Another Poem From She is Poetry

Here's another poem from She is Poetry.  I'm in the final revision process for the proof... Hopefully it will be ready soon!  Enjoy!

“Love is” Sonnet

Love is to me, like a warm day blooming

When spring has come and the birds are chirping

Love is to me, like a joy and laughter

When around we romp and play together

Love is to me like tension, a threatening

The way is unclear, hard, confusing

Love is to me like parchment and a pen

Words wait to pour forth like notes from a wren

Love is to me, like war and a wrestling

In the mess and blood and in the breaking

Love is to me, like a soul stream bubbling

Over rocks and twigs, ever flowing

Love is to me, like melodious song
When poetry and notes, go on and on

Today is Momentous... A Book is Coming!

Today is momentous...

Today I ordered a proof of my first book to be officially published (although not the first I have written): She is Poetry

Today, I embrace my poems.  Today, once again, I embrace the story which I have lived and am living.  Today, I take another step toward sharing with others some of what has been placed in me.

I feel nervous and excited.  Hopeful and terrified.

Here's the teaser which is included in the book and which some of you have seen before:

Poetry and Prose

He is the land and She is the sea.;

He’s solid and firm; She, fluid and free.

He is the dusk and She is the dawn.

He is the sun and She is the moon.

She speaks in poetry and He in prose;

She set her heart on him; Her, he chose.

He is the King of knights and men;

She is the Queen of peasants and children.

He is majestic and noble and righteous;

She is regal and good and gracious.

She writes in poetry and He in prose.

Home is her haven; the wild, He knows.

He is strong and handsome and daring;

She is unbound and fair and soul-baring.

He is justice and She is mercy.

He is melody while She is harmony.

He moves and acts, She watches and waits.

She was his destiny; He was her fate.

He is a tree while She is a rose;

She is poetry and He is prose.

I can't wait for the proof to come in the mail...

A Season of Joy!

I have been called to a season of joy.  There, I said it.

You would think I would be elated.  Overjoyed even (pun intended).  What a thing to be called to - joy!

But I am finding the path difficult.  I am finding I must often choose joy.  I must choose joy through gratitude.  I must choose it in rejoicing in moments when I am weary.  Worn thin - as Bilbo said, like butter spread over too much bread.  That image has stuck with me for years and I have felt that wearing ever since I came down with what they called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  I don't really know what it was but it plagued me for most of 10 years.  And I still feel it, the wearing.  That thin feeling.  I must choose joy not in some superficial way but in a deep connection to the fact that there is a loving God who desperately wants me to be here, in this moment, present to Him, and to the amazing riches he has for me not in some future time but right here, right now.

The last couple of years, I have been emerging from the wearing.  Clawing my way back toward life and gasping breath and rejoicing.  I have been choosing to leave the complaining, the whining, and the endless anxious grasping and running... But of course, there are still days when I am there.  When I go back to that familiar frantic rhythm which is not a pretty rhythm at all.

I get the privilege of working with clients every week, as a psychotherapist in training (in Virginia I have to technically write, Resident in Counseling).  And many of them have so much more anguish, agony, pain, sorrow, and struggle than I have ever had.  They are a reminder that many of my concerns are trivial and that living in fear doesn't get you anywhere, certainly not anywhere good.  They are a reminder that the deepest joy is often found at the heart of the deepest sorrow.

A few months ago, I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (thanks Mom for that beautiful gift).  And ever since I have been captivated by the door of gratitude which leads to presence, to divine connection, and to joy.  That was the beginning of the calling of this joyful season.  I don't know how long this season will last but I imagine in one way or another, it will be another current added to the river for the rest of my life.  I certainly hope so!

Honestly, there's a part of me which is relieved I haven't been called to a season of love (at least not yet) because I think that would be much harder...  I know, I know, we're called to love and to joy and to a whole host of other things but at least, this season is particularly about joy.  I'm grateful for that too.

If you're interested in joy and gratitude check out: http://onethousandgifts.com/