My heart
My heart
Beats poetry
Words fail
When music stops
I die inside
Does God sing for me?
***
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 1 November 2016
Photo credit: DAFraser, July 2016, Rhine River
Cormorant taking off in early morning light
Telling the Truth
connecting the dots of my life
Tag: Life and Death
November 1, 2016
February 21, 2016
Holy Things and Unholy Greed
What have I stored up for later in the pantry of my mind? In the subterranean corners of my basement, or upstairs in the attic?
Stuff. Lots of it. Not bad stuff. In fact, Read the rest of this entry »
February 7, 2016
Opening the windows to God’s wind
That’s all I have to do — open the windows to God’s wind.
During the last 24 hours I’ve been up and I’ve been down. So far down I thought my mind wouldn’t escape its endless loop in the early hours of the morning when I couldn’t sleep. Read the rest of this entry »
February 5, 2016
If your Nerve, deny you —
During the last three months I’ve become hooked on Emily Dickinson’s enigmatic poetry. Today I’m trying my hand at personal reflections on one of my favorites. It’s from a collection of just over 100 of her poems. The editor has restored the author’s own vocabulary and punctuation, using original, sometimes difficult to decipher manuscripts as her guide.
Fortunately, the editor’s pointers for reading the poems included reading them often and reading them out loud. Since then I’ve Read the rest of this entry »
January 19, 2016
The Distance
The Distance between Lonely
and Alone is like the Chasm
between Perpetual Ache
and Irreversible Death
For one, Sweet Balm—
for the other, Being Embalmed Read the rest of this entry »
January 4, 2016
Contempt wears many faces | A Dream, Part 5 of 5
~~Unchained Women! Unrecognized, under-rated power to change the subject
I’m on a public street. I’ve just witnessed brutality against two young women, not in real time but in my dream. Now, out of my dream, what to do next? I pull out my cell phone and call 911. Will anyone respond? This isn’t an upscale area.
I kneel beside the sobbing woman Read the rest of this entry »
December 22, 2015
Muslims shielding Christians | CNN newsfeed
CNN reported this out today with an interview and more details about this incident. Take a look right here. Also, check out the short text below the video. Most of the passengers were women! Yes, there were also men. And most of the passengers were women!
To see my post yesterday about this event, click here.
So why is this important? It raises the bar high when it comes to courage and risk-taking in our highly charged global situation. With you, I’m starving for stories like this. Indeed, we’re all starving for proactive kindness and solidarity with people we may not even know. Strangers, and neighbors near and far.
Thanks, CNN!
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 22 December 2015
November 22, 2015
All things are shadows | From an Old Soul
July 21, Diary of an Old Soul
All things are shadows of the shining true:
Sun, sea, and air—close, potent, hurtless fire—
Flowers from their mother’s prison—dove, and dew—
Every thing holds a slender guiding clue
Back to the mighty oneness: hearts of faith
Know thee than light, than heat, endlessly nigher,
Our life’s life, carpenter of Nazareth.George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul
Augsburg Fortress Press 1994
* * *
This sonnet makes my heart sing.
As wonderful as nature is,
with its “slender guiding clues,”
One rises above all others.
More than a shadow of shining truth,
The heart of every flower or drop of dew,
holding all things together,
Life of my life: “carpenter of Nazareth.”
I can’t help asking why? Why this man Jesus, carpenter of Nazareth, who lived for so few years on this earth? Why this man on his way to death from the beginning? Not known for being beautiful or easy to follow. Why this carpenter of Nazareth?
I’m not given to rational answers or apologetic reasoning. Yet without this carpenter of Nazareth in my life, I would have no life.
Without him I would see shadows,
but not the “shining true” within the shadows.
I would miss the “slender guiding clues” that point beyond.
Beyond the sun, sea and air;
beyond the flowers, doves and dew
to One who is closer and dearer than light and heat,
breath of my breath—“carpenter of Nazareth.”
A carpenter, vulnerable as am I. Not visibly glorious like a sunset, or majestic like galaxies spread over the universe. Vulnerable. Like a newborn infant, a flower or dove. Vulnerable like a frightened child, a painfully self-conscious teenager, a clueless young adult or new parent, a jaded war-weary adult, or an aging senior citizen.
Vulnerable to what? Being mocked, loved, rejected, abandoned, hated, ignored, disbelieved, understood, misunderstood, sick, hungry, thirsty, weary, sad, forsaken, fed up, angry, passionate, stalked, watched, betrayed, arrested without cause, convicted in a mock trial, beaten, paraded as a criminal, strung up to die.
He wasn’t a power-monger; he lived a human life and dealt with his human situation as one of us. A carpenter of Nazareth doing his best to remain faithful to God who gave him life and a seemingly impossible mission.
He showed us what to do and what not to do, how to be and how not to be. He showed us the way home and the way to die, and offered to walk with us.
I know him because he first knows me. His life tells me so.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 21 November 2015
November 5, 2015
engraved on the palm of God’s hand
At The Sky Hook Motel in Mitchell, Oregon, there was part of a Scripture verse in a picture frame on the wall. It brought to mind a memory.
Isaiah 49:16b
“…I have engraved you on the palms of my hands….”
October 19, 2015
In a Forest Somewhere | Photos
Yesterday D and I went for a forest walk with family members. The weather was perfect: cool, not cold; drizzly, not raining; overcast, not stormy–with sun breaking through during the last bit of our hike. Lots of downhill and uphill climbing on a marked trail.
It’s mushroom season! Read the rest of this entry »
Telling the Truth 