Seedlings in Stone: July 2012

On, In, and Around Mondays: Possibility in the Unexpected

This weekend, I was so pleased to do a post about WordCandy. And I had another cool one planned for this morning, here at Seedlings in Stone.

But then we discovered the disappearing-candy issue. Which will not be a chronic problem, but is a problem in search of a rapid solution. Off we go.

On Friday, I was without Internet and electricity all day long. It led to some interesting outcomes, including me doing some writing I hadn't expected to do and making a red bean salad we all decided is a new favorite. (Working without opening the fridge drove me to canned beans and our herb garden).

After fixing my disappearing-candy issue (picture below) on my blog this weekend, I woke this morning to find it had disappeared again. At first I could only see a sad and mostly empty box and the need to go in search of replacement candy.

Ah.

But then I read my post again, which said simply this:

"Easiest blog post I've done in a while. This just says it. For dreams, for my creative life, for business."

And suddenly the humor and the depth of that big white box with its blue question mark overtook me. Where there was no red bean salad, so to speak, just moments before, now there was something to make me smile and think hard.

Maybe the white box with the little blue question mark had more to say than I expected it would—for my dreams, my creative life, for business.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

On, In, and Around Mondays: Seeing What's Already There

Down by the river, I open Think and Grow Rich. Not to become rich, necessarily, but to consider the role of thought in the "richness" of life.

I love what Hill says. Our thinking transmutes into physical reality.

Somehow this sets me to looking around at what's already here near the river. I find a stone, sparkling in the sun, and note that the same stone goes blank in the shade. What if you and I are a sparkly stone? What if we decide it's time to understand that we need to be in the sun, to bring that into view? What if we aim all our thoughts in that direction—towards sunshine? What might change?

It's a warm day. I look down at my shoes. Aren't I near a river? What if I thought a little harder about what that means, about what kind of opportunity is ebbing and flowing not ten feet away?

Maybe my thoughts lead me to take off my shoes and enjoy the coolness of river air.

It's still a warm day. The river is still ebbing and flowing. Have I considered this yet? Truly considered it? If so, maybe I remove my socks. The cool river air is now touching my skin.

Well? What about the water? Have I thought about that?

If I think about the water, I suddenly understand what I need to do. And within moments, my thought transmutes into physical reality. I am touching the water. It is touching me.

Hill is right. Our thoughts transmute into physical reality. It's time I open my eyes to see.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

On, In, and Around Mondays: The River Waves

I go to be alone. It's been a long week. And I took note, this morning, of a headline about how the most successful business people really know how to take a weekend.

My weekend has been okay so far. But my mind can hardly wrap itself around the day. Even though I've trimmed bushes, watered the cucumbers, scattered two children's treasure bags of seashells into my little herb garden.

Under the pine, I've stood and sprayed the white parasites from the underside of the branches, noting how such tiny, tiny insects have begun to suck the life out of my dear tall loved-one. (Maybe you remember how I sat under her, days and nights, for a year.)

Such tiny deaths, over and over, I think. These are what could bring her down.

I spray and think of the contrast. My pine slow-dying. My garden, slow-treasuring into a miniature memory of the sea.

And me?

How does a life slow-die, or slow-live? Can it be as simple as taking it one day at a time, and choosing the treasuring?

It might be.

So I listen to the tiredness inside me, and I go to the river, where I see pairs of geese and pairs of boats bobbing on the waves. A rolling repetition that soothes anyone who would take the time to see.

I watch the joy of children, so self-possessed in how they touch the day.

The water mesmerizes. Its motion. Its diamond dazzle. Its sound against the rocks.

I let it all wash over me. The breeze, the joy, the sounds. I can feel the fatigue falling away.

Yes, I stay longer than I planned. The sun begins to set. And I am one now, with the waves. We move together, it seems, to lap our treasures to the shore.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

Labels: in, On, On in and Around Mondays, rest, solitude

On, In, and Around Mondays: Our Creativity House Keeping

My house is messy.

Not the dishes (they're done). Not the counter-tops (they're wiped). But the common spaces.

Books stacked, artwork strewn, cards built into mansions, sculptures tucked in an around our ordinary things.

I can't keep up with the stream of creativity, the interests, the experiments. I clean around them.

Home educating has always required this of me. The willingness to let the dining room be strung into a massive web or let the stairwell be home to a doll playland complete with zipline.

This past week, my kids went to an extended family function. While they were gone, the house got cleaner. It was nice to see the couch with its pillows all lined up in a row. I do like a place with a little more feng shui.

But then I remember that feng shui, as orderly as it can be when applied to a living room, was also strongly associated with the architectural planning of tombs.

I'm sure there's some kind of balance to be found. A living, creative place where you can walk from one end to the other without detour. But I haven't found it. To let my house be alive with creativity has meant a rather large dent in our feng shui.

Maybe even after the kids are gone some day, I should leave it this way.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

Somebody Parked Me in Ancient Israel

Sure, yeah. I'm in here. I hear it's not just because I'm a woman either ;-)

It kind of makes me smile to see the parts where somebody put in words for me. Not quite my voice or my thoughts. But hey, you can't be fussy when you're double parked in Exodus. Too much else to think about.

[UPDATE: I've received some questions via various social media channels, about the use of my work in this Bible, and whether or not I gave permission and so forth. As is standard with many publishing outlets, my contract with Christianity Today granted them permission to re-use the work for later projects, should they ever have need. They did, and that's perfectly within their rights. The question of editing is a fascinating one, but let it be said that all editors do *edit* for their particular needs. Variation exists in whether that editing is passed by the writer. Even with me, in my own job as Managing Editor. :)]