#MicroPoetry|November ’17 Reflections

In this A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry I was trying to express – explore – the beauty of life as it unfolds. As a linear, straight line, trajectory too often we see that life and death are in opposition. As such, there is a tendency to celebrate youth and lament ageing. In this #Verse, therefore, I hope to illustrate the constant beauty that this fragile, yet tenacious, experience this journey called life is.

Do you remember the first story that captivated you? Perhaps you sat on an elder’s lap and were captivated by both the cadence of the words spoken aloud or the pages that revealed a story in which you felt a part. This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry plays with that memory and explores what is we were the words that made up those stories? And what would it mean if the best story ever involved us in nurturing hope in which we all might shine?

I recently had a conversation about my intention to bring the A Deacon’s Musing blog more intentionally into social media. As I explained that this was an exercise in hopefully modelling hope and nurturing the social good, I also realised (in that discussion) that part of that is not shying away from hard truths. In the current climate in which violence and trauma are stark reminders, this #MicroPoetry #Verse attempts to hold that reality without judgment, but with care as witness.

There is irony in our current context in which we find ourselves. People want change, yet we hold onto our point of view as right and others as wrong. We believe if we talk at one another enough, then obviously the Other will see the error in their way. Yet no future has ever been formed when we want to remain static. We may resist the future, but it comes nonetheless and shatters our assumptions. This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry plays with the idea that what if we actively and collectively imagined together, rather than entrench in right/wrong …

The ordinary, the mundane, contentment … these are just a few words that often carry with it a sense … compromise? Lack of lustre? Boring? In this A Deacon’s Musing I am trying to explore the power of recognising that our ordinary moments are spectacular and blessed, if we but open our senses to seeing the Holy in each moment. This is not always easy in all of the distraction that abound, but awakening to abundant beauty is indeed an amazing gift!

I was drawn by the two words “remember” & “awaken.” They are often words that are used in connexion with the spiritual journey. They are used or referenced to indicate the possibility for transformation. This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry attempts to capture how these two words might help us embrace the gift I/you/we are. This “inner work” is not always easy and sometimes leads us to confront aspects/choices we have made that we might rather not have made based upon reflection. The gift, however, is certainly a blessing to both the person and their relations when learning or awakening dawns.

Hope is a funny thing and often it gets dressed in a way that diminishes its true import. Hope does not deny life’s challenges, the suffering we experience or obstacles too often human created that oppress and marginalise. As such, hope sometimes becomes watered-down and saccharine in nature. I believe, however, that hope does not deny these realities, yet beckons us to wholeness when we realise as we hold one another, the world changes. This A Deacon’s Musing attempts to hold both the shadows that obscure hope and the light that illuminates our shared path in a #MicroPoetry #Verse …

Happiness: it is one of those words that often seems watered down and too often connected to external things, whether that is something you buy or something you must do. This A Deacon’s Musing #MicroPoetry tries to explore happiness as something more fundamental. I would even suggest it is one possible outcome of the inner work that that is explored through spiritual practice.