change

Burning bright and clear

/ Joy Lenton / 10 Comments

The lights are going out everywhere.

Decorations put away for another year.

Brightness losing to grey and gloom.

But what if we deliberately make room for it?

With ‘listen’ being my #oneword365, I aim to use all of my senses more fully.

And as a personal writing challenge this year, I am starting with 31 days of being more mindful.

Notice normal.

Find ordinary extraordinary.

Turn away from doom and drear.

Let my interest in life burn bright and clear.

See God’s goodness and grace all over the place.

Savour the flavour of life ‘As Is’ in a way I may not have done before.

It began on January 1st with this #smallstone offering:

And it has continued since as I’ve shared them on social media. Not aiming for perfection ~ just attention to detail ~ I will share some of them here with you too.

Today’s poem came from reflecting on the change of season and end of Christmas/New Year celebrations.

Maybe I can encourage and inspire you to actively listen to your life and find greater joy and discovery in the everyday? I hope so.

‘Evergreen’

Embracing a new year

means that Christmas decorations

tend to disappear

and all its celebrations

are at an end

Though God’s Light

is not suspended

but shining bright and clear

it remains to comfort and to cheer

Burning evergreen in our souls

perfect for every season

it is the very reason

we are healed, restored, made whole

throughout the year

as it leads, guides and directs

our pathways here

©JoyLenton2014

Embracing the inevitable

/ Joy Lenton / 13 Comments

Autumn weaves its magical misted mellowness across our land.

We bathe in its golden glow of fruitful abundance.

Leaves dance bright then fall in sympathy with our moods.

All too soon decay and death hang heavy at the door.

Tinged with a chill air signalling further change in the atmosphere.

Seasons shift.

Imperceptibly then inevitably.

And we are forced to shift our perceptions and expectations along with the weather.

Adaptation is required to live well in a new season.

Though it doesn’t always come easy.

Change

You wear two faces

Friend and Foe,

encourage me to embrace

and withdraw

as you tug me out

of my comfort zone.

You steal Familiar

and Safe from out

of my grasp

until I’m left

clutching at straws

dangling mid-air,

readying to make

the leap of my life

or draw back in fear,

loose-leaf trembling

quivering on tentative twig

instead of solid branch.

When I flee from you

I’m left panting and gasping

slinking back to bolt-holes.

When I allow you entry

I fly free as bird

caught in your current.

I hate Unknown,

hate even more Uncertain,

draw life’s breath in Safety

dream sweet-slumber in Security,

have fear of falling, failing,

hopes and legs akimbo.

Now you whisper gentle, low,

resounding to my very depths –

I’m no joy-stealer, peace-eroder,

confidence-crippler.

I’m what you need

to Become and to grow.

©JoyLenton2013

How do you feel about embracing change?

What aspects do you enjoy or fear?

This post is the first in a new series of #mondaymusings

The first topic is about change in its varied forms.

Photo Credit:Jen Mguni at freshmercies.com

Unfolding and unfurling

/ Joy Lenton / 8 Comments

Life can get so busy we forget how to rest and relax fully.

Weighed down by stress and strain, it can be hard to really let go, to allow our souls to relinquish their tight grip on the daily grind.

Even during Sabbath our minds can be so preoccupied with the minutiae of mundanity that we sink beneath its weight.

Perhaps we can learn a lesson from the natural world around us.

Plants and flowers are dependent on the provision of daily nutrients, balance in temperature, ambient surroundings and conditions for growth and fruition.

They seem to do nothing much for a while then we see life springing forth where all seemed dormant before.

It is the closing down season for many plants and trees as Autumn winds blow chill, fall must come, and a dying back occurs.

Even as that process is happening around us, we can be cheered by the prospect of new life and growth to come out of dead matter.

Maybe it’s a season in your life too where God is asking you to rest, be still for a while, lay fallow.

Maybe you are restless to see green shoots appearing and all looks bleak and barren.

Be reassured that God hasn’t forgotten you.

God does His best work in the long, slow dark places of our lives as our hearts are made heavy with longing for Him.

