS coming. It may have only been the end of January, but spring's first conviction had arrived. 

Every time I look at that bush, I'll be reminded that winter isn't all there is. One day soon it's going to get warm again and things will start waking up from their long sleep. I don't know what that bush looks like when spring arrives, but I'm excited to find out. 

Aging and Living

January 21, 2016

On the first day of the year I settled  into my old spot in the living room at our other house to listen to a poem online. It was so good that I listened to it several more times before taking it down in my journal. Though the punctuation and line structure is probably wrong, here it is:

The Gift by Mary Oliver
Be still, my soul, and steadfast
Earth and heaven both are still watching
Though time is draining from the clock
And your walk that was confident and quick 
Has become slow.
So, be slow, if you must
But let the heart still play its part
Love still, as once you loved, deeply and without patience
Let God and the world know you are grateful
That the gift has been given. 

Today, the sky is basically gray and it is quietly drizzling, but on the day that I heard that poem the fresh snow was sparkling in the sunlight. The sky was blue and my mind was a few blocks away with Alice in the hospital.

Alice has taught me so very much. The only reason these words could mean so much to me at 25 is because of her friendship. This poem is about aging and it is also about living. I take Oliver's words and Alice's lessons with me as soul stirring HOPE.

Aging can't be stopped and won't be stopped. Love lets gratefulness for the gift of life and eternal life SHINE. Be slow, if you must, but don't ever stop letting God and the world know that you are grateful.

Just The Thing

January 2, 2016

I've mentioned my (not so) new found love of poetry before...After taking two rounds of Modern and Contemporary Poetry with Al Filreis' crew, it is safe to say that poetry has become a part of my life. I was the kid in jr. high who LOATHED poetry. When a poetry unit came up, my argument against poetry was ready, "Why can't they just SAY what they mean?!?!?" 

It took one fall under Filreis for me to realize that they ARE saying exactly what they mean and then a second fall under him again to get me to see that the meaning IS worth digging for. Poetry is about giving answers and it's also about asking questions. This last fall I learned that sometimes you DON'T understand what they mean and a lot of times, you're not supposed to and THAT is the point. 

I spent the fall reading assigned poetry and choosing one volume of an author's poetry each time I went to the library. I flew through several volumes of Billy Collins' poetry (his pieces are either really good or really, really strange). William Carlos Williams' work had me eager to read more. After taking one volume of Mary Oliver back, I'm ready to give her a second chance (I've got a poem from her new collection titled "Felicity" to share with you soon). The little book of Eugene Fields' poetry that my Mom convinced me to pick up has been really interesting too. What makes it most interesting is that I know NOTHING about him. 

Here I am, in the middle of winter with a poetry routine and a heart full of gratitude...I want to share more poetry here, so you can watch for it a once a month or so. I'm currently plodding through some Dickinson (who happens to be one of my favorites - cliche, I know). The other morning, I came across a poem so good that I HAD to read it out loud to my Mom. It's been on my mind ever since. Fun fact: when my Mom was in jr. high, she discovered Dickinson and pretty much became obsessed with her. Knowing that may have influenced my own favoritism. Who knows.

My little poetry routine isn't fancy. I choose a volume and then I make my way through it. I love reading it in the quiet morning hours, but sometimes, I read it at night instead. Sometimes I read 50 pages and other times I can barely make it through one poem before I'm ready to sit and stew on it for a while. I enrolled in the first class because I wanted to GET poetry. By the third week of my second class, I was surprised to find that I not only got it, but that I was ENJOYING it. 

Here's the poem I came here to share today...Enjoy!

"Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me." - Emily Dickinson

You guys...Hope offers soooo much and costs nothing. And that's a pretty good lesson to carry us through the rest of winter.

The Brain Within Its Groove

October 27, 2014

The Brain, within its Groove
Runs evenly --and true--
But let a Splinter swerve--
'Twere easier for You--

To put a Current back--
When Floods have slit the Hills--
And scooped a Turnpike for
Themselves--
And trodden out the Mills--

Emily Dickinson



A mind IS powerful. If it gets away from you, it is an ugly beast. Unstoppable almost.

Dickinson is content to leave it at that, but her words caused me to continue. The problem of the wicked mind running away and dragging us with it is the real problem behind so much of our anxiety and fear and anger.

 Reading about Zelda Fitzgerald and Isobel Kuhn and even Agatha Christie has let me in on a little secret - I'm not alone in the games my mind plays on me.

I'm not the only one who finds myself very discouraged. I'm not the only one who has times when it seems that the darkness is so overwhelming, there is no way around it. I'm not the only one who looks out at this life and realizes that for all the good, there is a lot of BAD.

I know the power of my mind when it escapes from its groove. I also know the agony that follows.

The best course of action is to not let our minds get away. We must do all that we can to keep them in their groove. Even a fleeting thought, a splinter, and you could be in for yet another "ride". 

What our mind needs is the Word of God working in us by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Only this Word can remind us of the truth and direct our minds to stay on course. 

Are you into poetry? What's your favorite poem?

Do the words of this poem ring true for you? 

Do you battle fear and anxiety? 

 

I might be back next Tuesday 

with a few more thoughts on this.

In the meantime, let's chat!