“Purposeful giving is not as apt to deplete one’s resources: it belongs to that natural order of giving that seems to renew itself even in the act of depletion. The more one gives, the more one has to give – like milk in the breast.”
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Celtic Daily Prayer, p. 410
taken from Gift from the Sea
(painting by Jessie Wilcox Smith)
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(poem in photo by Mary Oliver)
Better late than never. Here is what I finished last month, waiting for my baby. He was eight days “overdue”. What have you enjoyed reading recently?
The Mad Farmer Poems by Wendell Berry (*****) – I loved this short collection of poems. I especially loved “Satisfactions of a Mad Farmer”. I used it in my nature journal for my spring and summer sketches.
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden (****) – an online friend mentioned that this was a good read during Lent. I have had it on my shelf forever and am so glad I dove in. I found it fascinating and found a lot to contemplate as I thought over the life of these nuns. This story is focused on a career business woman who gives everything up to enter the Brede convent. The lives of the nuns and the intricacies of their relationships was so interesting. Godden did a wonderful job making each woman really interesting and deep.
Writing Motherhood: Tapping Into Your Creativity as a Writer and a Mother by Lisa Garrigues (*****) – beautiful exercises and essays on writing and motherhood. I hope to go through this again and do some of them. The beginning part is for very new writers, but it gets deeper in the second half.
Consider the Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher (***) – Confession time: I have never eaten oysters. Ha. This book did nothing to induce me to either. My husband tried them in P.E.I, Canada as well as mussels and he enjoyed them. This was lovely writing, but I just feel grossed out by oysters. I know it’s unfair judgment since I’ve never eaten any!
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (*****) – Lovely imaginative tale about a clock that strikes thirteen, opening a time portal to a dreamy garden, friendship, and beauty. I really enjoyed this children’s classic.
The Holy Bible (*****) – Luke and some of John
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{No filter here, folks. This is a farm near our home! Gorgeous.}
~praying this as a mother today (hopefully, you can apply it to your situation, this is beautiful food for thought!)~
“Such as I have I sow, it is not much”
Said one who loved the Master of the field;
“Only a quiet word, a gentle touch,
Upon the hidden harp strings, which may yield
No quick response; I tremble yet I speak
For Him who knows the heart,
So loving, yet so weak.”
And so the words were spoken, soft and low,
Or traced with timid pen;
Yet oft they fell
On soil prepared, which she would never know,
Until the tender blade sprang up, to tell
That not in vain her labor had been spent;
Then with new faith and hope more bravely on
She went.
~Francis Ridley Havergal
Opened Treasures
May 15th entry
My harvest withers. Health, my means to live –
All things seem rushing straight into the dark.
But the dark still is God. I would not give
The smallest silver-piece to turn the rush
Backward or sideways. Am I not a spark
Of him who is the light? Fair hope doth flush
My east. – Divine success – Oh, hush and hark!
George MacDonald
A Diary of an Old Soul
~
“Let your white page be ground, my print be seed,
Growing to golden ears, that faith and hope shall feed.”
~ George MacDonald
Why write? Or pursue any other creative endeavor? I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve been reading a lovely book called Writing Motherhood: Tapping into Your Creativity as a Mother and a Writer by Lisa Garrigues. The author really is making my brain whirl with ways we can write from our everyday lives. While she specifically is focusing on mothers, I have found so many tidbits, quotes, and little ideas for general writing, especially as I get deeper into the book. As I thought of this question above, at first, I panicked. I felt a huge need to write beautifully about this and automatically felt this need to justify creativity. However, once I calmed down a bit, I realized, in my heart of hearts I knew why I write. So, here’s a small list that I’m thinking on and refining in my heart:
Have you thought through why you write or pursue your creative bent? I’m sure my reasons will shift a bit in different seasons, but this is a start.
~
{a nature journal entry from January- the children and I enjoy doing these together!}
Hello Book Friends! What did you end up reading in March? This is what I finished in March, busy month, I’m slowing down physically, as I’m due with another child soon. I started many fantastic books and hopefully, I’ll be able to finish some of those.
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver (****) – This was a 450+ page anthology of Oliver’s poetry. I checked it out from the library following her death earlier this year. Oliver is one of my favorite modern poets, A Thousand Mornings, being my favorite collection of hers. Overall, I loved this and really enjoyed revisiting poems I’ve read before over the years as this is a collection from most of her poetry books. Poetry seems to really be feeding my soul during the last bits of winter and into early spring.
