soul food

reality: what helps keep us grounded and at peace

/ Joy Lenton / 11 Comments

reality - trees - sky - landscape - what helps keep us grounded and at peace (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

These are deeply unsettling times we are living in, aren’t they? They make us yearn for a sense of solidity and thirst for a firm grounding beneath our feet. Perhaps it exists as a present reality, closer at hand than we might think.

Creation breathes out its beauty and begs us to receive it as soul food, as a nurturing balm to help us stay grounded and calm. Each time we pay attention to growing flowers and plants we get to observe how nature deals with its own seasons of alteration and loss.

In the tanka sequence poem below, I invite you to take a journey of the heart, a pause to consider what nature has to teach us now, what lies ahead, and how we are all connected to the past.

May you receive an awakening of hope and faith that will help ground you in the realest of realities. Namely that God is still in charge, and all things are somehow being worked out for good even as our lives feel shaken to the core.

reality - red and yellow begonias - Creation breathes out its beauty quote (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

Reality

what is real
is the soil beneath our feet
solidity
earth grounds us, holds us fast
when all else trembles into dust

the imprints
markers of every man
woman and child
who ever lived and died
are seeded, left behind

the earth
holds all our memories
in its DNA
it doesn’t forget how we lived
breathed and walked this way

every acreage
in the changing landscape
holds a legacy
it will keep the faith for us
when we are lost, faithless

reality - garden - flowers - gate - every acreage in the changing landscape holds a legacy - (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

nature sings
an eternal siren song
we strain to listen
unaccustomed to its melody
the way it reverberates and speaks

our reality
is so often shaped by lust
fuelled by greed
hot desire can set us on fire
we lose what we have coveted

we don’t need
all that much to survive
we do need
the insight to understand
just how to live, grow and thrive

reality - bee - yellow flowers - we don't need all that much to survive (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

the natural world
provides all our necessities
all we need to live
enough resources to share
if we were generous and fair

the ethereal
the mystical, intangible
lies within our reach
it’s already invaded earth
promising us new life, new birth

our souls
rooted to earth’s reality
become whole
when they are connected
to Father, Son, Holy Spirit

God made
all that is sensed and found
he gave
his life to open our eyes
to the unlimited beyond
© joylenton

reality - garden - pond - leaves - our souls rooted to earth's reality become whole (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

“The calm of a summer night
embodies Your peace, O Lord.
The beauty of a sunset
embodies Your truth, O Lord.
Everything in all creation
shouts the reality of You.”

— Transformed by Love: Prayers and Reflections for All Seasons by Liz Babbs

nugget: news about a poetic feast for November #thedailyhaiku bonus

/ Joy Lenton / 6 Comments

 

As we embark on the month of November, I am reflecting on how writing each day during October has revealed a few things to me, and  sharing about a poetic bonus for you to enjoy in the days ahead.

Here’s a (non-haiku) description of what I have learnt during the #write31days writing challenge:

A writer reflects

Pondering is my natural state

I’m so thankful for God’s grace

I tend to write deep, not light

I try to be hopeful, bright

Short posts are definitely best

A tired writer needs her rest

It’s a wonder to be sustained each day

God always gives us His help and strength

Interest in our words may wax and wane

We can rely on God to be the same

Faithfulness means dependence

God faithfully provides the means

Persistence is necessary and fine

I love to write, especially in rhyme

Haiku are a joy and delight for me

I would love to carry on, okay?

©joylenton

God has very generously given me more haiku than I could fit into this series, and I have had a lot of creative fun gathering them together as a bonus for my readers. I’m calling each one a  ‘November Nugget’ – a little soul food snack to warm your heart and see you through the colder days ahead.

They will usually consist of just a helping of haiku, plus a photograph, and will be mini reflections on life, faith, gratitude and grace. Because I need to rest my words here for a while, you will find these poetic nuggets on my Poetry Joy Facebook page. I also hope to share them on my ‘The Daily Haiku’ board on Pinterest and on Instagram.

It would be lovely to have you join me in those places. When you drop by you can gulp one down like an espresso shot for the soul and be on your way in no time, or you can stay and savour a long latte’s worth, and maybe share them as well.

