Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.
~Jane Kenyon, “Let Evening Come”
Tag: acceptance
Let it Go
I let her garden go.
let it go, let it go
How can I watch the hummingbird
Hover to sip
With its beak’s tip
The purple bee balm — whirring as we heard
It years ago?
The weeds rise rank and thick
let it go, let it go
Where annuals grew and burdock grows,
Where standing she
At once could see
The peony, the lily, and the rose
Rise over brick
She’d laid in patterns. Moss
let it go, let it go
Turns the bricks green, softening them
By the gray rocks
Where hollyhocks
That lofted while she lived, stem by tall stem,
Blossom with loss.
~ Donald Hall from “Her Garden” about Jane Kenyon
Some gray mornings
heavy with clouds
and tear-streaked windows
I pause melancholy
at the passage of time.
Whether to grieve over
another hour passed
another breath exhaled
another broken heart beat
Or to climb my way
out of deepless dolor
and start the work of
planting the next garden
It takes sweat
and dirty hands
and yes,
tears from heaven
to make it flourish
but even so
just maybe
my memories
so carefully planted
might blossom fully
in the soil of loss.
Called By Advent–Accepting
Luke 1:38
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Advent is described as an anticipatory time of waiting and preparing for the Child to be born. There is almost a passive sweetness in just “letting it happen” as it was written and taught to us. But Advent also reminds us of His eventual return and as such it becomes a call to action. We must get off our duffs and get ready.
There are scores of words that describe what we are called to do while we wait, preparing for the second Advent: believing, blessing, comforting, departing, enduring, expecting, feeding, forgiving, glorifying, hoping, identifying, journeying, keeping, loving, listening, marching, naming, obeying, pondering, quieting, renewing, repenting, stretching, trembling, treasuring, trusting, unfolding, voicing, watching, worshiping, exalting, yielding, filling with zeal. It’s more than plenty to keep us busy.
There is nothing passive about Mary’s response to the angel’s message. She actively and willingly is accepting the call to become someone new.
And so must we.
May it be.
So be it.
Barnstorming 