Author Archives: backfromtheborderlands

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About backfromtheborderlands

These writing pieces and a few photos are from my experiences and messages I have gathered from living in the borderlands.

You Spent Me

Posted on October 3, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

You needed me

I signed up

When I said: I am yours

You took me at my word

You asked me

Will you do this for me?

Will you go?

Far away from your home?

Take this with you: my love

I said yes

Off I went

Back and forth for 30 years.

Gave it my all

Sometimes it didn’t seem like much

Or not enough

I forgot about seeds

They surprised me

Then I remembered

Where that seed came from

You

That is why the fruit is so sweet.

 

You spent me

Now restore me

Am I being too demanding?

Maybe

You were the one who said

Ask, seek, and knock

And keep at it

Until something happens

And what about that woman

Who badgered the shady judge

Until he gave her what she wanted

Justice

Or the neighbor

Relentlessly knocking in the night

Finally the door is open

And the other neighbor

Hands over his bread

There is something about you

Always trying to get my attention

Trying to get me to talk to you

Like a middle school boy

Playing tricks on me

Until I notice you

Or you just show up

When I am not expecting you

Saying

Here I am

I love you

Ok

Please restore me

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: God, Love, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

There Are Wings

Posted on September 15, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

There are wings

That make us light

As their feathers

Lifting us upward

Like a ballerina’s

Leap

Only we can keep going

And dance and fly

And dip and soar

All with our feet

Off the ground

 

There are sacred words

That can do the same

Lift our souls up

And through

Dark barriers

Promises

Pulling us forward

To hope

And forgotten dreams

When all seems lost

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Devil’s Churn Oregon Coast

Posted on September 2, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

Don’t I have some of those places in me?

All churned up

Weak and weary spots

Chinks in my armor

Where worry and fear

Anger and pride

Stand guard

The water

Constantly battering those places

Wearing away the defenses

Caving in the walls

Churning up the deadly waters

It is a spectacular sight, really

A beauty to behold

The power of the water is astonishing

Maybe the water is not the enemy

Maybe it is the artist’s paint brush

Turning ashes into beauty

Suffering can do that

Building our character

Making us stronger

Would that my caved in walls

Hold more living water

And be a beauty to behold

A masterpiece

Where the artist’s

Passion is displayed

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Gratitude

Posted on August 17, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

Receiving not grasping

Thanking not demanding

When I do this

It changes my heart

From self-centered, woe is me, how hard is my life stone

To warm

Glad to be alive

Gratefulness

For all I have

The beauty that surrounds me

(When I open my eyes fully to see it)

For those I love and who love me

Making room for more love and more gratitude

When I cannot be grateful for something directly

Because it is too painful and I can’t see its purpose

I can move around it being thankful for what I can see

And in the meantime my heart will expand to include more

And perhaps gratefulness for the good will dislodge the bitter weight of the evil.

It is more than looking at the world through a glass half full

What about thankfulness that the glass is half empty

There is room for more to come into that half empty glass

More opportunity to grow and to receive

Unfinished and limited am I

Yet still alive, ever-changing and growing

Ingratitude limits and restricts

Making the world smaller and harder

Pulling down into a spiraling vortex

Seeing without hope is a kind of not seeing

I will take rather the wings offered

To soar above

With the eagles

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Faith, Life, Paths, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Communion wine

Posted on August 1, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

Communion wine

Spilled on the floor

It was messy

The cross

Not a sweet, sedated

Crucifixion

Messy and raw

Death

Nothing our messes

Can even come close to

He can take care of it all

Then the bucket of water

To clean the mess

Spills

Even our attempts

To clean up

Make a mess

Best to

Just come as we are

Leave the cleanup to Him

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

Three Poems of God as I see Him

Posted on July 25, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

God is

God loves

God is working through the chaos

Look back

Look beyond

Hasn’t he always been?

His reign continues

His door is open

His invitation remains

The fire has been burning

Since our first parents

Grasped what was not theirs

It burned then

It continues to burn now

Until the day

All that can be burned will be gone

And what will be

Will be glorious and pure

© 2011 Julie Clark

Call me Treasure

Call me Pearl

Sought and found

You the merchant

You the farmer

All sold

All given

Until I was yours forever.

Only now

Can I love

Because I am loved

By the first lover

Can I give

Can I live

Breathed on

With fresh life

Responding daily

To my name

Treasure and Pearl

© 2009 Julie Clark

Heartbeat of God

Ever reaching for His children

Justice and Peace

He longs to bring with

Connection to His streams of Life

His life breathes life into what is dead or dying

Reviving, weaving, creating purpose

For each new day.

©  2010 Julie Clark

Categories: Faith, God, Life, Love, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

By the water today

Posted on July 13, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

I just need to be by the water today.

Some how I managed to park

Under the tree

With a huge eagle in it.

It reminds me

When I am not even aware of it

You are watching over me.

 

Got my first whiff of blackberries

When I got into the car,

Promises of juicy delight

Later in the summer.

 

He is gathering a crowd

The eagle.

No need to be dramatic.

He just is.

So regal

On his branch at the top of the tree.

 

Me?

Sometimes I need to be dramatic

Just making sure somebody

Is watching.

 

That is what I love about this town

You can drive down to the sea,

Park under a tree with an eagle at the top

Watch a ferry load up

And then a smelly, noisy train comes rumbling by.

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What I Learn from Suzie

Posted on July 9, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

When you are caught

Swimming in a lake

Between two volcanoes

And you think you see

A dead fish

Remember

It’s just a lily pad

 

Those volcanoes

Will erupt someday

But you probably won’t

Be around to see them

And if you are

Chances are

You won’t be

In the path of the lava

And the lily pad is

Just that

And that’s how it looks

To see a glass

Half full

© 2011 Julie Clark

 

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Breeze

Posted on June 28, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

The breeze rustling through the plum trees

Against the clear morning blue

Catches my breath

Suddenly I am in the mountains

Somewhere

It could be the Crestline of my youth

Or Dutch Flat where we spent many a summer day

With our little ones and extended family

Or the Tien Shan

Which we lived in the shadow of for so many years

It is the stillness

Interrupted by the playful breeze

It is the fresh morning air

And sun awakened scents

That bring this mountain peace to me

It connects with a longing for rest

The need to just be

To slow down

To enjoy unfolding beauty

Not to rush off

To the next thing on my list

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry, Trees | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MOVING

Posted on June 21, 2011 by backfromtheborderlands

Moving

Helps me move

From lethargy and depression

To hope

Then joy

So move it

Work it out

Walk it out

Mow it out

Throw it out

Kick it out

Swing it out

Run it out

Speak it out

Shout it out

Then add some beats and

Dance it out

Lift my hands and

Sing it out

Just move it on out!

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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