Open our eyes to see
What is happening in our world
To see with eyes that care
About the suffering of others
To see the connections
And understand
Why these things are happening today
Give us insight
And vision
To see solutions beginning
Small and thin
That lengthen and thicken
Into strong ropes
Strong arms
To lift
To carry
To free
© 2021 Julie Clark
For all those
Waving a Jesus flag
Big shoes to fill
Big steps to follow
Better get started
Developing love
Self-sacrificing love
Takes a lifetime
Posers will be revealed
Examine our hearts
Whose path am I on?
No idols here
No judgements either
Fruit will reveal
Better than a flag
Who I serve
Who I truly love
© 2021 Julie Clark
Let us
Search for the light
Like wise persons
Follow it
Come out of the blinding
Darkness
Shake it off
Shake ourselves awake
And free
Let love
Come down
Melt the hardness
In our hearts
Let the tears
Flow
Do their work
Break us open
Just as the rain
Finds a way
Through the earth’s
Hardened crust
Look up
Rise up
Follow the light
Our paths
Need examining
Need pondering
Where am I headed?
Who am I?
Who am I becoming?
Is this who I want to be?
Is this path leading to life?
Leading to light?
Leading to love?
If not
Step off
We can change our course
We can grow
We can choose
We still have breath
We are still alive
© 2021 Julie Clark
May this new year
Show the fruit of what we have learned
from the troubles and sorrows of the passing year
How we need each other
Always have, but somehow
Lost sight of our connection
To each other
To our earth home
To our heaven coming down home
May the fire
The flood
The hurricane force winds
The pandemic
Be used
To strengthen and straighten the bent and broken
Places in our hearts
To repair and renew
The moral compass
of all, including
The powers that rule
The powers that have crushed
The powers arising
Replacing the old
Bringing the new
Until, until
“The kingdom of this world
becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” *
How long
How long
How we long for that day
© 2020 Julie Clark
(*Revelations 11:15)
This year we are all
Frayed around the edges
Wheels wobble and threaten to roll off
Relationships can be tense and anxious at times
Fingers pointing, fault lines drawn
Whose fault is it anyways?
We’ve all inherited trouble
All have passed trouble along
Instead of blaming with pointed fingers
Instead of self-protection and mental isolation
We can acknowledge that we are all in this together
Imperfect and in need of mercy
From God
Others and ourselves
The humble road is the path to life
The humble hand extends mercy and
Receives mercy
The humble heart
Has room to expand
To grow love
And give it away
© 2020 Julie Clark
(This was a prayer/thought I had Saturday morning before we heard the results of our recent presidential election.)
Are you counting?
Like the votes are being counted
One by one, day after day?
Are you counting
My every thought
Every move
Every deed
Weighing on scales?
No, not counting
Loving
Pouring it out
Day after day
The love that covers
Every mistake
Wayward thought
Angry word
Unkind action
Hateful look
The self-pity
Self focus
The pride
All of it
Again and again
Until it is covered
Until I learn mercy
And do the same
© 2020 Julie Clark
A friend of mine asked me, yesterday, if I had a word for these anxious times, this election day. Here is what came to me first:
In this time of uncertainty, anxiety, and stress I would suggest spending some time in nature. It might be taking a walk in the neighborhood, a hike in the woods or on a trail or it might be looking out your window or sitting on your balcony or back porch. I have a phrase I have used in my poetry a couple of different times. It is “take beauty personally”. Slow down, take some deep breaths and pay attention. What is calling you to notice. It may be a flower, a tree, a bird song, the sound of water from the sea or a fountain. Whatever it is, take it to heart, a message from God, the earth, or the universe that you are beloved. Find a way to let go of what is troubling you and receive the peace and love that you need.
Arrested by Beauty
Stopped in my tracks to notice
My senses alive
To see, to listen, to smell, to touch, to taste
These gifts all around
I am taking beauty personally today
As my beloved and I slowly walk this town
The bald eagle shows off his mighty wing span
The chickadees flitting from one tree to another
With their happy chirps
The autumn leaves in full display calling out:
“Look at me, look at me!”
I brush my fingers through the fragrant lavender
I breathe in the fresh sea air and let the sound
Of waves wash over me
Later the taste of fish tacos caps off our walk
This walking, this paying attention
Calms me, refreshes my spirit,
Brings me home to my body
Today I am alive, happy and grateful
I wrote this 2 years ago when smoke engulfed the Pacific Northwest from fires burning. This year the fires are worse and so is the smoke. I am one of those with underlying conditions. I am not well. It is supposed to rain and help clear the air. I think of those who have lost lives, homes, businesses in these fires this year. This on top of the Covid 19 pandemic which has taken so many lives around the world. Pray this prayer of lament with me and let us work together for change, starting with our hearts.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
God we ask for your mercy and help.
We have filled the waters of the earth with poison and pollution.
We have harmed people, animals, fish and plants with this water.
We have continued to fill the waters with chemicals, plastics and garbage even when we know this is harmful.
God have mercy on us and forgive us.
Help us to care for these precious waters that sustain us.
We have poisoned and polluted the land.
We have destroyed forests and fields.
Our foods are no longer rich in nutrients.
We continue to harm people, animals and plants with our poisons and pollution.
God have mercy on us and forgive us.
Help us to care for the land that sustains us.
We have poisoned and polluted the air.
We continue to burn fossil fuels that are heating our atmosphere.
We are harming people, animals and…
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After breakfast
The fog coming across the water
The ferry sounds its horn
The seals sun on the little dock
Set out for them
You could forget where you are
As the sound of waves distract you
And the surf laps against the shore
You could forget that you
Have to go home tomorrow
Back to those routines
Instead of these
And the gull cries
Calling you back to now
“Don’t worry we will be here
When you return”
And the fog keeps rolling
And blurs the seals
On their little rocking dock
I visited the Mukai Farm and Garden remembering and honoring the Japanese community that lived and farmed strawberries here before WWII. They were taken away during the war to internment camps. As I strolled the gardens there was a labyrinth with lanterns hung and intermittent Haiku streaming from pages strung with clothes pins as well. I was inspired to write these poems below.
I.
Immigrants settle
Growing fields of strawberries
Taken and interned
II.
War has many faces
Death and life roll through the land
Tears flow unending
III.
When will we return?
Children speak our unspoken words
Can hearts hope again?
IV.
Some return, rebuild
Life twists and turns with the sun
Trauma stays within
We took several hikes, this one runs along Shingle Mill Creek to Fern Cove.
They clear-cut cedar
Giants turned to roof shingles
The forest still grieves
