My hope is to offer encouragement to writers as well as those who simply love to read. You will find eclectic snippets here—news of projects I’m working on, comments regarding books I enjoy, favorite authors, quotes, and reflections regarding my own experiences. I especially like to write about my dreams—those parables in the night seasons. Symbols and metaphors delight and intrigue me. You will find them here.
The day was mild and blue. A zephyr breeze gusted lightly over our faces. The sun caressed us. Burgandy sequins on my gown glinted in the tranquil light. We celebrated this day. A wedding. My daughter, the bride, was sequestered away in all her finery. The groom stood under the chuppah, smiling and trim, formal and handsome in his tux. Waiting.
I could hear the guests, their voices a melodic murmur as they took their seats in wooden chairs placed on the green. I looked out over the horizon and several boats sailed silently through the cobalt harbor waters. I was an observer in that moment--just listening and watching and feeling as if I might have landed in an enchanted geography--whispers of Narnia. This was a place that simultaneously contained a sense of pleasurable expectation and a delicate feeling of nostalgia.
The story is still asleep. It dreams.~From the movie, Here
Birds on a wire. Their quiet presence often snaps me out of my frenzy of doing. When I see them lined up like lovely, dark punctuation marks, I have this mysterious recognition once again of God's grace--a realization that I am in His care--that sweet spot where I understand that my most diligent assignment is to allow myself to be the focus of His delight.
I walk the several blocks from my place of employment to the hospital where George lies unintelligible and profoundly bruised. I found him days before when his sweet son, my friend, could not reach him by phone. George lay crumpled naked and vulnerable in his bathtub after suffering a stroke. I kneeled by the bathtub and held his hand until the emergency squad arrived. "Help is on the way, Geroge; help is on the way." Tears stream down my face. I can't believe my brilliant friend has met the confluence we all dread--old age and the loss of normalcy.
"God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life."~Psalm 51:15
A rough week--thrown off the life carousel by the pretty painted pony. The merry-go-round rotations whirling too fast--a jangle of stress, the organ music no longer melodic, but sounding strident and dissonant.
I land with a thud--not feeling well physically, spiritually or psychologically. An outbreak of acne. I am stumbling at work, feeling overwhelmed--too many tasks and not enough energy--insufficient depth to tackle the stack of expectations sitting before me--discouragement welling in my heart regarding the role I love most as writer artist. No book sales since June. And all that money spent to have some sort of platform online. Too many other books. A sea of books. A mountain of books.
She has always made me laugh--this daughter of mine--her spirit the exact opposite of melancholy. Even as a baby she was easy to be with. She didn't cry much. Often, upon waking, I would go to her and there in the morning light she would stand, her baby hands grasping the side of her crib, bouncing and singing a song from some secret, sacred place of innocence--those mother moments that bring joy indescribable.
The years pass. A blur sometimes with all of life's bittersweetness. The pain. The delight. And all along this frothy,phosphorescent trajectory, my daughter has sung and turned her face to heaven. And because she has looked upward to the One who knows her best, she has carried many people along with her in this wake of love, grace and joy--peers, children, family--and now possbily the most important, this darling husband to be, her beloved.