#devotions — Public Fediverse posts

Why I Gave Mary Oliver to My Best Friend

This weekend my best friend celebrated her fifty-fifth birthday. Dave, her husband, reached out to my hubby and I to invite us over for a spontaneous pizza party at the new artsy antique shop they are hoping to open soon. It is a cute place which will soon come to beautiful life under her creative vision – with a little help from her hubby and friends, I have no doubt. Meanwhile I scurried out to find the perfect gift…

I wanted to get her something like a novel about someone opening an antique shop, maybe a murder mystery? Or some really good tea. She loves tea, or maybe a fun wine glass, or you know – shopping for a friend is as fun as shopping for yourself. But my friend might be just as happy with a power tool as a poetry book- she’s quite the versatile one, she is!

But it is National Poetry Month. And it just so happens as I came around the aisle of books at my local bookstore there before my eyes on the end display was the best collection of poetry I have ever read. Now it’s important you understand why Mary Oliver is my favorite poet, because…I don’t find many poets to be so wonderfully infused with the essence of beauty quite the way her words are for me. Is all I know is we love what we love. Mary Oliver’s poems are a treasure.

I have read a number of her works, as well as her A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry which I enjoyed with a group of poets at the local library a number of years back. It was probably then when I “met” Mary. The fact that her words were approachable, and simple, yet profound caused me to see all that poetry could be. I came late to the Pulitzer Prize winning author, so it seems to be with much in my life. Even my own writing.

So what does any good friend (who also happens to write a bit of poetry herself) do but grab that book and carry it joyfully to the register at the local bookstore, thinking this is the best gift ever! Of course I think I could have given a power tool, and she would have loved that too, but hey, this is how I roll!

When I got home from the party, I immediatly went in search of my copy of Devotions, that old familiar friend. I opened to all the dog-eared pages and jumped into bed and soon was off sleeping, dreaming of rivers, wild geese, dog songs and blue horses. It is one of my very favorite poetry collections of all time.

I decided to write a spontaneous poem for Mary. However, please note…this was just yesterday, and I am sure it’s not so great, but I hope you like it anyway. Still needs tweaking, but here is where we are for now!

Mary Oliver and Me

Who introduced me to the poet?
I wish I could recall, but no matter
the words breathe life

into my heart, shamelessly expounding
on the beauty and shadow of things,
of the sea mouse, and Lucretius

in the way no explanation is given
to the blue horses about what war is
how no creature escapes the eye, or heart

of the one who dares to ask,
what will you do with
your one wild and precious life?

overhead, the wild geese fly-
and it is a serious thing to be alive
on this fresh morning in the broken world.

What can I tell you about Mary?
I have never met her, but I believe my heart
is fuller for the words she left behind.

###

Do you have a favorite poet? Write a poem about them if you dare. We are almost halfway through April, tell me, what will you do with your one wild and wonderful April? Channeling Mary O today!

Keep writing (even if no one else reads your words),

Enthusiastically, Dawn

Why I Gave Mary Oliver to My Best Friend

This weekend my best friend celebrated her fifty-fifth birthday. Dave, her husband, reached out to my hubby and I to invite us over for a spontaneous pizza party at the new artsy antique shop they are hoping to open soon. It is a cute place which will soon come to beautiful life under her creative vision – with a little help from her hubby and friends, I have no doubt. Meanwhile I scurried out to find the perfect gift…

I wanted to get her something like a novel about someone opening an antique shop, maybe a murder mystery? Or some really good tea. She loves tea, or maybe a fun wine glass, or you know – shopping for a friend is as fun as shopping for yourself. But my friend might be just as happy with a power tool as a poetry book- she’s quite the versatile one, she is!

But it is National Poetry Month. And it just so happens as I came around the aisle of books at my local bookstore there before my eyes on the end display was the best collection of poetry I have ever read. Now it’s important you understand why Mary Oliver is my favorite poet, because…I don’t find many poets to be so wonderfully infused with the essence of beauty quite the way her words are for me. Is all I know is we love what we love. Mary Oliver’s poems are a treasure.

I have read a number of her works, as well as her A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry which I enjoyed with a group of poets at the local library a number of years back. It was probably then when I “met” Mary. The fact that her words were approachable, and simple, yet profound caused me to see all that poetry could be. I came late to the Pulitzer Prize winning author, so it seems to be with much in my life. Even my own writing.

So what does any good friend (who also happens to write a bit of poetry herself) do but grab that book and carry it joyfully to the register at the local bookstore, thinking this is the best gift ever! Of course I think I could have given a power tool, and she would have loved that too, but hey, this is how I roll!

