Category: word of the week

Imagination: Creative Ability

 
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”
And it was so. 
(Genesis 1:14-15 ESV)
 
 
“Can you celebrate the unknown expanse of God’s imagination?”
(Rachel G. Hackenberg)
 
 
 
As I contemplated the above question, and the truth that everything belongs to God, two poem prayers flowed from my pen.
 
 
celebrate
 
 
stories untold
parables unfold
 
worlds above
kingdoms below
 
horizons expand
frontiers to explore
(borders, boundaries and limits)
 
transport us to lands unknown
 
 
 
 
everything belongs to God
 
the universe
the imagination
the narrative
the explanation
 
the soul
the seed
the expanse
the ground
 
the mind
the soil
the thoughts
the ideas (the toil)
 
the body
the fruit
the womb
the child
 
the strength
the growth
this miracle
called life

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Creation: An Original Work of Art

 
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10 NIV)




Digging into the archives today . . . I wrote this post last winter.

As I was mulling over why I desire  the act of making, inventing or producing something, this post came to mind. 

So I offer this post as an offering of praise to our Creator:



 As you survey all the materials within your reach, your artist’s eye alights upon dirt—the very medium for growth.

And then you exclaim, “This will do. Yes, indeed. I see it. I will form man out of nothing, yet something.”

In your mercy you choose dust-soil-earth to become the seedbed of humanity. You gather up handfuls mixing it with water—maybe even your own sweat and blood. Wiping sweat from your brow you form the man you imagined. In your work did you pick up a stick to sculpt the features of his face? No, I see you taking this lump of clay into your hands deliberately shaping a body, a forehead, an ear, eyes and a nose.

You are plying your finishing touches, when you take a moment to step back to observe your progress on his face—and a smile breaks across your own. You add a mouth with two lips desiring that he be able to form words just like you. You bend over his form kissing his lips with the breath of life.

Did Adam cough and shudder awake? Did his eyes flutter open, seeing for the first time, the One who sees him—and did he smile back? You reach out your hand lifting him from the ground, the very soil that became his essence—mixed with water and imbued with life giving oxygen. You introduce him to your world.

Later you would see that he needed companionship. You would invite him to recline on that same ground, to reach into his side to create a suitable companion—to eat bread with, to amble and admire the garden together and to commune with their Maker.

Did you add the same mixture of soil and water to that rib? Was the rib a structure to build, to sculpt and to shape this next being around—a female image bearer? I imagine that your desire to make another human hinges on the joy and satisfaction you experienced in making the first. Similar, but different.

This comes with a womb. Did you knit together her inner person before forming the body around this cradle of civilization? A being that would be able to produce fruit—not like a tree, but in a mysterious, soul-drenched way. In her womb would combine blood, water and soil cells.

Another soul born out of two. A new way of conceiving life. Their bodies designed to become one in the most intimate, delicate and creative act.

An act of love.




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Mission: The Act of Sending


Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
(Isaiah 6:8 NIV)
 
 
 
A mission can be as simple as an assigned task for the day. Or as complex as a mission to Mars. Or as dangerous as a military strike force attempting to subdue an enemy.
 
A more common association with the word “mission” is religious in nature. And the root word for mission comes from the Latin verb, mittere, which means to send. Lest you think I’m a genius, I just gleaned all this information from the handy dictionary on the Merriam-Webster website (www.m-w.com).
As a dictionary aficionado, I sheepishly admit that I am using the online versions more often than my compact dictionary or the faithful red Webster’s, I purchased years ago. I have dreamed of owning the complete Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which may be accessed as a hard copy at a local library. And our library has an online version, with free access for card holders.

