subtle changes in color and texture
create a minimalist feast for spring-starved eyes
***
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 21 March 2017
“WU Blossoms” taken by WurzelDave in Somerset, UK
Posted on the WeatherUnderground App in February 2017
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Minimal
For several weeks I’ve been thinking about end of life issues, wondering what my daily ‘plan’ is for getting from here to there. How will I order my life each day? I don’t own the time my Creator has entrusted to me. So how will I invest it?
Whatever chaos is, it’s the way I’ve experienced most of my life. A chaos of competing priorities, demands, expectations (yours and mine), rules and regulations, political realities….
I’ve spent years trying to get through and beyond chaos. Yet here’s what happened this past weekend.
From my journal:
It’s 3:30pm, Saturday afternoon. I’m not exercising in the house, not cleaning up the kitchen, not vacuuming, not playing music, not reading a book, not writing a poem, not going through files and piles, or anything else except this—showing up and writing this journal entry.
How I feel right now: weary, unmotivated, discouraged, somber….terrible. Wasting time. Trying to practice centering prayer yet falling asleep. Watching time slip away.
Do I enjoy this? I don’t think so, but sometimes I wonder. Perhaps this is more enjoyable to me than changing my habits.
…My most lethal enemy seems to be lethargy. A kind of glue that keeps me from having an active agenda of things I love to do.
My mind goes through tricks like these:
- If I read a novel, I’m wasting time. If I play the piano, I’m wasting time. Can’t I see how much work needs to be done in the kitchen, the house, the attic, my office?
- If I walk in the house or ride on my recumbent bike or bounce on the rebounder, it isn’t ‘real’ exercise—so why bother?
There’s a crazy logic here—if I do this, I won’t be able to do that. (Or it won’t count anyway.)
And then there are all those other good things I’m not doing that haunt me—
- Sending notes and cards to friends who need encouragement
- Vacuuming the house
- Cleaning the curtains and windows
- Weeding out unneeded kitchen utensils
- Taking things to the Salvation Army or some other charity
Like I said in my last entry, I don’t have a plan for organizing my life. It seems all I do is make sure my food needs are met, wash laundry when absolutely necessary, rest and sleep enough, and do other maintenance work that demands my attention.
Later that same day (Saturday evening now), I was back to my journal. Here’s what finally broke through the chaos and lethargy and made me crazy happy.
From my evening journal:
The best part of today: posting this morning and getting tomorrow’s post ready to go. I can’t begin to express how important blogging has become for my growth and enjoyment. I’d even put it on the same level as walking out of doors. Even ahead of playing the piano…and reading.
Which led to my Crazy Happy Lady List of Priorities – things that top my list of things I love to do just for myself.
As for other activities,
Thanks for listening, and Happy Spring!
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 20 March 2017
Elegant Photo of Woman Writer found at salon.com
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Label
purple carpet waves
soft lavender on cold ground
golden eyes twinkle
***
I’m just back from a morning walk through my neighborhood. Birdsong filling the air, lazy sounds on near-deserted streets, sun bright, cool air breezy, and several lovely carpets of crocus.
My eyes filled with tears, and I recalled one of my favorite college choir choral pieces. It seems fitting for this time of year and this time in world history. The words come from Isaiah’s vision of arid ground blossoming and flourishing in every possible way. Spoken not when things were going well, but when they were going downhill at breakneck speed.
I’m heartened by these words. Encouraged not to give up, but to keep my eyes and my heart focused on what matters most. And, like Isaiah, willing and able to stand before God and speak truth to corrupt power. Isaiah’s vision comes as a stark contrast to the corruption he spoke against and lived with day and night. It’s a promise to each of us who’s willing to listen, live through and with the hard times, do what we can and must, and keep our eyes on God’s larger picture. God has not forgotten us or rainbows.
Isaiah 35:1 (New International Version)
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy….
Praying you’ll have an encouraging, revitalizing Sabbath rest.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 25 February 2017
Photo found at mvg222.blogspot.com; taken at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Arid
~~Emilio Magistretti, il Duomo, General exterior view from the east, 1921.
Do you remember They shut me up in Prose – ? Here Emily proclaims the superiority of her fairer House. That would be Poetry, of course! Here’s her poem, followed by my comments.
I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of Eye –
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –c. 1862
Emily Dickinson Poems, Edited by Brenda Hillman
Shambhala Pocket Classics, Shambhala 1995
Several things catch my eye immediately.
At first, Emily’s simple gesture irritated me. As though this Occupation (writing poetry) could be like falling off a cliff into magic land. But I don’t think that’s her meaning.
Emily says her Hands (perhaps literal, certainly figurative) are narrow, and must be spread wide to catch a bit of Paradise. There’s humility and expectation in this gesture. An acknowledgment that ‘something’ is out there waiting to be gathered. And so she spreads her narrow hands wide and receives an overflow of Paradise.
Emily also acknowledges her ‘fairest’ Visitors. Maybe they’re poets, or their inspiring poetry resides on the bookshelves of her fairer House than Prose. Perhaps they’re also birds, bees, butterflies, sunsets and sunrises. All creation great and small. No matter their identity, Emily welcomes them into her fairer House than Prose.
I suggest Emily herself is the ‘House’ in which she dwells. A House that’s both narrow (limited as any of our bodily houses are), and exceptionally open to what lies beyond her limited capacity to discern with her eyes.
And so she spreads wide her narrow Hands to gather Paradise into her cryptic, hesitant, enigmatic and captivating Poetry. And we are the happy recipients–now politely, of course, visiting her Poetry.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 23 February 2017
Image found at thewinedarksea.com
Here’s a charming poem from Emily Dickinson. It suits my mood for something that turns my eyes toward the heavens. Something spectacular that hints of glory and power beyond our human capacities. My personal response follows.