This apparent laying aside or closing down is to ready you and make way for abundant life to come – at just the right time.

Unfolding

Purpose unfolding

as petals unfurl

to the sun

welcoming its rays

absorbing heat and light

so are our days

opening anew

pregnant with possibility

radiantly bright

with God’s promises

raining down

refreshing dew-drops

of His grace

to sustain the weary

poured out nectar

that feeds us

sustenance to embrace

for days cold and dreary

knowing there is always

more than enough

for everyone

©JoyLenton2013

No matter what season we may be in, God’s love pours out as continual draught of sunshine into our souls.

We can bask in the light of His presence.

Enjoy the outpouring of grace and mercy.

Rest in His peace.

When shadows loom large, we can comfort ourselves by remembrance of His goodness and provision unfolding for each new day.

Day 3 of the 31 day challenge of #poetryforthesoul

Stay tuned for more to come

And do let me know which ones you like best as they may end up in a future anthology

Indigenous

/ Joy Lenton / 6 Comments

In the hands of an expert potter, clay is something altogether marvellous in the way it can be transformed into objects of beauty.

If we dig our boots or hands deep into clay we get soiled with mire clinging fast to clothes and skin. Unlovely. Hard to shake off. Needing a good scrub.

Our natural clay selves cannot be easily washed clean either.

While we live, breathe and have our being in God, we also remain rooted in earth, dwellers in soil and dirt.

Our fallen earthly nature clings tenaciously to frames bent low by burdens we were never built to carry as knees buckle under the weight of them.

Indigenous

We are indigenous

earth dwellers

rooted long

in soil

hard graft

sweat of brow

aching muscle

tillers of ground

planting seeds

of life

and hope

in dark places

with expectation

one day

we will see

some fruit

in harvest

to come

 ©JoyLenton2013

God remembers that we are dust.

And it’s His Holy whispered breath that enlivens, connects sinews to joints and muscles together as a body to receive His glorious presence.

Surrendering to His promise, we are raised anew with strength, and vigour, lifted out of any pit we may have fallen into, out of the mud and mire. Shaken down, dust-free and cleaned again, with feet set firmly on the Rock.

Dried in the refining fire of God’s Love, purified in the furnace of affliction where scorching flames burn off any dross or detritus gathered from soil-dwelling.

Emerging from its fiery heat bleached clean, fragile pure, awaiting the Potter’s hand to reshape and refashion these earthen vessels into containers fit for His Light to filter through.

Our many cracks, flaws and holes are no impediment.  The leaky spaces and places only allow His Light to shine through all the brighter.

And as we dig deep into the fertile soil of His word, its rich nutrients are a holding place for dormant seed to grow, bursting forth with an abundant harvest at just the right time.

Prayer

Dear Father,

Our earthly nature clings to us like resistant soil. We need to come to You for cleansing and purifying. You are the Potter, we are the clay. Help us to be willing to let You have Your way and not resist Your loving hand upon our lives. And even when we may protest at the way it make us feel when You are stretching  and calling us to come up higher, enable us to surrender to Your will and ways.

May we have a growing awareness that full, lasting change and transformation cannot come about, nor fruit be evident in our lives, unless we are renewed, remade, restored and refashioned as You see fit, into the image of Your Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Linking here with Nacole for #concretewords., where we write out spirit from a one word concrete prompt. This week’s prompt was:‘Soil’. You are very welcome and warmly invited to join in.

** Day 2  of the 31 day challenge to write #poetryforthesoul

Sharp side of life

/ Joy Lenton / 13 Comments

It’s been the worst of times and the best of times.

Recent weeks have been a period of great turmoil when it felt like everything that could be shaken was being shaken.

The past I thought dead and buried in memory rose up to greet me with renewed darkness and pain.

The present brought challenge and a pressing need for change I didn’t feel ready for.

Nothing felt safe anymore.

My heart was exposed.

Raw. Wounded. Hurting.

I wrote the poem below to express how it felt.

Maybe you can relate to it too.

