Wintry Scene to Remember

January 19, 2019

On the previous night, Brett and I drove from Saint George to Jake and Amy's house for a shower for Taylor and Reegan's baby. Another grand baby, and a boy. I spent the last four weeks making a baby quilt. Hawaiian squares which I purchased years ago at the swap meet. The same swap meet in which Taylor had a melt down tantrum in his stroller. A couple of squares are a pair of his shorts as a toddler.

The next morning, I hopped in my car to make a run to Walmart for a couple of things for the shower. Light blue sky, but cold. The google maps meandered me through to a back road I had never been on, which reminded me of Idaho. There were fields on one side and tall leafless bushes on the other. All of a sudden, a shower of black fluttering birds, seemed like hundreds, flew up from the bare bushes and dipped down and then up into the sky. Lovely, like a falling black cape with a backdrop of crispy patches of snow, and the black paved road.

I looked in my rear view mirror and no one was behind me. Not a car in sight in front of me or behind me; so I stopped my car and I pulled my phone out and snapped a picture. I rolled down my window and poked my head out. I wanted to remember. The smell of the earthy branches. The slight rustle of the wind. I am grateful to be out by myself for a few minutes.

The Sycamore Tree

The Sycamore Tree

He was chief publican, and the One he was waiting for 
called him down from the sycamore tree. 
Rich, powerful and hated.

Judged by others with their limited label,

trusted by no one, save One who called him

by name.

The last small town from Galilee to Jerusalem.

“I will stay with you,” He Said. 
Heads turned, jaws dropped,

Murmuring, whispering.

Mouths formed in a frown, even anger.

Murmuring, whispering.

But he had strategized, he had ran ahead,

To see the One, hoping to see the One,

who would bring salvation to the lost, to himself.
Guest with a sinner? How can that be?

The Son of God will come to any man, call to any man,

not just the righteous.

Do we need to come down out of the sycamore,

eagerly searching the coming of the Lord?
Or are we too passive, too comfortable, or too uncomfortable?

Let us not assume the identity that others give us,
or the labels we put on ourselves. 
And let us not judge others by the labels we put on them.

He will not see them as we see them, but as He saw Zacchaeus.
His brother.

Our fallen natures seem to suggest otherwise.

The trappings of our past or how we live presently keep us from the power of Grace.

Zacchaeus, translation the pure in heart, was called by his name, by the One.

He was searching, and he came down.

Taking Chances

I just spend three days at a writer's conference in Provo, Utah with hundreds of other writers. It was frightening, empowering, and inspiring. I met people, others like me, new at the writing process, and I met others who have published.
Elizabeth Gilbert (Light the Dark) wrote: "We tend to surround ourselves with the things that make us feel safe, but can then wall us in. We're aspirational, we're ambitious, we're insecure, we want comforts. Live bravely when you're young, we say. And maybe again when you retire, if you play your cards right" (21). That's where I am at. I have put writing off for so long. I have wanted to do so many things with writing. A novel, poetry, a children's book. I even wanted to submit somehow some of my essays from my master's class that I spend to much research on. They are too old now. But I hope to turn over a new leaf and write everyday and finish some of my projects.

One of my classes had these points about writing:
1. Get comfortable.
2. Act As If - if you consistently choose to behave as if you are a writing, you will become that writer.
3. Focus on Your Why - most people aren't anywhere near to realizing their creative potential, in part because they're laboring environments that impede intrinsic motivation.
4. Ultraclian Rhythms (spelling?) - 52 minutes of creativity, 20 minutes rest. Resting can be a run or a walk, or doing something else with your brain.
5. Move Outside the Box - movement can boost creativity, walk, hike, dance, take a blank piece of paper - spark your creativity.
6. Creative a Writing Ritual: prep your mind, your desk. Do the same things, same way, silence or sound, warmth or cool, light or dim light.
7. Buy a Plant.
8. Celebrate Micro Wins - set small goals and celebrate. If I finish a paragraph...
9. Track My Progress - there are Apps or I can make my own.
10. Don't make writing a Competition!