Both refer to the etymology of a word, that is, its origin and usage. At www.m-w.com  you find the word origin, the date of the first known use, the word used in a sentence , rhyming words and even synonyms and antonyms at the end of each entry.
Until recently, I never paid much attention to the first known use date. When I was compiling my seven desires list, I started noticing a similarity. All of the words were first known to be used between the 14thand 16th centuries, with “mission” being the youngest of my words, first used in 1530. I know some of you are saying: “So what?” But when I find a commonality, my mind wonders if there is a connection.
Once I saw this pattern, I wondered what historical context they might have in common. I started thinking about St. Ignatius, whom I discovered last summer. He lived from 1491-1556. His spiritual journey culminated in a profession of religious vows with six other men on August 15, 1534, thus forming the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, which literally means “Jesus followers.” His history coincides with the dates of some of my words.
I don’t think it is any coincidence that the word “mission” was just starting to be used around the same time that God called St. Ignatius to his vocation. And I am certain that day, when I was brainstorming about my desires for 2013 that God was smiling, knowing I would make the connection.
My mission is to write words in whatever context God gives me. This little adventure in the dictionary confirmed to me that I should study the Spiritual Exercises developed by St. Ignatius. It probably won’t surprise anyone that The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien, SJ, caught my attention, when I was looking for additional texts to inform my study.
As the year unfolds, I will bring along my dictionary and these texts to see what develops. It’s so like God to keep me on the Advent{ures} of following Him through words.

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Posted on by kelrohlf 3

Despair: To Lose All Hope or Confidence

My God, My God,
why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
Psalm 22:1 (NKJV)

Doubt and despair. How could I have fallen from such great heights of wonder and delight in two days?

The common cold has descended upon my head and throat and chest. Weighing me down; tempting me to despair. You may laugh at me or you may hurl curses at me depending on how deep your struggle with doubt and despair.

I used to find comfort and challenge in the quote from Marilla Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables, “To despair is to turn your back on God.” But I’m not so sure about it anymore. Often the root of my despair rests in a sense that God has abandoned me to this germ-infested, pain-ridden world, full of brokenness and irreparable damage. Death and dying trumps life and living so many times that it’s simply impossible not to lose hope.

Even Jesus, anguished over the where are you God question:

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34 NKJV)

Jesus died on the cross. He surrendered to death and joy did come in the morning, but the hours in between still were marked with grief, doubt and despair.
 
Am I willing to w[rest]le with the despair long enough for it to bring new life?

I am not encouraging anyone to have an affair with despair, but at least let hopelessness do its work, let it bring you to your knees. Let the dark envelop you so that the light shining in the darkness means something–really truly gets into your heart, soul and mind.

And then once we’ve honestly poured out our wailings day and night, the gentle spirit will whisper a simple thought: Hope. Hope again.

 
 
O Holy Night (John Sullivan Dwight)
 
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need,
to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!
 
 

 
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Proclaim: To Praise or Glorify Openly

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5 ESV
On Halloween, a profound sense of holiness and awe came over me. As the holiday season approaches, my heart yearns for the sacred One.
We often associate Halloween with darkness, goblins and ghosts and candy. Yet the word hallow merged with eve means holy night. The word holiday has become common enough, yet I see holy plus day in there, and I remember that each day can be filled with the distinctive character of God.

As I pursue a season of rest and solitude, this slowing down of the pace and this shortening of days that pours in more darkness than light, I am strangely comforted. My heart desires to wander through the shadows and see if there is any good in the dark.

As I contemplate the holy entrance of winter and Thanksgiving and Christmas, I discover this quote over at Seasons with Soul:

“Humility, like the darkness,
reveals the heavenly lights.”Henry David Thoreau

And a deeper appreciation for darkness invades. A longing to comprehend how the contrast of dark and light mingle. How a light entered the world and overshadowed the darkness. A miracle of light playing off the night sky, a star leading us to a Savior.

Words taken apart, distilled to parts, broke open a fresh perspective—a need to embrace the holy, the sacred, to sing with hope a carol of redemption. To proclaim a Savior’s birth. To fall on my knees in humility.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
 
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
 
(John Sullivan Dwight)
 
 
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Word Filled Wednesdays

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