Shards

Waterfall of rain

sheets hard and fast

steady on pane

with resounding drum

as I wall up my heart

with frame of glass

encasing erratic thrum

ready to part

and shatter all content within

leaving me raw

exposed, bleeding

vulnerability

all over the place

pain stabbed deep

wounded, lanced

shards sharp

piercing steep

in fiery dance of fury

on softness

exposing traces of all

kept hidden over time

and years

when nothing hurtful

allowed entry in this space

and vale of tears

©JoyLenton2013

Yet…there was a new surge of life within as the frame of my thinking shattered.

The old ways had to give way to deep excavation, renovation, rebuilding and renewal.

Peace and purpose grew from pain.

Shattered life made safe by God’s continual presence.

And Christ bled vulnerable for me and you.

He suffered deep dark pains within so that we could be recipients of His love.

There is nothing we go through that is a mystery to God.

He wants to re-write our history in the light of His grace.

His arms are ready to catch His broken child.

God alone can make us whole again.

Are you willing to offer Him your brokenness in exchange for His desires for you?

I know I can trust no other to mend me fully and set me on the right path again.

Veiling and revealing

/ Joy Lenton / 16 Comments

Autumn is a season where we begin to experience a shift-change in our natural environment. Leaves take on a brilliant kaleidoscope hue; they glow as invitingly as the open fires we long to huddle over. Its colours warm our eyes and hearts. Its mists breathe out mystery. Its transience lends itself to reflection. For it’s a portent of death and dying with leaves falling and flowers losing their bloom. It lends itself well to poetic ponderings. The poem below arose at such a time.

Veiled

Sweeping across the veils of loneliness and despair

beautiful in its death

Autumn mists cling hopefully to me

a season’s sea-changing tidal broom

But do I rather cling to them

sensing reflections of death ~ my death

as I cling to you with crying need

unheeding the shattered veils

of our past

and the  reborn curtains

cutting across our future

We may rejoice in the untold beauty

that exists

now within a leaf

now within us two

as Autumn eclipses our moods

but decay stands

hoveringly with splendour

a quiet presence but always there

I stand as one amazed

and yet aware

watching this poem falling

into my mind and tumbling

rudely into yours

with no more grace than I possess

Receive it into your heart

for it was written for the deep corners

and already lay

embedded there before

it was begun

©JoyLenton2013

In plant life, dying is a precursor to new life springing forth in time to come. In human life, we can learn to die to selfishness and self-preoccupation as we allow God’s gift of new life in Christ to take root. If we hold on to a life of personal gain and are not prepared to embrace change, then we risk becoming destroyed on the inside – even as we give every appearance of being alive. Embracing the life offered us in Christ means hope, growth, change and potential for today and all the days yet to come.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

/ Joy Lenton / 11 Comments

As Summer segues into Autumn/Fall, we may experience a sea-change of emotions, new beginnings and opportunities arising, as well as a shift in the weather patterns.

It can feel like a chance to start over again, with the shiny new inviting us to embrace our future with anticipation.

Changes also bring with them departures from the way things have been, which can feel a little scary.

This is the period when children commence school and those who have left school stretch their wings seeking unexplored pastures.

All of which can bring a bitter-sweet mix of emotions when we let go of the old in order to embrace the new.

Seeing a child off to nursery, school, college, university, or the world of work for the first time can feel painful, even as we celebrate their emerging independence and new-found freedom, especially if it is the youngest member of the family finally growing up in various ways.

You may be in that situation now, or able to look back and see how well you coped with it afterwards.

The poem below was written at such a time as this:

‘Letting go’

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Love held him tight

as hand clasped hand

I would not let him go

I was the voice of reason, wisdom,

watching my seed grow

Yet time marched on

and loosed the bond

slowly gathering pace –

he strained for independence

to run in his own race

Now still the rock

on which he leans

crumbling yet holding fast –

my child grows wise

for future years

while I cling

to the past

©JoyLenton2002

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Note:This poem was previously published in the anthology ‘Individual Voices’ in March 2003 and in ‘Celebrations -15 Years of The People’s Poetry’ anthology in November 2005 ©JoyLenton All rights reserved

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How well do you cope with change?

Have you found ways to embrace the new whilst letting go of the old?

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you. Thank you.