Each November Nugget is already pre-prepared (thankfully!)  and I aim to share one daily. They will be served with love, and be light and easy to digest. You can find the first one here and follow best by liking my page. Thank you! See you over there, friend… 🙂 ❤

freedom: bright butterfly of hope hovers close #thedailyhaiku 2

/ Joy Lenton / 10 Comments

 

Butterflies always speak of freedom to me. I envy their ability to break out of their earthbound chrysalis confines, emerge sparkling new, beautiful and ready for flight.

If only I think. If only we could be like a butterfly, see an end to our struggles and break out into the clear light of freedom. Such a time may be a long while off, though small victories here help build upon the scent of freedom to come.

But we have that blessed eternal Hope from God awaiting us, even as we wrestle with things in the here and now, while we learn how intrinsic faith is to our eventual flight to freedom.

It’s close,  my friend. Closer than we think. Closer than we know. It shimmers in the air around. Keep believing and hold onto your hope for better times to come.

Butterfly of hope

Freedom beckons us

like bright butterfly of hope

shimmers in the air

©joylenton

morning: wake up and smell the coffee #thedailyhaiku 1

/ Joy Lenton / 15 Comments

 

It’s no secret that I’m not a morning person. In fact, I am barely awake and alert by lunchtime. Part of the process of coming to and gaining mental clarity is aided by the consumption of coffee after my breakfast and morning cup of tea. I know it may not  be the healthiest of drinks but it does the trick for me.

There’s something about the smell of coffee alone that lifts my mood. I love to imbibe the freshly brewed, ground coffee variety. Instant doesn’t quite cut it, even a high quality one with a mix of ground added to it, unless I’m feeling too exhausted to wait until the coffee pot is clean and able to be used again.

I can’t always handle conversation either in the mornings, though on my better days my man and I gently converse on diverse topics like politics, the state of the world and theology – nothing too heavy, of course. He reads interesting snippets out to me from the daily newspaper, while I make a feeble attempt to read something else myself.

However, distraction only serves to lead to disrupted and broken concentration, especially in someone like me who is chronically ill with M.E, can barely think straight, never mind focus, read and listen to someone speaking all at the same time…phew!

Our first brewed, small shot of haiku offering is about that coffee experience. So whatever blend you like best, (be it tea or coffee), then put your feet up, inhale these words and imagine yourself having a cup of whatever you fancy. Aaahhh…..  🙂

Morning

Wake, smell the coffee

Inhale fresh breath of new day

Clear cobwebs away

©joylenton

Being sustained at the table

/ Joy Lenton / 9 Comments

advent-89554_640

Advent is a season to deliberately look for and lean toward the light of God’s presence.

We hunger for hope, run hard after His wild mercy and grace.

Long for freedom from our pain, guilt and shame.

Seek sustenance for our dry, thirsty souls.

Scripture gives us promises that the weak and weary will be refuelled and restored at God’s table of grace.

So we come because invitation has been given to feast with Him here and in greater abundance in heaven.

Won’t you join me at the table? I’ve saved a seat for you. There’s always room for more.

Come taste the wine of His presence and eat the Bread which gives sustenance and life to us.

“But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food” ~ Job 36:15-16

This table..

Here lies hospitality beyond

all knowing, an open table

stretching to infinity

which still keeps growing

A warm welcome here for all

who live in Love’s thrall and spend

their lives devoted to the Friend

who laid down His life for them

Yet here in the very midst

of mess, trouble and strife

we find this table groaning

heavy, brimful with Life

In the presence of our enemies

this table speaks of bounty

deep, laden with grace for the

able, wounded and weak

And even as we eat and drink

to sustain our weary souls,

we will always rise replete,

satiated, filled and whole

This table sits within dark

wilderness, shining bright

with Light’s heavenly splendour

inviting us to taste largesse

©JoyLenton2015

hospitality table FMF PJ

“You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” ~ Psalm 23:5-6

I’m joining fellow thankful table-dwellers over at Kate Motaung’s site today as we feast on the word ‘table’ , chew it over in five minutes flat and pour out our soul offerings. The poem above is my contribution to the rich fare being served there. Come join us?