September 21st
Two pieces of writing concerned with this month’s theme of New Beginnings.
Starting Afresh
We left behind
the steep wooden stairs,
the wilderness garden
with the rosemary bushes
and the pale pink roses
against their stately arch.
Some regrets, Yet God gives us strength
for today and for all that tomorrow brings,
We had to refurbish the new bungalow
new carpets, new curtains, new kitchen
with primrose yellow paint throughout.
Everything new, fitting in our belongings
to make it a home.
Still some regrets, Yet God gives us strength
for today and all that the future brings.
Two years on we are settled in.
White roses grow on brickwork
near the front latticed window.
Rosemary, geraniums and lavender flourish.
No regrets only pleasure and joy
at creation human and divine.
While still God loves us; His compassion fails not.
He carries us beyond our future into eternity.
©Rosemary Orr, September 2020
Beginnings: Taste, Touch and See
There is something exciting about New Beginnings.
Like opening a new untouched book. Or starting a new page of a journal to write in. Running my hand over the clean page and smelling the freshness of paper. Or tasting that new bread recipe straight from the oven. Taste, touch and see beginnings.
What about opening the curtains and watching the new dawn break and sun begin its journey on a new day. Another Covid-19 lockdown walk early in the morning. When the mist still lingers between the trees and the leaves are changing colour as they begin their journey towards letting go. Dying that they may help feed new life. Amazing nature. A new day begins…. Beginnings, Taste, Touch and See.
So many changes, changes bringing new challenges and stretching our inner resources to embrace new beginnings as we learn to let go of the old ways of being, doing and living. Beginnings, Taste, Touch and See.
Life is filled with beginnings and endings. A time and season for all things. This world is forever changing. Yet it reminds me of the Truth. There is One who was at The Beginning of all things.
In the beginning was the word, And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
There were those who had seen Him. Touched Him. Smelt Him and tasted of Him. They wrote. “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen and heard. We have looked at and our hands have touched. This we are telling you and want you to know”. New beginnings are stirring and bringing new ways of living, doing and being.
So now we continue to have a new challenge in Kingdom Arts of how to connect, to share and express ourselves to each other….to fellowship in a new way. Let’s remember it’s all about Him. The One who helps us, who never changes and remains Faithful to His word. A new day, a new way. He is our beginning and He will be there at the end. Never changing.
Shefali September 2020
September 15th
Two pieces by Rosemary Orr
Conquest
We chose the rocky beach,
having walked too long
on strands of silk,
down avenues of lush green.
Now we needed a challenge,
stumbling across stones, boulders,
slipping into pools of slime,
dense murky algae.
We chose the rocky beach
pockmarked our feet,
but we had been somewhere,
leaving not just footprints
in the sand.
God’s Garden
Garden of deep peace
nestling in strong sunlight.
Here we pray for strength,
for encouragement in difficult times.
Nearby daffodils and cowslips
rustle in the cold wind.
The garden is empty
save for the two of us.
We drink some orange juice,
then the early Spring sun
bids us slowly depart.
September 8th
David New has continued to ponder the theme of creation from previous months and has called to mind trees from various periods of his life that have been significant for him:-
REMEMBERED TREES
Seven stately Ash
marked the path that ran
beyond the end
of my childhood garden.
Gentle southwest winds
rustling the branches
“had language for me.”
Pollarded willows
edged the banks
of the old mill stream
while we lazed
in the water-meadow field
with vetch and buttercup and buzzing bugs,
eating double-decker sandwiches.
Towering Elms
crowning the hill of
Beckenham golf course
with trunks too big to be hugged
even by us two boys.
Alas the nineteen sixties
swept them all away!
Golden pendules of Laburnum
overhung the pavement
from garden fronts
of suburban brick-box homes;
brightening up
the daily walk to school.
One big Chestnut tree
covered the corner
of the school playground.
Elegant white candles in the spring;
Abundant summer foliage;
And in the autumn,
Conkers galore.
Overwhelming generosity
from the Creator.
And all for fun!
Bright white slender trunks
mark the parking lots
for fossil-fuelled family cars.
But tiny dancing leaves
are no match
for the carbon-footprint need.
Yet still the white bark shines.
David New 2020