She sweeps with many-colored Brooms –
And leaves the Shreds behind –
Oh Housewife in the Evening West –
Come back, and dust the Pond!You dropped a Purple Ravelling in –
You dropped an Amber thread –
And now you’ve littered all the East
With Duds of Emerald!And still, she plies her spotted Brooms,
And still the Aprons fly,
Till Brooms fade softly into stars –
And then I come away –c. 1861
Emily Dickinson Poems, Edited by Brenda Hillman
Shambhala Pocket Classics, Shambhala 1995
I first found this poem in my Emily Dickinson collection for young people. However, it’s also in my adult collection. So taking the role of an adult child, several possible responses come to mind.
Of course all that is nonsense. Emily isn’t writing about a sloppy housewife. She’s describing a majestic display in the heavens that just keeps traveling around the earth each minute of every sunset.
Even more amazing, the beauty being swept across the evening sky comes from the remains of the day. The ‘Duds.’ The ragged old clothes that are tired and worn out. Not sure they’ll live to see the next day. Coming near the end of their life, almost but not quite disappearing into darkness.
Such a spectacular, even wasteful show of beauty. Doesn’t this Housewife understand what’s going on down here? How dare She waste time with the dust and duds of this earth in a show of supposed glory? Doesn’t She know what really matters and will make a concrete difference?
I love the extravagance of this Housewifely Creator. Day in and day out. One magical sunrise and sunset after another. Especially sunsets that transform bits and pieces of throw-away detritus and fragile whisps of clouds, making them a Prelude to the starry night. All for our delight, awe and encouragement. We are not left to our own devices.
Psalm 8:3-4
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mere mortals, that you care for them?
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 28 January 2017
Image found at nikonusa.com
Huddled ranks
Soar toward heaven
Stand guard
in ice-plumed headdress
before spiked doorway
Distant turrets beckon
Enter
if you dare
***
My first thought when I saw this photo was Narnia, under the spell of the Wicked Witch — who, of course, was eager to entice at least one vulnerable earth boy to her icy palace, deep within her icy world. Have you read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis? If not, get hooked and read the entire series. At least twice! Enter, if you dare….
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 17 January 2017
Photo of ice formations taken by walcek on 16 Jan 2017
in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA
Photo found on the Weather Underground App
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Invitation
How hungry are you? What does it mean to be hungry? Emily Dickinson’s reflections give me pause. My comments follow.
I had been hungry, all the Years –
My Noon had Come – to dine –
I trembling drew the Table near –
And touched the Curious Wine –‘Twas this on Tables I had seen –
When turning, hungry, Home
I looked in Windows, for the Wealth
I could not hope – for Mine –I did not know the ample Bread –
‘Twas so unlike the Crumb
The Birds and I, had often shared
In Nature’s – Dining Room –The Plenty hurt me – ‘twas so new –
Myself felt ill – and odd –
As Berry – of a Mountain Bush –
Transplanted – to the Road –Nor was I hungry – so I found
That Hunger – was a way
Of Persons outside Windows –
The Entering – takes away –c. 1862
Emily Dickinson Poems, Edited by Brenda Hillman
Shambhala Pocket Classics, Shambhala 1995
In the 1950s, we drove the same route every day on our way to grade school in Savannah, Georgia. Over the years, two large housing developments began going up just outside the city limits. Young couples with growing families Read the rest of this entry »
Breath of God
Unseen
Artist of my heart
And life
Breathe on me
The wind is cold
Unyielding
To my vain cries
For mercy
Breathe on me
Evening shadows
Lengthen
In fading light
Brilliant
and foreboding
Deep blue sky
Darkens
Trees bend and sway
Breath of God
Breathe on me
It’s late afternoon. This morning I woke to this photo on my weather page. I thought immediately about my life and the way God’s Spirit has blown through and around it, unseen and unbidden.
Looking back, I’d say the outcomes today are beyond my wildest dreams. Not that I’m perfect or successful or even ‘special.’ Rather, this is about contentment.
I’m at peace with myself, though not always with situations in which I find myself. Or even with my behavior. Nonetheless, things have changed in my spirit over the last several years.
Today I have compassion for myself as a child, as a young teenager, as a wife, mother and grandmother, and as a retired professional. I rarely struggle with feeling like a fraud, or with harsh self-talk that belittles me or accuses me of being The Problem with Everything.
I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’m saying I’m at rest with who I am and who I am not. Especially from the inside out. The part that really matters.
I like what I see when I think of myself as a huge pile of snow, sculpted by God’s Spirit through winds of change. I know, things aren’t exactly spectacular in the world right now. It’s just that today I’m at peace with myself.
Thanks for reading! I pray you’ll have a peace-filled Sabbath rest.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 14 January 2017
Photo taken by Brian Bender at Martin, North Dakota, USA, 13 Jan 2017
Found at Weather Underground App
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Unseen
rising moon
reflects warm glow
through tangled limbs
***
midwinter sign of hope
discovered this morning on my iPad
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 12 January 2017
Photo taken in Soldotna, Alaska USA by wildernessgrl, 12 Jan 2017,
found on the Weather Underground App
It happened overnight
Small bits of snowy white
Floating from heaven
Kissed this earth to sleep
Without wild winds
Or drifting piles
It spread its glowing comforter
Then tiptoed off to bed
***
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 6 Jan 2017
Image found at wallpapersafari.com
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Float
Telling the Truth 