Living Fragrance

Haiku!

"Writing haiku offers the chance to honor, hold, and fully experience a fleeting moment that takes you out of yourself, a moment that hints at the deeper unity that lies beneath the surface of things. " ~ Margaret D. McGee

The other day when I was at the library I happened upon this book: Haiku -- The Sacret Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines by Margaret D. McGee. I'm so glad. In the past couple of years I've had a growing desire to express myself through poetry, but it's been a little daunting trying to figure out where to begin. Haiku is so simple. I'm just a couple chapters into the book, but it has felt easy to dive on in and try my hand at it (though I recognize my efforts are humble starts)...

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two noises twined in white:

humming fan and rumbling train

drown loud thoughts

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red digits glaring

beep beep beep beep prodding

time to rise

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small flip-flops stepping

on pigtail shadows in sun:

close to ecstasy

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dove's coo soothes

from wire above our garden...

lilac breeze

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midnight rain --

the mirror on my pine chest

reflects shadows

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I appreciate that the book's author seems to have a worshipful perspective - upcoming chapters are about crafting haiku from the springboard of Scripture meditation, so I am really looking forward to getting into that.

Have you ever attempted writing haiku? It's fun! I highly recommend the practice and this book.

I still hope to share more about my journey with One Thousand Gifts. It tickles me how these two books are fitting together in helping me learn to see God's hand in the simple moments of life.

 

Why such love?

From The Sacred Romance:

The gospel says that we, who are God's beloved, created a cosmic crisis. It says that we, too, were stolen from our True Love and that he launched the greatest campaign in the history of the world to get us back. God created us for intimacy with him. When we turned our back on him he promised to come for us. He sent personal messengers; he used beauty and affliction to recapture our hearts. After all else failed, he conceived the most daring of plans. Under the cover of night he stole into the enemy's camp incognito, the Ancient of Days disguised as a newborn. The Incarnation [...] was a daring raid into enemy territory. The whole world lay under the power of the evil one and we were held in the dungeons of darkness. God risked it all to rescue us. Why? What is it that he sees in us that causes him to act the jealous lover, to lay siege both on the kingdom of darkness and on our own idolatries as if on Troy - not to annihilate, but to win us once again for himself? This fierce intention, this reckless ambition that shoves all conventions aside, willing literally to move heaven and earth - what does he want from us?

What do you think?

Verbatim

It so happens that many of the books my oldest daughter has most enjoyed reading in the last few years where written in past eras.  The Betsy-Tacy series, Little House books, and the Chronicles of Narnia are amoung her favorites.  A funny outcome of this I've noticed is that she has picked up some expressions in her speech that aren't commonly used anymore. 

Earlier today we had a conversation that was a good example of this.  It made me smile... and suppress a chuckle.  She was sitting rereading Little House on the Prairie.

Her:  Oh, Mama. This is so funny what Pa said. Listen: "Now, by the Great Horn Spoon, I'll milk her!" *giggles*

Me:  Yes, they had some different ways of expressing themselves back then, didn't they?

Her:  They surely did!  I'm aimin' to remember that!

Reading list

A while back Andrea asked about my reading list for the year.  I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get it posted, but here it is.  For me, this list is not very formal - I may or may not be able to read all these books in a year (no worries!), and I could think of many more that I'm longing to read, but these are the first ones that have come to my mind.

Divine Conspiracy - Dallas Willard (reading now...a wow of a book)

Stepping Heavenward - Elizabeth Prentiss

Scribbling in the Sand - Michael Card

Believing God - Beth Moore

The Path of Loneliness - Elisabeth Elliot

The Dangerous Duty of Delight - John Piper

The Day of the Saints - Bill Hamon

Essential Wordsworth - Seamus Heaney

Robert Frost's Poems - Robert Frost

Hints on Child Training - H. Clay Trumball

The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis

For All God's Worth - N.T. Wright

Talking the Walk:  Letting the Christian Language Live Again - Marva Dawn

Reflecting the Glory - N.T. Wright

Church History in Plain Language - Bruce Shelley

Secrets in the Dark:  A Life in Sermons - Frederick Buechner

The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life - Hannah Whitall Smith

Persuasion - Jane Austen

The Shaping of Things to Come - Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

The Hidden Art of  Homemaking - Edith Schaeffer

As you can probably tell, my list is sadly lacking in the area of fiction.  Do you have any recommendations?

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Artwork: A Girl Reading. Alexei Alexeivich Harlamoff

Stargirl

"She was elusive.  She was today.  She was tomorrow.  She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl." 

