Sidewalk: hope in unexpected places

The past few months of my life have been challenging, heart wrenching, beautiful, hopeful, painful, exhausting, fun, hilarious, and hard. As a teacher, I have learned far more than I ever did as a student. But this growth came through those tough moments when all I could see was the ways that I screwed up. But as for me I will always have hope. 

One day driving home from school exhausted and discouraged, I saw something that gave me hope--sunlight. I captured the above image while waiting at a stoplight. It was such an ordinary place, but the light still shone down on the crumbling pavement outside my window. Beauty transcended brokenness.

These few stumbling words explain more:

Sidewalk

Orbs drifting through blades

of grass--

remnants of

that celestial light,

that sapphire sky

clear 

as water sitting still

after dust, pebbles, algae

settle.

Flares float

above

white styrofoam and

a muddy sock

nestled in chaos:

weeds sprawling across

cracked cement.

Shadows sketch 

rough lines on asphalt--

an untrained artist

hiding flaws with inky darkness.

But sky and air and light,

these wash the world with clarity,

through a lens 

Uncapped, 

Unblinking, 

Untarnished.

Words and the Intangible

Ars Poetica

by Archibald MacLeish

A poem should be palpable and mute

As a globed fruit,

Dumb

As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone

Of casement ledges where the moss has grown--

A poem should be wordless 

As the flight of birds.

           *

A poem should be motionless in time

As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases

Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves

Memory by memory the mind--

A poem should be motionless in time

As the moon climbs.

           *

A poem should be equal to:

Not true.

For all the history of grief

An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love

The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea--

A poem should not mean

But be.

Words and the Intangible

"Why do we have to know this?" This is the question that every high school student wants to know when we start reading A Vindication of the Rights of Women or Macbeth. What they don't know is that question haunts me, their teacher, as well. 

Why do we have to know about these works that were written hundreds of years ago? I have been struggling with this question for a while, because how can I help students love English if I cannot pinpoint exactly why I love it, and why my heart overflows with joy when I read perfectly paired words?

So many questions, and the answer kept escaping my grasp. But yesterday I caught it. The answer glowed in my palms like a lightning bug at dusk. 

Literature, words, stories--these make the intangible tangible. Those things that we cannot grab or touch, those things that we know are real but cannot rub between our fingertips. These are the things that rest in our palms when we hold a book. The intangible becomes real through printed words because we can run our hands over the porcelain pages stained with inky letters. 

Not only this, but authors use this thing called "imagery," the art of creating a real image in the reader's mind. In "Ars Poetica," the poem above, the author makes vivid images for the reader that symbolize universal feelings we often cannot express. My favorite is grief being linked to the emptiness of a doorway and a lone maple leaf. I also enjoy the images of love being like two blades of grass swaying together in the sunlight and wind or like two lighthouses communicating back and forth in the darkness of night.

Love and grief, among other intangible things, find substance in literature, or any form of art for that matter. But what really made my heart skip a beat was when I realized that human emotion was not the only intangible thing to be made tangible through words.

Another Word actually took on human flesh and lived among his people. Jesus Christ came to make God Almighty tangible, a God who His people had a very hard time understanding and knowing. So Jesus actually make Himself into something physical, something we could grasp and understand. Through the Word, we have been reconciled to God!

I am always amazed at the ways in which literature reflects and flows from our great God. My heart rejoices that He has come and been made like us so that we can know Him! Rejoice with me today!

Hospitality & Hope

There are things I can barely manage to hope for, perhaps that is why this story sunk into the dry places.

A man, who lived very long ago, who traveled much. Once he stopped in a town where he happened to meet a rich woman who invited him to dinner. After their first meal together, she welcomed him to come to her and her husband's home whenever he passed through the area.
The next time the man came through he stopped at the couple's home. While their stomachs filled with food, their conversations dwelled on a God who extends endless mercy to His people. Then the man traveled on his way, but he returned again a few weeks later. In fact, he stopped so frequently that the woman went to her husband with a request, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room on the roof...then he can stay there whenever he comes with us." Because her husband loved her, and they had no children, he allowed her to open their home to the man.

One day when the man was staying in his room, he called his hostess to come to him. He said to her, "You have gone to all this trouble for [me]. Now what can be done for you?"

But she replied that she needed nothing.

She went away, but her guest called her back again, pondering, "What can be done for her?" When she returned he said, "About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms."

But the woman responded by saying, "'No, my lord,' she objected,. 'Don't mislead your servant!'"
How could he have known the deepest desires of her soul? Why did he draw out the things she dared not even hope for?
                                                                           
A year later, the young woman held a baby boy in her arms, just as Elisha had told her.
                                                                               
                                                                              ******

Some time later, this very same son died. But this time the woman's hope, bolstered by a promise fulfilled, went to Elisha. She spoke not a single word of his death to anyone, for her hope was steadfast even in the face of her great fear and uncertainty.
But when she saw Elisha, and he alone discerned her deep distress, she crumbled, "Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn't I tell you 'Don't raise my hopes'?"

But little did she know that God was about to display great power.

Elisha went back with her to her son and after he prayed for her son, he returned to life!

                                                                              ******

The beauty of this story lies in its simple beginning--sharing a meal with a stranger. The woman was faithful to the small task the Lord placed before her that day that she met Elisha. She invited him home to share life with her and her husband. She welcomed him into her life. Because she used the unique gift of hospitality that God granted her, not only did she gain a lifelong friend, but God blessed her immensely.

As I talked about this story with one of my friends, I became aware of how wonderful the gifts of the Spirit are. For He uses us not only to bring Him immense glory (hello, a kid was brought back to life!), but as an added bonus He throws in blessings for us too.

In confidence of this, we can walk forward into the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10) hoping in the glory that will be revealed in our cracked and leaky vessels and that God will satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts, even the ones we haven't quite realized yet.

The Dinner Party

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 36:16

A feast is set before a handful of guests. They wait in apprehension of the exotic dishes that their hosts have whispered of over the past few months. But the two sisters seated at their own crude wooden table do not realize that they are about to become the guests at a feast of delights more bountiful than they ever fathomed. With a simple prayer, pronounced warily, the feast begins. They eye the blood-red wine and succulent fruits with suspicion, but with the first bite and an explosion of flavor, their faces light up. With each course their moods brighten and their spirits lift. The servant boy continues to place before them new and curious dishes, but the host remains unseen. She slaves in the kitchen working for the beloved sisters and their community, to provide for them not only sweet sustenance, but peace and unity as well. 

This is the story of a French cook who gave everything for those she loved. But "Babette's Feast" also mirrors another story reflected in our own souls.

Several days ago, I was reading Job 36:16. The beauty of this image and it's striking parallel to Isak Dinesen's parable overwhelmed me. The Lord began to speak to my heart. The worry and anxiety that had built up in my heart and mind over the past semester began to dissipate. The questions that rattled around inside of me quickly grew quiet, and peace comforted my soul.

The Lord has sent me an invitation this year. He invites me daily to His table. I am seated and waiting. I do not know what each course will be; in fact, I know that some of the things He places before me will be new and strange to my palate at first. But all He asks is that I lift the fork to my mouth to taste. The food He gives will be just what I need to sustain me. Some dishes will be bitter and some incredibly sweet, but I want to receive and enjoy them all because they are from Him, the Lover of my soul. 

I am not alone at this table. He invites us all to dine and feast upon Him. Join me at the comfort of His table that together we may taste and see that the Lord is good!!!