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| "Shimmer and Shadow at the Blessingway" |
Shimmer and Shadow
I.
Epiphany dawns to blaze of day
Fiery sun and cooling shade
Then sunset glow
Seeping dusk
Star sparkle, honey gold of moon
Obscuring haze of deepening dark
Dark deep
Wait
Rest
Heal
Epiphany dawns
Hope rises on the horizon
II.
My life is shimmer and shadow
Shadow and shimmer
A chiaroscuro portrait, clear and dark
The Artist draws and draws
Draws me into scenes of day and night
Draws me to himself in glimmerings and glimpses
There is still life
I am still here
I am here and so is He
In shimmer and shadow
~*~*~
"Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine
like the day, for darkness is as light to you." Psalm 139:12
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord
rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the
peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you."
Isaiah 60:2
"I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your
word. My eyes stay open through the
watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises." Psalm 119:148
"He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness into dawn
and darkens day into night… the Lord is his name." Amos 5:8
"Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining
stars." Psalm 148:3
"My heart is steadfast, O God' I will sing and make music with all
my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will
awaken the dawn." Psalm 108:1-2
"On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of
the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings." Psalm
63:7
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort
me." Psalm 23:4
"… because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun
will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the
shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Luke 1:78-79
"But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will
rise with healing in its wings." Malachi 4:2a
~*~*~
I wrote most of "Shimmer and Shadow" in my head while lying
in bed in the wee hours of this morning, then tiptoeing out into the still
chill dark, awaiting the sunrise in my SHINE nightshirt.
It is 6:36 AM now, and dawn has not yet come,
but I know it will. I am still waiting.
Over the past several months, I have been reading from Luci Shaw's Breath for the Bones - Art, Imagination and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith. (See also here: Is My Head in the Clouds? and Ivory and Gray and Books I'm Reading in 2012) Luci is a poet and her book helps me write. (I even borrowed the words chiaroscuro and epiphany
from her.) Of course I was amused yesterday to open to the next chapter:
"Understanding the Shadow Side of Creativity." She writes what I know by experience: that
God sometimes seems hidden, life dark. She
knows this too, and continued to write from the shadows after the death of her
husband Harold, a Christian book publisher. Christian contemplatives of centuries
past have written of "the dark night of the soul" and "the Cloud
of Unknowing" and "the winter of the heart." This is so.
"And we are supposed to trust our lives to this enigma? … We yearn
for union with God, for the sense of safety and belonging. What we often experience instead is
frustration and aloneness." p. 151
"Often, however, art is veiled -- couched in clues and symbols, a
shadow that touches reality, that gives us a glimpse of the indescribable, that
invites us farther up and farther in. It
will not always show all of itself or the whole truth at one viewing, nor will
it preach a four-point sermon. But if we
are willing to gift it our full attention, art will being to open our inner
eyes." p. 154
"But truth isn't always pleasant.
Christians who practice art must not always feel bound to produce
sweetness and light. We have to
recognize the darkness and shadow as well as the light, and realize that God is
not dark and evil, but he embodies mystery.
Sometimes God withdraws and leaves us in the dark -- and we can learn to
view it as an instructive and salutary phase of life. It's not pleasant, but we discover things in
the dark that we couldn't find in the light." p. 161
In the back of Breath for the Bones is a suggested reading list. I find on it The Weather of the Heart,
a poetry book by Madeleine L'Engle, the beloved author of the novel A
Wrinkle in Time. By happy
happenstance it already is on my shelf, a serendipitous find that I wasn't
seeking. (While Christmas shopping for
my children, I bought it for my sister, a lifelong L'engle fan, and I haven't yet
sent it for her birthday this month. It
has been waiting.) I look on the dedication
page: "To Harold and Luci."
Published by Shaw. The first poem,
page one:
"Within This
Strange and Quickened Dust"
O God, within
this strange and quickened dust
The beating heart
controls the coursing blood
In discipline
that holds in check the flood
But cannot stem
corrosion and dark rust.
In flesh's
solitude I count it blest
That only you, my
Lord, can see my heart
With passion's
darkness tearing it apart
With storms of
self, and tempests of unrest.
But your love
breaks through blackness, bursts with light;
We separate
ourselves, but you rebind
In Dayspring all
our fragments: body, mind,
And spirit join,
unite against the night.
Healed by your
love, corruption and decay
Are
turned, and whole, we greet the light of day.
~*~*~
It is 6:56 now, dawn here, sun rising, mourning doves cooing. "We greet the light of day."
~*~*~
"Shadows" is the theme of this week's P52 photo project, so I
have been photographing them for the past several days. Looking makes you aware.
My first tries, from Mary's Blessingway (baby shower) celebration (see Weekend Gratitude: Blessingway for Mary). I love the shimmer and the shadow of light through the prism of the punch bowl reflecting on the lace table cloth.
The rest from nature. Again, Luci Shaw:
"While creativity sometimes begins with seemingly random moments,
it also sometimes begins with moments of epiphany. For me, this has a lot to do
with being in touch with the creative world, where sometimes, I am almost
literally lifted out of myself… There is something about green and growing
things that absolutely clutches at me; nature becomes like a second
Bible."
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| Pink Sunrise |
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| Pink Sunrise Clouds and Silhouette of Trees |
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| Daytime Clouds: Shimmer and Shadow |
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| Sunset with Clouds and Palms |
These tree photos were taken at the east end of the soccer field at Metro Life Church, where our home school co-op meets. We had taken the 1st-3rd grade science class out for recess. I immediately e-mailed the photos from my iPod camera to my laptop and showed them to my 7th-8th grade English class during the next period. I encouraged them to be aware of their surroundings and let God's creation be an inspiration for their writing.
Yesterday (Sunday, February 12), we celebrated the 6th anniversary of Lake Baldwin Church. In honor of the occasion, and to go with our current sermon series (Count the Stars) on the life of Abraham, our worship leader Josh Bales wrote and performed a new song. I happened to have my iPod in my purse and whipped it out as quickly as I could to catch an impromptu video. Josh kindly gave permission for me to post it on this blog and Facebook, and even sent me the words for it. Please pardon the lack of video/audio editing. I uploaded it "as is" since I don't have sound on my desktop computer, and my laptop is in the shop. 
