#MicroPoetry|December ’17 Reflections

One of the metaphors for God is Spirit. This image is often further expressed as wind blowing. If you watch how wind and water shape the environment often it is slow and imperceptible, though clearly such change is sometimes much more apparent and dramatic. This A Deacon’s Musing uses the image of wind’s ability to shape to explore what that might mean for each us, both individually and collectively in this #MicroPoetry #Verse.

The randomness of where we are born and when we come into this world, are often interesting to explore as a spiritual practice. In asking these questions, I have found that it is possible to recognise that what we bring into our living, the most profound superpower we have, is choice. Control is a funny thing and sometimes planning and struggling do help, but ultimately, I have found it is in the places of hurt and change, doubt and ambiguity that embracing choice is the beacon that helps guide.

Peace is a funny concept. It competes with the bellicose drone of war’s constant distraction. Without space to Be, being peace becomes not only difficult, but discouragement festers when we listen to the constant sounds of swords rattling. This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry attempts to explore being peace, in war’s din, by act and not debate, by responding to need, and not anger.

I like the image or trying to stop a rushing river or the idea of attempting to divert water’s course with one’s hands and feet. These images get me musing about how we try to stay firm in places of change and often we are alone. This A Deacon’s Musing #Verse endeavours to explore change as a collaborative exercise by using a leaf and a turtle as poetic companions …

Joy is one of those concepts that often becomes diminished or watered down to simply mean happy. Though happiness is helpful, and even enjoyable, I do not experience this equivalency as useful. In this A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry, therefore, I am suggesting that Joy is more akin to rapture. Joy as an ecstatic, all encompassing experience that bubbles forth from the very core of our being, feels like an appropriate way to consider Joy’s depth, especially in the reality of the many shadows that too often can obstruct it’s ever-present healing …

We all love a good orator … a storyteller who makes flat words come alive. There is certainly a place for the telling of tales and the inspiring of words. Sometimes – in a cynical world that seems to distrust – when silence arrives as the final syllable falls, no one has changed or made a different choice. In this A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry #Verse, I am trying to explore how doing, sometimes, is a much better way to communicate than simply using words.

Love & Light are often images of the Christian season called Christmas. They are what some might call touchstones. They point beyond themselves in a way that illustrates universal ideas or concepts that are often incomprehensible and that words only awkwardly describe. It is in these cases, I have found, that words are nimbler when used poetically. This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry tries to convey that Light and Love connect us all and that the Christian experience of Christmas is just one way to understand that.

Choices … they are always with us in moments of milestone making and the seemingly mundane … the normal. Yet when a new year dawns, they come into sharper focus. We are reminded of the import of where we place our attention. This A Deacon’s Musing attempts to capture that new year moment and – hopefully – remind us to take care in each moment to awaken to the choices we make. What happens now certainly echoes and ripples past the Now and being sensitive to that feels like an important thing upon which to reflect.