God uses the fodder
of our everyday lives
to fuel the flame
of His passionate
Refining
Transforming fire.
The result:
unimaginable beauty,
pure gold.
beauty
New Year 2014
Resolution
Just to live each day in the light it comes
Hunting for the treasures
sparkling in their not so hidden places
delighting to be found.
A New Day, A New Year
Morning by morning
earth life is renewed
Thanksgiving for sleep giving
new perspective in a new brighter light
Thanksgiving for second chances again and again
for lifelong learning of how to live grace filled.
Last year’s slips and slides
can be my teachers
to grasp hand, rope or ladder extended
to pull me out of self-inflicted
muddles and messes
A gracious life begins with
receiving it for myself
then the transfer of giving it away
to others is smooth as silk
gentle as a dove.
Categories: beauty, Faith, Life, Poetry, Seasons
Tags: dove, grace, iight, New Year, perspective, resolution, silk, treasure
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The Beach Park
We have been back in the area for over four years now. We have a regular walk at a beach park nearby. It’s so close, just a 5 minute drive from our house down a steep hill and along the shore until we arrive outside the park in the neighborhood of houses overlooking the Puget Sound. There’s a small parking area in the neighborhood that most people don’t know about and a side entrance to the park that only the handicapped with their vehicles can enter with a special code. We just park down the road and hike into the side entrance. The main entrance and parking lot are a way up the hill. You park there and hike a mile down to the beach. Then a mile back to your car. That entrance is much farther from our house but we sometimes hike up to that parking lot and then treat ourselves with the beach at the end. Depending on how much time we have. There is a lovely family that live in the park in a tiny little two-story cabin. They have lived there for a long time. They are the Ranger family. Just up the road beyond the side entrance are large expensive homes, but theirs is the best. They only have to walk through the meadow onto a path under the train tracks to the beach. It’s a wonderful beach ever-changing with the tides. Eagles and Herons are common sights. Sometimes we see seals. Just heard a pod of orca whales were across the way. You never know what you are going to see so the best thing to do is keep your eyes open and pay attention. Today, we were especially noticing again the huge stumps of old growth forest. I can’t get enough of them. No longer living but giving life to the trees that have rooted on top of them. We were curious and wondered if there were any living old growth trees in the Park hidden away somewhere. So we asked the Ranger when we saw him. He said no, but told us where we could find some not too far away. Now we are going to hunt for those trees. There is something about standing near one of those giants that have been living on the earth for hundreds of years. It kind of puts things into perspective. He also told us the Chum are running up the creek. We did not see any today but will keep our eyes open for the next time. The creek is lined with red alders, some firs, the old growth cedar stumps and I don’t know what else. The Ranger was describing how he enjoys smoking the salmon he buys or catches. We laughed together at what we heard about the Lewis and Clark expedition. When they got to the Northwest they got so tired of Salmon that they traded with the Tribes from the area for dogs so they could have red meat. I can’t imagine ever getting tired of Salmon and I have never knowingly eaten dog! As we were leaving the park he told us to wait a minute while he went into his house. He came back with a pack of smoked salmon for us! What a treat. We came home and had it for lunch with a salad and cheese and crackers. We feel like the luckiest people sometimes. So many amazing people and places. The world is a treasure.
Like Clay
In my mind I saw
the potter’s wheel spinning
the wet clay without the potter’s hand
flew off the wheel in every direction
I was thinking about marriage
then I saw strong hands
center the clay
shape it into
a useful piece of pottery
what if in marriage like clay
we are molded and kneaded together between
the strong potter’s hands
gently put on the wheel
we let his hands center us
as the wheel spun on
we allowed him to form us
the way our clay would go
shape us into a vessel
extravagantly glazed with his beauty
through the fire we hold together
able to carry
living water
to a thirsty world
© 2013 Julie Clark
The Amusement Park Ride
The question came at our annual church camp out. We were chosen because it was our anniversary that weekend and, well, we were up there among the couples that had been married the longest. How that happened so fast I’m not sure. I have so many memories of being the young ones, in-experienced, greenhorns, etc. I guess if you just stick at something long enough you get to be the experts whether you know anything or not!
