The Fireplace

My vision for this page is that it could be a place for us to share images, poems, videos, scriptures or songs that are making an impact in our lives.  In this way, we can gather together around these shared mediums to smile, laugh, think, and be inspired.  Please post, respond, and converse with me and each other.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” 
-Goethe

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

And yet, though we strain

against the deadening grip

of daily necessity,

I sense there is this mystery:

All life is being lived.

 

Who is living it, then?

Is it the things themselves, 

or something waiting inside them,

like an unplayed melody in a flute?

Is it the winds blowing over the waters?

Is it the branches that signal to each other?

Is it the flowers

interweaving their fragrances, 

or streets, as they wind through time?

Is it the animals, warmly moving, 

or the birds, that suddenly rise up?

 

Who lives it, then?  God, are you the one who is living life?

~Rilke II, 12

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

I’m the next step
Waiting in the wings
I’m an animal
Trapped in your parked car
I am all the days that you choose to ignore

You are all I need
You’re all I need
I’m in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

I am a moth
Who justs wants to share your light
I’m just an insect
Trying to get out of the dark
I wanna stick with you, because there are no others

You are all I need
You’re all I need
I’m in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

It’s all wrong
It’s all right
It’s all wrong
It’s all right
It’s all wrong
It’s all right
It’s all wrong
It’s all right
It’s all wrong
It’s all right

Radiohead, All I Need

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Sheaf Binder

When I was in Amsterdam last month, I had the opportunity to check out the van Gogh Museum…something that I had missed out on the last time I was there.  There were many paintings that I adored, and I think that I have a growing affinity for this artist; and though there were other paintings that I liked better than this one, something about it has stayed with me since I left it.

I love the way that the movement in this painting is frozen, but only for a split second.  I can just imagine this young guy leaning back with yet another bundle in his arms, trying to grasp at errant stalks, wiping the sweat off of his brow. 

This picture is alive for me, and I can’t quite explain it.  I think that I am projecting my own theological ideas onto it, (I hope you don’t mind Vince), but I just love the huge mound of hay behind the worker-a reminder that there is a great deal of work yet to be done.  And although the work is hard, it is made so only by a great abundance. 

So, I transfer myself into the heavy wooden clogs of this Dutch boy, and I understand.  Am I not also blessed by abundance, and in that provision, called to continue and finish the work to which I have been called? 

There is some intersection here of present thankfulness and future obedience that I think exemplifies my faith at this point.