Cracks and light . . .

 

 

 

"Never be afraid of being a broken thing." 

When I am not busy being busy (helps to distract  my mind) I am thinking. Often when I am being busy I am thinking as well. That is the one thing about the brain . . .  you just can't turn it off. Some of my best inspiratiions come in those moments, and I truly feel God's tender mercies as I am being taught.

I was thinking yesterday as I looked out at the garden. Everything is dying down now.  Seed pods have formed. The roses are looking dead and tired, same with the hydrangea, most things have tucked themselves back into the ground.  Our soil is very clay-like.  It is hard and packed. Not a lot grows very well which we discovered when we tried to grow our own vegetables. 

What does grow has been beautiful however.  It has always amazed me. Our first spring in this house,  I had no idea what lay beneath that cold hard clay, but somehow, no matter how hard and cold it was, and one by one . . .  pretty things started to push their way up through the clay, breaking it open and popping out of the cracks. What looked dead and like nothing, came to life and turned into something quite beautiful.

 

 

 

I have always been more than a bit amazed at the resilience of nature and its ability to overcome and start over again after seemingly tragic circumstances.  The Springs which always follow the Winters . . .

Many years ago I was living in a small community in New Brunswick. The woman who became my best friend, Debbie, lived across the road from me.  We had much in common. One day, not too long after I had moved there, she invited me to go down and visit her mother with her.  Her mother lived near Gagetown which was a few miles south of us.  There was an area that we had to pass through to get down to Gagetown proper from near Fredericton where we  lived. This area had very recently been ravaged by forest fires.  As you drove down the highway, the scenery on both sides was very stark and dismal.  It  seemed to be miles and miles of a dark landscape filled with the  black  burnt out carcasses of trees. 

 

It was very armagedonesque. (if that's a word) You would not have thought that anything good would ever be able to come out of it. Yet, as the time went on, each month and year that passed brought new life into this landscape, so much so that, within a few years, it was hard to imagine that anything tragic had ever occured there. 

 

My father was always saying to us when we were growing up  that Rome was not built in a day. We humans can be such impatient creatures. We often are ready to give up at the first obstacle we encounter. Perseverance is the key. Patience. There is always a way through, a way out, a way to overcome and to flourish.  

 

The sky breaks to give us rain. Clouds break to bring us sunshine and rainbows. Seeds break to bring us flowers. Grains of wheat crack to bring us bread. And so it goes  . . . 

Sometimes things need to be broken in order to become better and stronger, often even more beautiful. I loved Jen reminding me yesterday of my having spoke of  Kintsugi in the past. Kintsugi is  the Japanese art of welding the broken pieces of pottery back together and filling the cracks with gold.  The art of making beautiful things out of broken things. 

And already I am learning, growing, becoming. 

 

Earlier this week I was feeling quite broken as I attempted to navigate the process of opening my own bank account. In normal times, a very easy thing to do, but in these covid-ridden times much more complicated and difficult. I sat here in tears one morning having spent 4 1/2 hours in defeat. Broken.  Yesterday I managed to do it. I now have my own bank account, in my own name. I felt like jumping in the air and clicking my heels together. I did it! 

I have been going through my things and deciding what I can live without, what I can give up . . .  deciding which of my things are the things I want to be able to bring forward with me. It is a surprising list.  My mother's letters. My Big Blue Binder. Family photographs.My journals. My artwork. My paints.  Small treasures and gifts from friends.  Things which have meaning and value of the heart. 

I will not see another springtime here, but that's okay. I will see a new springtime somewhere else.  If there is one thing that nature has always taught me it is that always after winter comes the spring, after the storm comes the sun. There is ever so much more joy which lays ahead of me than there is pain I am leaving behind. And that's a very good thing. 

It is always dark at the beginning of our tunnels, but as we progress through the hard stuff, the light begins to show and become brighter. All will be well.  All will be well.  We are much stronger in the places we have been broken. It has been ever so. A mustard seed of faith can get us through just about anything. What's the worst that can happen now?  I've already seen and experienced the worst.  There is now nowhere to go but up. 

 

 

Can you see it?  I hope so.  This is going to be my new header when I get to the other side. What do you think??? Be honest. I can take it. Nova Scotia is a peninsula, held and attached to the mainland of Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto which is only 24 kilometers wide. Other than by air or by ship, it is the only way to get to Nova Scotia, and theirin lies its strength.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *I am learning to trust the journey

even when I do not understand it.

~Mila Bron  •。★★ 。* 

 

In The English Kitchen today . . .  Orange, Date & Oat Muffins.  Seriously delicious! 

Have a wonderful Saturday. I am filling bin bags today to put into the bin for Monday's garbage collection.  Whatever you get up to on this day, don't forget! 

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and I do too!