#MicroPoetry|May ’20 Reflections

Fear often leads us to places that seperates us not only from ourselves, from one another, but from our faculty to imagine and dream. Though abandoning wonder might feel like a way to tempter fear when change seems rampant, it often can seem stifling and stagnant when we endeavour to preserve what was, while what is shouts at us to innovate and create. This #verse plays with wisdom as an act of wakening in wonder’s midst …

This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry #Verse arises from a recent conversation in which someone said, “I hadn’t seen that until I actually listened …” There was a pause as the senses – sight and hearing –  seemed to be in tension and then, well it just made sense …

What do you think?

One of the consistent themes in these verses is the tension between ego and confidence. This has been important to me in my own leadership and in helping to form others who feel called to a life of Christian discipleship. The line between the two can seem most fine and it is important to explore that distinction.

She often appears in these musings. She reflects the Holy, the Wonder of the Universe that imbues all Creation. In this particular instance, it felt important to remind myself, and you the Reader, that we are intrinsically beauty-made and a blessed spark Divine. It is too often easy to get lulled by distractions, feel like we are playing the consume-to-define ourselves game. That, however, is not what the spiritual journey awakens us to. It takes time to hear this message of love, but it’s always there, even when we may not be listening.

Our ability to dream, I often think, is one of the most blessed acts we can perform and practice. I think it can also be a discipline. To commit to it carries the implication of not just the fancy, but the possible. To create and make tangible that which we dream is a reminder of the shared power we have. When used well it changes the world by liberating ourselves and others so that we recognise in our doing acts of the Holy in our everyday.

There is a saying, some might call an adage or truism, you get out of it what you put into it. Though we can certainly explore and critique the phrase, it remains, nonetheless, consistent with the idea of commitment or discipline. Discipline, as a spiritual practice, is not learned overnight. From the tradition of the mystic, overnight usually means a lifetime of constant learning and awakening. The experience of such commitment is indeed worthy of reflection.

We all know the adage “sticks and stones, may break my bones …” Words do hurt us. In fact, it is often the words that we remember as pain, long after the bruises and cuts have healed. In this verse, the power of the Word to create, which is central to the Christian journey, is central to all choices we make. Whether we interact with ourselves, one another and creation, what we say has the power to create the intention those words convey. I hope in this verse, remembering this challenge serves as a touchstone when we next begin to speak …

In times of change, and for those who have experienced and lived through COVID-19, ‘normal’ becomes a word that is bantered, used to limit conversation and reinforce polarities between us and them. This particular musing intends to highlight the manner in which ‘normal’ as an aspiration can serve to limit or liberate. This word is one that often sets expectations and stereotypes. With this in mind, what is the intention that we use to inform how you, I, and we use the word normal.