God uses the fodder
of our everyday lives
to fuel the flame
of His passionate
Refining
Transforming fire.
The result:
unimaginable beauty,
pure gold.
Life
Ash Wednesday
The big problem
of pain or illness
is it is constantly
screaming for attention.
It drives me away
from anything else but myself,
pulling me steadily inward.
This is no way to live
or die for that matter.
I want to learn
new strategies
of living and caring
in the midst of it.
I have a role model
to study and learn from.
I think of Jesus.
His last days of life
His suffering and agony.
He didn’t go inward
and far away.
He stayed with us.
He instructed his friends
to put away their swords.
He looked at Peter
at the rooster’s third crow.
He had a few words
for Pilate.
A few more for the woman
on the path to the cross.
He took care of his mother.
He forgave his tormentors.
He brought comfort to another dying man.
He looked up.
He gave himself to God.
© 2014 Julie Clark
A Lifeline
Be a lifeline of hope
a connection of kindness.
We never know who we will meet
on this winding road of life.
I may have just what that person needs.
The interesting thing is:
What we practice comes
rolling back, multiplied
upon us.
One day I may need
some hope
or my children
kindness.
It’s a wise investment.
Who Are We?
I Practiced What I Preached on Sunday. I asked about my new name since battling my third cold of the season I was feeling rather Sick and Tired. The answer is embedded in the following poem as well as some excerpts from the sermon.
“Who are we?”
Asked the Poet King
the Battle Weary Psalmist.
There are days I feel
just like a Breath
or a Passing Shadow
as this Shepherd of Sheep
and a Kingdom felt.
What is my name?
Surely not
Sick and Tired.
If I listen open-hearted
the message will come
With an eye of faith
I can almost see it written
on the wing of the messenger:
Overcoming One
Who Loves My People.
That’s a name I
can grow into.
My identity is not
in how I feel or
how another calls me
or sees me.
No, it is in
How my Maker made me
to be like him
Image Bearer
full of Glory
full Grace.
A Place of Medicine
I woke up very groggy this morning. Fortunately, I am married to a man who wakes up alert and ready to go. On Saturday he wanted to find something we could participate in to honor the memory of Dr. King. He found out that the big events in our area had taken place already during the week. One thing that did pop up for today was a joint project between the Snohomish Tribe of Indians, City of Lynnwood, and Leaf School, (Learn-n-serve Environmental Anthropology Field) of Edmonds Community College .
Down the road about a mile and a half from our house there was a big gathering of around 150 people in a park (Gold Park). We were volunteers, pulling up invasive species and then later planting some native plants in the newly cleared areas. It was great to get down and a little dirty pulling up “stinky bob”. We worked a little plot that was full of them. The tribal members showed us a couple of dances, gave us T-shirts and served us lunch that Ivors provided. It felt good to be a part of something. We didn’t have to come up with the idea ourselves, just lend a hand in something big already happening. It was definitely an example of “many hands make light work.” I also am reminded again that small acts of goodness or kindness are very important and add up to make good changes around us.
The area we worked had a big mound in the middle. Our guide told us it probably was the family garbage dump. She pointed out where the main house had probably sat. So interesting to think about a family living there from 1954 to 1982. Dr. Gold with his family and an obstetrics clinic were right there across from where now is the Vietnamese produce store we frequent. We go by it all the time, park across the street to shop and then go on our way home. The park doesn’t look like much from the street. It is so much more than we thought.
In the park besides a forested area, there is an ethno-botanical garden called “Stolja Ali” which means: Place of Medicine. Those were the beds our team was clearing of invasive species. Now the native medicinal plants that the Snohomish Tribal members care for can have a little more breathing space. Maybe there was an additional kind of healing going on today besides the medicinal plants. On a day we remember a man who struggled so hard for people of different races to live together in peace and equality, a healing of hearts took place. We were different kinds of people coming together to do something good for the land. It was healing for me. I learned about plants and met some more of my neighbors. I had a chance to share some old comfy gloves with one woman handing out T-shirts. Her hands were cold and I was about to take those gloves off and put on my work gloves. One of those moments in time when an opportunity arises to do something good. I like days like today when I finally wake up and am alive to these opportunities.
