Building Jigsaw Puzzles

It has been far too long since I have written.  I suppose I could offer up any number of excuses, but not a one would change the fact I have been neglectful & careless with this.  The more days that passed the more daunting the blank page, and the more elusive ideas.  In the end I knew it would all come back around.
Jigsaw puzzles.  Yes, jigsaws.  Love them or hate them ( I fall into the latter category) most of us find an unfinished one somehow irresistible,  we must try & fit in one piece at least.  
Have you ever tried to build one without the picture on the box as a guide?  Even with the picture they can be frustrating.  You find a piece that looks like it ought to fit & it doesn't.  Turn it this way & that, you can not make it fit.  Sometimes in frustration & vain assurance we may pound it into the place we think it belongs.  And perhaps when the puzzle pieces are all used up there seem to be pieces missing.  We take the empty box, peer inside, even shake it to be doubly sure.

Sitting in the warm summer dawn this morning, gazing blindly out the window, sipping my coffee, I got to thinking about my life, about the disarray of broken pieces it seems to be built out of.  In that moment I saw the jigsaw puzzle.  All those piece, put together correctly make a beautiful picture, but I can't see the photograph on the lid, and I have, at times (more often than I'd like to admit) tried to force a piece to fit where I thought it should belong.  I have mistaken a piece of brilliant blue lake for a piece of the summer sky.  I have despaired that I am missing pieces that may have slipped under the table.  And I saw that I might be better off letting go, handing the pieces of my life to the One who does know what  the picture is supposed to look like, to One with the patience to fit the pieces properly.


It was like a light bulb went on.  Something I knew, and had even acted on before; but I need to gather up the broken pieces of my life, all those loose & scattered bits of a bigger picture, and Let God fit them together according to His grand design.  After all He not only has the box lid in hand, he painted the picture in the first place.

Thee & Me

You and I:

 raging forest fire

ignited by  

single lightening bolt

Burning away old, dead wood

Clearing the way for the new

I and You:

Rushing mountain streams

Fed by wild spring thaw

ancient glaciers

Gathering deep and clear,

Sheltered by rocky crags 

Pooling to tranquility

Thee and me:

 seeking something,

Something More 

Finding a heartbeat

 echoing our own

Elemental

In sunlight your warm embrace

breezes whispers tender words of love

Velvet dark holds our secrets close

Bright daylight proclaims our joy

Moonlight brings your caresses

In the stars the laughter in your eyes

In rain I feel the kiss of tears

Wild wind roars,

the thrum of earth

echos heartbeats

Primal, elemental:

Song of the Cosmos

Promise Me

Don’t promise me Forever,

For I have learned that for some

Forever is finite.

Instead,

Hold my hand.

Promise me

Tomorrow

And I will sleep

Secure.

Promise me

Today

And I will face another dawn

With a song

Promise me

This moment

And I can spread my wings

And soar on the wild west wind.

Welcome Home

The time has come...

is long since past-

Put off the faded, torn and patched,

laid out for you are silk and satin, sequins

Dancing shoes!

Where you are today matters,

where you once stood of no consequence

The banquet, the ball, the guests,

all wait for you.

Scars and bruises earned along the road

make you stronger, wiser,

Lovelier

You have returned renewed;

Once more

who you were destined to be.

Welcome,

Welcome back,

Welcome Home.

Once More into the Breach

Cloaked in red,

Towering Athena

No longer hidden away,

no longer to be ignored, dismissed, discarded.

Arms outstretched

face upturned to the Sun

Sword at the ready,

armour glinting in newdawn light

Battle cry on my lips-

Hear my song,

Steely resolve in my gaze
Standing strong against the surge.

I have always seen myself as something of a mouse, small, unseen, even unimportant, but in recent months that perception has begun to change. I can not even quite pinpoint where this perception of myself came from. As a child I was among the physically smallest in my class, and I was quiet & bookish & shy. As I grew into my teens I nurtured this image as a safe place to hide. If I was invisible no one could expect anything, or ask anything, of me.
But lately I have been hearing the people around me telling me something different; that I am strong, powerful, wise, lovely, and a force to be reckoned with. And slowly I have started to believe it, to see myself as God made me, as others see me.
My poetry is my voice, a voice of passion, of prophecy, of praise. Like me it is quiet, and often overlooked, but I hope, when you do look, it changes you, as it changes me.
On Sunday morning, during worship I could see myself, no longer small and unimportant, but tall & strong, not just tall, but towering. I was in a room so filled with light I could not see the walls, the floor, the ceiling, I almost felt suspended, outside of time & space, except my feet were firmly planted. I marveled at it, almost wept for the wonder of it all.

Into Spring

In warming spring breezes I hear your song

Crooning whispers, a kiss of hope & joy

Spring comes anew to a heart long frozen

By winter’s icy grasp

New buds burst with exuberance

Blooming quickly, a garden overflowing, a riot of colour

Alive with song

And I,

Even I step from winter’s bonds

And turn my face to the sun