The heat is on.
Time to seek some shade.
Find ways to stay cool, calm and collected.
I love the long, sunny days but I’m fazed and frazzled by heat-waves. Maybe you too?
It’s too hot to think straight, write eloquently (or much at all, truth be told) or be active in any way.
I’ve been taking a social media and blogging break which I desperately needed.
My health has been challenging for some time, with increased weakness, pain and fatigue, so rest and recuperation remain my top priority.
And as I recover some strength, pacing my ‘activities’ carefully, I want to just touch base with you as a way of making a gradual return to my usual routines.
I’m largely housebound with M.E and chronic illness, and going on holiday is a distant dream, but there’s no harm in taking myself there by the power of imagination.
Which is what I have done with the poetic summer snippets below that were written some time ago.
I share them now as a way to say “Hi. I’m still here”, even though I may be struggling with feeling further flattened by the heat and humidity we have now in the UK!
You are not forgotten and I miss our conversations here.
Hope the weather is suiting you, wherever you are, and you can make the most of warm, sunny days.
With blessings and love until we meet again. Xx 🙂
‘Sunbathing’
Solid clumps of
people
sticking to
hot blades of
grass
The park abounds in
bodies
Frozen marrows of
idle
flesh which
blinks at frequent
intervals
They stir softly in
slumber
Deadened senses of
minds
groping after
clarity
focusing on nothing
Self-instincts admit
to ~ inactivity
©JoyLenton2014
Poetry Joy 
Hi Joy! So good to see you today, although I’m sorry that you aren’t feeling very well. I hope this time will be a benefit, and that the clouds of pain and tiredness will pass.
You are missed too 🙂
Ceil
Hi Ceil. It’s lovely to see you too! Thanks very much for stopping by to lift and encourage me. Sadly, when we have chronic illness it’s usually a matter of degrees of being ‘unwell’ rather than days of feeling significantly better, but I do hope and pray for further restoration and healing to come. Pain and tiredness are fixed features of my life that I have become accustomed to, though I know God grants some good days midst the bad ones ~ for which I am truly thankful. Bless you, sweet friend. It’s nice to be missed! 🙂 xox
Tears are pooling as I read this, Joy. Yes, this “taking myself there by the power of imagination” is awesome. Since I have a chronic illness, I know how discouraging chronic fatigue can be. I do better and catch infections less in my slower routine at home. I can go out when it’s warmer, but cold air tightens my airways big-time, so I’m pretty much homebound in the winter. If we allow our imaginations to work, we can go anywhere, right? 🙂 Praying God will give you strength for each day and a quiet peace in Him who writes our stories with great wisdom and love.
Trudy, your tender understanding heart is so encouraging and such a blessing. Thank you for sharing how chronic illness affects you too. We may live restricted lives in some senses but are able to rise above our circumstances by power of the imagination and (most of all) by the awesome power of God’s enabling grace. I love how He “writes our stories with great wisdom and love” as part of His greater narrative. Sending gentle *Hugs*, blessings, love and prayers to you too, fellow dreamer. xox 🙂
Hugs back to you, Joy. ❤️ Yes, what ever would we do without His enabling grace? And what a gift He gives in imagination, too. I’m trying to reclaim that uninhibited imagination He created me with. Sometimes life’s hurts can stilt it. Let’s dream on. 🙂
Trudy, I wouldn’t want to envisage a life without God’s grace, never mind live it out. We are so blessed to be recipients of it! Imagination is a powerful gift, and Jesus was a Master storyteller who wove His truth through strands of the everyday that people around Him could relate to. A lesson for us there, perhaps? 🙂 x
Just thought of something else… Jesus used imagination to tell stories. He loved teaching lessons in parables. So I’m certain He blesses imagination. 🙂