Categories: borderlands, Life, Peace and Reconciliation
Tags: Dr. King, garden, gloves, healing, medicine, park, place, T-shirts, volunteers
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Family Gatherings
Our 1,750 square foot home did not feel very big when we gathered as a small clan for an extended time in mid wet winter. There were a few days when 9 of us were together. I am grateful for dear friends who let us use their “cabin”, which was bigger than our house, for those few days. Mix in a small dog with a toddler to liven things up and you can imagine the chaos at times. On the whole the 1,750 square feet were big enough, everyone had a bed or at least a mattress, enough bathrooms to share and room to cook in the kitchen to keep all of the above fed.
Compared to some parts of the world where we have traversed, our square footage is enormous. Many families in Hong Kong live in very small flats where gathering as a clan takes creativity. When we lived there, hospitality was often shared in a favorite restaurant. We were grateful for the rare opportunities to visit friends in their homes. The refugees (boat people), who were our students, had one tier of a double sized bunk bed to call home. Yet, they still practiced hospitality and invited us to sit on low plastic stools to share a meal. Our Central Asian friends don’t worry about tables and chairs, they sit on colorful mats on the floor with a tablecloth spread out on the carpet for piles of food to share. That way more people can squeeze into a room. Later they spread those same mats and more for sleeping.
I have been thinking this morning about how good it was to gather as a growing family. It’s good to move our stuff and make room for each other. Our bonds were strengthened with each other. Our grandson will not remember the details of this visit in his long-term memory, but I believe he bonded with each of us in a special way that will continue through his life. I’m smiling as I think of him singing “Teo, Teo, Teo”, (Uncle in Spanish) as he headed upstairs looking for his very fun Uncle. Or the report from his Mama that he woke up saying “Nana” a morning or two while he was here.
Another way it was good, was to see where love still needs to grow. We don’t always know unless we are in a situation where it is challenged. Say, tired and in need of a shower and both of the showers are in use. Or, not quite enough of that fresh french pressed coffee to go around. Or, whose on the dish duty, not me again? Or just trying to figure out what to do together. Things like that can help us see where our attitudes need adjusting. If we live isolated lives we never really know where we need to grow. When the children were young and we all lived together, there were daily lessons to be learned by all of us. Now I need my family to keep showing up for visits to keep that process going in my life. It’s not just knowing where I need to grow that is important, but also turning those needs into prayers and inviting the help of Heaven to bring about change on earth, in me.
I am tired and need to put my house back together again. I need to get back into my regular schedule of writing and meeting with people, but above all I am so grateful for the sacrifices my kids and their spouses made to come home, travel from far away for the holidays.
Categories: Hospitality, Life, Love, Marriage and Family, Parenting, Travel
Tags: bonds, family, gatherings, grow, holidays, hospitality, love, space
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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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Advent: Gifts
When your best
isn’t good enough
When your acts of kindness
go unnoticed or
fall flat like a pancake
missing the plate
onto the dusty floor
When the recipient
of your kindness
doesn’t appreciate
your efforts
Remember
how God’s kindness to us
was spurned
At the inn:
“No room here, try the stable.”
At the cross:
“Crucify Him!”
He knows
He sees how we suffer
He can relate
When our deeds
go unnoticed
He on the other hand
appreciates our every effort
and receives each with
a warm singing heart
and outstretched hands
Thank you is his response
to our feeble gifts
May our thank yous
ever increase
as our hearts expand
to become
grateful people
© 2013 Julie Clark
Advent: The Seed
Take a seed, any seed
If you didn’t know what it was
you would write it off as a speck of dust
blowing in the wind.
Yet,
the wind
the rain
the earth and sky
all together working
with the DNA
encased in the hard shell
and the far-reaching possibilities
of that seed are immense
as the stars in sky
and the sand
on the shore.
Each of us
a seed
blowing on the wind
falling then planted
growing.
The potential for good
is great
for making a difference
on the earth
among all people
to be peacemakers
lovers of God and man.
It’s all there from the beginning
locked away and waiting
to be released
in the right time.
Seed of David, Seed of God
Son of Man, Son of God
bringing peace on earth
We hear
heaven is coming
and we will see the King.
Even so
come.
© 2013 Julie Clark
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