That's Stargirl, the heroine of Jerry Spinelli's teen novel of the same name.  (Don't you love how the title is "written" on the cover?)  My husband picked up this book at the recommendation of our friends Chris and Cindy, who have also inspired us, by their example, to read together as a couple in the evenings.  We do so whenever time allows, which isn't every day, but is always rewarding when we do manage to make it happen.   Recently we had felt the need for some light literary fare (reading something fun together can do wonders for a relationship riddled with weariness), and this book has fit the bill nicely.  As you may gather, we think it's a great read for young and old alike, even though it was written for a teenage audience.

Stargirl is a fanciful tale which paints a beautiful portrait of selfless giving and guileless non-conformity.  The story is reminiscent of A Walk to Remember (another teen book we've read) for it is told by Stargirl's tenth grade friend and admirer, Leo.  But it also has a humor and ethereal feel because, well, Stargirl is unreal. The extent of her individuality will leave you chuckling, and the measures she takes to show kindness to others will humble and inspire you.

I've heard that one way to sum up the mission of Christianity is this:  to live to seek to make others' lives better.  This little book has given me a sweet picture to hold onto of what that can look like (albeit an extravagant example).  One of my prayers in the new year is that I will become less focused on myself and my concerns - more self-forgetful. And instead, grow more centered on others, entering into their pains, living an incarnational life.  Like Jesus...like Stargirl:

"Of all the unusual features of Stargirl, this struck me as the most remarkable.  Bad things did not stick to her.  Correction: her bad things did not stick to her.  Our bad things stuck very much to her.  If we were hurt, if we were unhappy or otherwise victimized by life, she seemed to know about it, and to care, as soon as we did.  But bad things falling on her - unkind words, nasty stares, foot blisters - she seemed unaware of.  I never saw her look in a mirror, never heard her complain.  All her feelings, all of her attention flowed outward.  She had no ego."

Reading in the new year

A new year has begun and folks are making resolutions.  For some, those resolutions include lists of books calling to be read.  In our family, my husband has a list, there are lists for our children's school reading, and I have a list of my own.  My favorite thing is when our lists overlap and we read together, but I'll save more talk on that for my next post.  My reading lists are never very formal...usually they are simply etched in my mind's eye.  Sometimes they inadvertently materialize as a pile of books at my bedside.  I've heard this is a common phenomenon for readers.  :)

It's one thing I've noticed about the blogging world - that many of its participants are avid readers.  I suppose this is only natural; writers read and readers write.  The two activities tend to go hand-in-hand.  I love to see posts flanked with lists and pictures of books.  I love to see what other people are reading.

For mommies with little ones under-foot, it can be quite a task to find the time to read.   Sometimes my hopes to really dig into books seem like pipe dreams.  You may have noticed that the reading list on my side-bar doesn't rotate very frequently.  It can be frustrating.  Never in my life have I felt such a burden and hunger to learn and grow - I want to be able to lead my children in the best ways and teach them wonderful things, and for that to happen, I have so much to learn myself.  But alas, never has there been less time to devote to my own education.

I came across this quote from Elisabeth Elliot, and found her thoughts so encouraging in these things: 

"During these busy years while you take care of small children and give yourself to being a godly wife and mother, lay the firm footing on which good writing must be built. Read great books if you have time to read anything at all. Get rid of the junk that comes in the mail, eschew all magazines and newspapers if your reading time is limited, and by “hearing” the really great authors, learn the sound and cadence of good English."  http: Amy's Humble Musings.

Such good advice.  So, I will continue to make my lists, seeking the very best things to read, and laying aside the fillers that steal away time.  And I will give myself grace when time is limited. 

It's such a beautiful thing that the mind can be renewed and strengthened by reading, and I don't want to miss out on such a gift.  Do you?  I find I need that renewing; it's all too easy for brain cells to get "fried" and negativity to sneak up in the dailiness of life. And of course, it must be said that there is no better book for the washing of our minds than the Word of God.  May it always be the first book to which we turn.

His presence

"Once you see the face of God, the world is forever transformed into His features."  -Peter Kreeft

The other day I posted a quote by Oswald Chambers which spoke of the need to cling to belief in the reality of God's presence in our lives.  It reminded me of a story I heard recently.  My husband has been reading C.S. Lewis's The Horse and His Boy to our children, and while I haven't sat in on as many sessions as I would like (I need to catch up and read it on my own), I did hear a bit that really hit my heart a week or so ago. 

If I understand correctly, the story centers around a boy named Shasta (and a horse, as the title suggests) who is running away from a cruel life to try to find freedom in Narnia.  On his journey he encounters various perils which cause him to feel that he must be the most unfortunate boy in the world.  Just as he is bemoaning the fact that everything seems to turn out alright for everyone except himself, he feels a presence walking beside him in the dark.  This is part of the conversation that Shasta has with the unknown Thing:

Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face.  "There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost.  Tell me your sorrows."

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath:  so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman.  And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert.  And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis.  And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to eat.

"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large Voice.

"Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?" said Shasta.

"There was only one lion," said the Voice.

"What on earth do you mean?  I've just told you there were at least two the first night, and - "

"There was only one:  but he was swift of foot."

"How do you know?"

"I was the lion."  And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the voice continued.  "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis.  I was the cat who comforted you amoung the houses of the dead.  I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept.  I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time.  And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."

And then, the story goes, the light of dawn shines around the Lion, who is Aslan, the King above all High Kings in Narnia.   For the first time, Shasta sees Him in all his terrible, wonderful beauty.  And the revelation changes everything for the boy.

I think that all of us can look upon events  in our lives (and the broader world, for that matter) and have reason to wonder about where God has been in it all.  It's so easy to doubt the reality of His presence and care when difficult things happen.  Perhaps that's one of the greatest griefs we can experience - that sense that we are alone and set adrift in this world without much tangible help or care. 

But more and more I am realizing that we must cling to the hope and truth of His presence despite circumstances.  A relentless belief in His presence makes all the difference on how we interpret the events of our lives.  I'm sure we've all heard the analogy that says  it's as if God is weaving an amazing tapestry in the lives of His people - not only in our individual lives, but also as our lives interlock with others.   His awesome presence is always there, superintending over everything, truly working things out for good.  The thing is, we don't always get to have a conversation like Shasta's and see what His purposes have been in the difficult things (although He does give us glimpses from time to time).  Some things just won't enter our understanding until we see Him face to face.   

Sometimes we get the message that the hard parts of life are for God's glory alone (as we show strength and endure through suffering), but there is great warrant, based on the promises of His Word, for believing that He is very concerned with establishing our glory and good as well.  I think we will be utterly amazed when our dim glasses are removed and it all becomes clear.  Most of all, we will be amazed at God's complete goodness towards us.  Until then, we have reason to have great hope in the midst of trials.  We must keep our eyes ever peeled for what He might be doing.

"His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory." (1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB)

Someday

I recently finished reading Donald Miller's Searching for God Knows What, a book that explores the theme of man's quest for redemption.  I really enjoy Miller's creative writing style, and he has an understanding and insight into human nature that runs quite deep.  This paragraph is part of the conclusion of the book:

"And I go back to Eden, in my mind, to imagine what it is going to be like for you and me in heaven.  I suppose it will be a new and marvelous paradise, where love will exist in its purest form, where the beauty of diversity will be understood for the first time, where self-hatred will fade into an agreement with God about the splendor of His creation, where physical beauty will no longer be used as a commodity, where you and I will feel free in our sincere love for others, ourselves, and our God.  And I suppose it will be in heaven that you and I actually understand each other, all the drama of the lifeboat a distant memory, all the arguments we had seeming so inconsequential, and the glory of God before us in all His majesty, shining like sunlight through our souls.  This will be a good thing, my friend."

So here's to that day.  Today's a day that I am really longing for it.

Children's literature and me

I thought a word of explanation might be fitting regarding the selections on my reading list.  You may have noticed that a number of them are children’s books.  Since our homeschooling philosophy thus far is largely literature-based (we spend lots of time reading together), it seems like my world is filled with kids’ stories these days.  It would not seem right to leave them off the list.   The truth is, I think that I enjoy children’s stories and educational literature just as much as any of the other books on my list.  I find that in our times of reading together my eyes are opened a little wider to the wonder and beauty of the world, both through the books themselves and also in observing my children’s responses.  Appreciation of the simple things in life is so easily lost in adulthood.  Reading with my children is one way in which I am reminded daily that in some ways it is good to grow young.  Speaking of the wonder and beauty of the world, I thought I’d share this excerpt from E.B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan (our current read-aloud) for your own reading enjoyment:

The cob was expecting to become a father any minute now.  The idea of fatherhood made him feel poetical and proud.  He began to talk to his wife.

“Here I glide, swanlike,” he said, “while earth is bathed in wonder and beauty.  Now slowly, the light of day comes into our sky.  A mist hangs low over the pond.  The mist rises slowly, like steam from a kettle, while I glide, swanlike, while eggs hatch, while young swans come into existence.  I glide and glide.  The light strengthens.  The air becomes warmer.  Gradually the mist disappears.  I glide, I glide, swanlike.  Birds sing their early song.  Frogs that have croaked in the night stop croaking and are silent.  Still I glide, ceaselessly, like a swan.”

“Of course you glide like a swan,” said his wife.  “How else could you glide?  You couldn’t glide like a moose, could you?” 

“Well, no.  That is quite true.  Thank you, my dear, for correcting me.”  The cob felt taken aback by his mate’s commonsense remark.  He enjoyed speaking in fancy phrases and graceful language, and he liked to think of himself as gliding swanlike.  He decided he’d better do more gliding and less talking.