The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children by Katherine Paterson (****) – I love digging into the minds of authors and this book was wonderful for that. This is a collection of essays on life, reading, and writing by the author of the delightful Bridge to Terabithia, among many other things. I had to read it slowly, but it was fantastic and I jotted down many quotes in my commonplace.
The Holy Bible (*****) – Matthew, Mark, a little bit of the Psalms. So lovely to just keep rereading over Jesus’ life. I’m really blessed by this practice!
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{Brambly Hedge ~ Jill Barklem}
A TIME TO GATHER
A time to gather, a time to reap
the fruits we’ve planted, hoping to bear peace.
The seeds have fallen so many months ago:
the harvest of our life will come.
In tenderness is life’s beauty known;
and as we listen the morning star will shine.
The days go by; why not let them be filled
with new and surprising joys?
A time for kneading love’s leaven well,
to open up and go beyond ourselves;
And as we reach for this moment, we know
that love is a gift born in care.
A time for hoping and being still,
to go on turning away from brittle fear.
A time to come back with all of one’s heart
and bending to another’s call.
This is our journey through forests tall;
our paths may differ and yet among them all
life’s dreams and visions sustain us on our way
as loving gives birth to joy, gives birth to joy.
Gregory Norbert, Weston Priory
Celtic Daily Prayer, p. 644-645
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A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, ‘I can’t prove a thing, but there’s something about His eyes and His voice. There’s something about the way He carries His head, His hands, the way He carries His cross – the way He carries me.’
~Frederick Buechner
Celtic Daily Prayer, p. 640
Here’s what I finished in February! I’m getting it up a bit late, but that’s ok. How was your reading month in February?
The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith (*****) – This title has been on my shelf and TBR forever! One of “the Read and Finish things on my shelf books”. I am so glad I did. This is probably will be a favorite forever for me and I hope to make it a yearly reread. The title of the book is a bit strange and misleading, don’t let that stop you from soaking in lovely book from Whitall Smith. There were a few things, I may quibble with, but overall this was the most challenging and encouraging read for my faith in a very long time. Highly recommend!
For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (*****) – This is probably one of my favorite books on the care and love of children. If you are a parent, educator, or just want to bless the children you come in contact with, please, please read it. You will be so encouraged! This is a reread and I was just as blessed as the first few times I’ve read it.
Re-Creations by Grace Livingston Hill (***) – My oldest daughter and I really enjoyed this book! Hill is definitely VERY predictable inspirational Christian romance and her endings we almost always predict, but the sentiments in this title were heart-warming and inspiring. A college girl is called home before graduating to find her family has scrimped and sacrificed for her education. She makes the choice to step out of her disappointment and selfishness and turns things around in the home and family by careful love and attention. This title is VERY inspiring for home-makers and creatives.
Starling and Swift Christian Cozy Mysteries by Mary Jane Hathaway (M.J. Mandrake) (***) – I read a few of these on my Kindle and found them unique and light mysteries. The protagonist is Kitty Swift, a Cruise ship interpreter for the deaf, and her guide dog, Chica. Kitty and Chica end up helping solve various murders as they cruise around. The quirkiness of the characters was just what I needed when tired. Plots are formulaic, but the mystery aspect was intriguing. I loved the traveling to exotic locations with her as a Cruise ship employee.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (****) – Rereading these and enjoyed this one a lot, albeit this one has a heavy, underlining tension. Harry’s teen angst and frustrations are really showing up now and Umbridge is SO conniving and the situation with her seems hopeless. Reminds me of how politicians etc use their power for their bias even though they say they are doing it for the good of the whole. Hmmm…sounds familiar. The power of the media is a very interesting topic brought up in this title as well. All relevant for today.
The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery (*****) – This was also on my list of things I wanted to finish from my shelf. It took me a long time to read this delightful tale of a lovely bunch of friends and their summer adventures. Hilarious, sweet, and sobering at times, I really loved this and feel like Maud out did herself with this one. I can’t wait to read the sequel, The Golden Road.
The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (****) – 4.5 -I really enjoyed this book and felt so much horror over the abuse of Ada and Jamie. The author did an amazing job conveying the effects of the mother’s lack of love and ignorance. This story surrounds the evacuation of British children from London. The one teeny quibble I have with this book, is that there seems to be a pervasive trend to hint at or include modern adult issues into MG/YA, which I absolutely don’t agree with in children’s literature. Let children and young adults have a childhood! There is going to be plenty of time for them to face adult realities and choices.