The game went this way. Three couples chosen. Spouses split up and asked questions separately. Then, later answers are compared to see who really knows each other the best. If your married life could be characterized by an amusement park ride, which would it be: a roller coaster, a kiddy car, or the Fun House? I thought about it for a bit and it would have been easy to say a roller coaster, but really that is only part of it. All the answers were true. Those early years of marriage were pretty up and down with a few more bumps all along the way. Yes, there were also years where it felt like our life was all about our kids and we couldn’t imagine it being any other way. A few years ago I probably would have answered a roller coaster ride. I answered the Fun House instead, because I am learning how to look at things from a more positive perspective. The perpetually glass half empty gal is learning a new way of seeing the glass half full. It has taken time, but I do feel much better about life when I look for things to be grateful for, rather than focusing on what I perceive to be negative.
In reality our marriage has mostly been fun, joy and adventure. I have been to more countries in the world than I can count on two hands. I have grown to love the out-of-doors and have enjoyed the beauty of the backcountry. I’m still a little nervous about bears, but hey, I have seen them in the wild and the most harm they have done to me is eat all my food while I was sleeping. I even have heard a cougar screech past my tent in the middle of the night and have lived to tell the tale. Then, all the joy of raising our kids together really stands out. Every little, new thing they did burst our hearts with joy and pride. Then literally fun and games as they got older. Of course there were ups and downs, and sibling rivalry, but we weathered those storms and all grew together. We learned how to “live in peace with each other”. That was our youngest son’s first memory verse when he was three. Good verse for us all to live by.
Another thing about the roller-coaster rides, those were the times when iron sharpened iron, and our rough edges were worn down. So now I am grateful for them as well. The weak areas in our life showed up under stress and we were able to work on them with a lot of help from our friends, counselors and God. So those weak areas were strengthened and our love for one another grew. So I can say thank you for them now, because they have made us better, stronger, more compassionate people.
So when husband came back to the campfire to give his answers with the other husbands. He thought about what he thought I would say. At first he said: “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride?” which was not one of the given answers. If you grew up in Southern California going to Disneyland every year or read the Wind in the Willows you know what he’s talking about. Then he answered Roller Coaster ride. He was surprised that I had said Fun House. “What’s happening to my wife?” I guess it is taking time to get used to her drinking from that glass half full now.
Categories: beauty, Faith, Life, Love, Marriage and Family
Tags: adventure, couples, married, memory, peace, perspective, stronger
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Take Two Omaha
The Garden Path
The Garden Path
Was obstructed
First by orange plastic fences
And bulldozers
Wait
Next year you’ll see
The Sun Flowers
Then the secret door
Was locked
Don’t give up
Look for another way
It was there
Opening to
Fountain and flowers
This time the path
Blocked by yellow flowers
Push them aside
Let the air fill with
Their fragrance
How do we know
What to do
When our way is blocked?
We walk with the
Gardner
Waiting to be asked
© 2013 Julie Clark
In the Joslyn
Maurice Utrillo’s
Road to Puteaux
Makes me homesick
For Paris
I was there long ago
I never saw that street
The lone, wind lashed
Poplar of
Monet’s Village Street
Beckons me to remember
The Poplar lined streets
Of Central Asia
© 2013 Julie Clark
Categories: beauty, Life, Paths, Photography, Poetry, Travel, Trees
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The Path of Love
The path of love
Gets tangled at times
With weeds of
Irritations and frustrations.
Addressing the under brush
Clears the way
For the real
Choices to grow
In love again
This garden does not grow
Without my attention.
Planting new seeds
Watering, weeding
And plenty of sunshine
Of course.
What does love need
To grow again
Today?
I must ask myself.
I love how
Love grows love
When I love
My beloved.
The Birch Tree
The birch in my backyard
Is tinkling and twinkling
In the afternoon light
It’s silver green chimes
Catching the playful breezes
As they swing by
Flexibly swaying
As the cedar
Pushes against it
Competing for the sun
How far will you
Lean and bend
Accommodating
This pushy one?
He much stronger and thicker
But you are built for dancing
I foresee you will get around him
In your stretch to the sky
© 2013 Julie Clark
My Auntie and Me
My Auntie was an artist
A painter and a teacher
My favorites were her fabrics
Sewed into billowing curtains and
Textured table clothes and pillows
Scattered throughout the house
In vibrant colors
As the sea breezes breathed in and out
For she always lived by the sea
With her thoughtful face
And twinkling eyes
She loved the child I was
I wished I had asked her
To tell me stories of her beatnik life
And how she adored her policeman father
I was a passive child
Observing life around me
Absorbing some of it
Rather than taking it
In my two hands
And bringing it in close
To examine in the light
I missed so much by not
Asking my questions
Some one kissed that girl
And woke her up
She is learning how to ask
Her questions now
Who and what formed
These beautiful creatures
My Auntie and me
© 2013 Julie Clark
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