The Poems of Gerald Manley Hopkins by Gerald Manley Hopkins (****) -The end of this title has fragments of unfinished or incomplete poems, poems in Welsh and Latin, I believe, and a huge section of editor’s notes. I found this part a bit tedious and skimmed it, but overall I really enjoyed Hopkins poetry. Some of his are just SO beautiful that I had to think on them for awhile. Also one I wanted to read this year from the LIST.
Ruth Bell Graham’s Collected Poems by Ruth Bell Graham (***) – I really love Sitting by my Laughing Fire poetry collection by Mrs. Graham, so I chose this off my shelf as something I wanted to read. Very good and encouraging, but I still love the other title better. Poetry really has been life-giving to me this winter and in the current season I’m in. My favorites of this collection were nature-inspired or centered around mothering.
The Winter Witch by Katherine Arden (***) – This was the conclusion to a trilogy and in some respects was the best of the three books. The setting/atmosphere, the intriguing questions raised about Christianity and Paganism, and the continued character development were well-done. I can’t put my finger on it, but the blending of “good and evil” were hard for me to muddle through in this title. You know how literature brings us “good” and “bad” witches, wizards, etc, and the blurring of those lines in this book were difficult for me. I need some hope and some true good (not perfection, necessarily, but goodness) to hold onto and I didn’t find one character that fit that for me. The ending had some good points, but at the same time Vasya now is somehow in “bed” with two opposing demons (quite literally with one – eww) and her family is a bit torn apart. I just felt like the resolution over the war and some of the physical battles in Moscow were wrapped up coherently, but the spiritual realm battles were muddled and not as well-done. But possibly the author wanted that way, kind of not wanting to answer questions, but leaving it for us to decide. Probably the most intriguing, but dark character in this whole series was the creepy priest and in this third title, there was an interesting twist to his story. Overall, the atmosphere of this series was beautiful, but I’ve still mixed feelings about the story. It gives me a bit of an uncomfortable feeling, which isn’t always a bad thing, but this wasn’t like a challenging, uncomfortable feeling.
White Pine: Poems and Prose Poems by Mary Oliver (*****) – Beautiful collection of poetry, simple, sweet, centering on nature. I really enjoyed this!
The Holy Bible (*****) – Luke, John (My plan is to be reading through the Gospels over and over this year, and so this was my first time through and it was lovely. Back to Matthew now!)
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{Summer beauty found in weeds}
Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord”. It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.
~C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
p. 61
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Divots
the road divots, the bowed concrete
the remnants and ruin of the blood-freezing
season – the cracks, crevices, craters
my tires and heart hit hard
teeth-rattling, rims crunch,
heart shards.
oh God, when will the gray-blue white
blankness break – when will the
ice crack away, the grating
chunks of it in my wheel wells
finger-nails on chalkboard,
scraping along my spine.
underneath all these sharp icy teeth
is a sleepy promise, a waiting song
green and gold to eventually come along
for now, the icy blanket holds me frozen
my soul drains, slurping down, down,
black and white.
yet nothing is stagnant, it’s secretly swirling,
something underneath it all is whirling, twirling
I faintly remember the buzz, the hum
of a fleshly heart starting to rumble-pump,
a breaking out, up, free, wheels all a spin.
my chapped cheeks, cold face begin to thaw
again the scraping, chopping, heating, shoveling
reveal layers – deep, driftings that must eventually
melt aside, virgin-muck, green-speckled
sprouts scrubbed afresh.
the darkness births the light – green newness
from deep-dark white – when deep under it, I struggle
to the top – but You, oh Love, melt it right down
drop by drop – drip, drip, drop, liquid love
flows in my veins~ softening divoted-heart
stone cold, now new-red, and squishy-soft.
~A.M. Pine
{old photo of summer travels – following the light. I’m working hard to enjoy these last moments of the white, brilliant, winter-y beauty, but highly anticipating spring. We’ve had an intense winter season here in Wisconsin, but spring is just around the corner!}
“Before they knew it, spring had arrived. Aunt Green took them into the wood to pick pussy willow and flowers.” – Elsa Beskow, Peter and Lotta’s Christmas
“After that hard winter, one could not get enough of the nimble air. Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There were none of the signs of spring for which I used to watch in Virginia, no budding woods or blooming gardens. There was only—spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm, high wind—rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted. If I had been tossed down blindfold on that red prairie, I should have known that it was spring.”
― Willa Cather, My Ántonia
I must have flowers, always, always. – Monet
The earth has music for those who listen. – Unknown
“Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,’ she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. ‘What nice dreams they must have!”
―
To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.
-JANE AUSTEN, Mansfield Park
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