When I got home from the party, I immediatly went in search of my copy of Devotions, that old familiar friend. I opened to all the dog-eared pages and jumped into bed and soon was off sleeping, dreaming of rivers, wild geese, dog songs and blue horses. It is one of my very favorite poetry collections of all time.

I decided to write a spontaneous poem for Mary. However, please note…this was just yesterday, and I am sure it’s not so great, but I hope you like it anyway. Still needs tweaking, but here is where we are for now!

Mary Oliver and Me

Who introduced me to the poet?
I wish I could recall, but no matter
the words breathe life

into my heart, shamelessly expounding
on the beauty and shadow of things,
of the sea mouse, and Lucretius

in the way no explanation is given
to the blue horses about what war is
how no creature escapes the eye, or heart

of the one who dares to ask,
what will you do with
your one wild and precious life?

overhead, the wild geese fly-
and it is a serious thing to be alive
on this fresh morning in the broken world.

What can I tell you about Mary?
I have never met her, but I believe my heart
is fuller for the words she left behind.

###

Do you have a favorite poet? Write a poem about them if you dare. We are almost halfway through April, tell me, what will you do with your one wild and wonderful April? Channeling Mary O today!

Keep writing (even if no one else reads your words),

Enthusiastically, Dawn

Why I Gave Mary Oliver to My Best Friend

This weekend my best friend celebrated her fifty-fifth birthday. Dave, her husband, reached out to my hubby and I to invite us over for a spontaneous pizza party at the new artsy antique shop they are hoping to open soon. It is a cute place which will soon come to beautiful life under her creative vision – with a little help from her hubby and friends, I have no doubt. Meanwhile I scurried out to find the perfect gift…

I wanted to get her something like a novel about someone opening an antique shop, maybe a murder mystery? Or some really good tea. She loves tea, or maybe a fun wine glass, or you know – shopping for a friend is as fun as shopping for yourself. But my friend might be just as happy with a power tool as a poetry book- she’s quite the versatile one, she is!

But it is National Poetry Month. And it just so happens as I came around the aisle of books at my local bookstore there before my eyes on the end display was the best collection of poetry I have ever read. Now it’s important you understand why Mary Oliver is my favorite poet, because…I don’t find many poets to be so wonderfully infused with the essence of beauty quite the way her words are for me. Is all I know is we love what we love. Mary Oliver’s poems are a treasure.

I have read a number of her works, as well as her A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry which I enjoyed with a group of poets at the local library a number of years back. It was probably then when I “met” Mary. The fact that her words were approachable, and simple, yet profound caused me to see all that poetry could be. I came late to the Pulitzer Prize winning author, so it seems to be with much in my life. Even my own writing.

So what does any good friend (who also happens to write a bit of poetry herself) do but grab that book and carry it joyfully to the register at the local bookstore, thinking this is the best gift ever! Of course I think I could have given a power tool, and she would have loved that too, but hey, this is how I roll!

When I got home from the party, I immediatly went in search of my copy of Devotions, that old familiar friend. I opened to all the dog-eared pages and jumped into bed and soon was off sleeping, dreaming of rivers, wild geese, dog songs and blue horses. It is one of my very favorite poetry collections of all time.

I decided to write a spontaneous poem for Mary. However, please note…this was just yesterday, and I am sure it’s not so great, but I hope you like it anyway. Still needs tweaking, but here is where we are for now!

Mary Oliver and Me

Who introduced me to the poet?
I wish I could recall, but no matter
the words breathe life

into my heart, shamelessly expounding
on the beauty and shadow of things,
of the sea mouse, and Lucretius

in the way no explanation is given
to the blue horses about what war is
how no creature escapes the eye, or heart

of the one who dares to ask,
what will you do with
your one wild and precious life?

overhead, the wild geese fly-
and it is a serious thing to be alive
on this fresh morning in the broken world.

What can I tell you about Mary?
I have never met her, but I believe my heart
is fuller for the words she left behind.

###

Do you have a favorite poet? Write a poem about them if you dare. We are almost halfway through April, tell me, what will you do with your one wild and wonderful April? Channeling Mary O today!

Keep writing (even if no one else reads your words),

Enthusiastically, Dawn

Richard Younge, a Calvinistic pamphleteer, makes the unsettling point that while grace is free, the presence—or glaring absence—of mercy toward the poor rather suggests something about the state of one’s soul. Not grace plus works, you understand—rather works as the unavoidable fruit. Curious, then, how some fret over prayer minutes yet balk at mercy.

#christian #devotions #grace #sin #blessed #sanctification #calvinist

Richard Younge, a Calvinistic pamphleteer, makes the unsettling point that while grace is free, the presence—or glaring absence—of mercy toward the poor rather suggests something about the state of one’s soul. Not grace plus works, you understand—rather works as the unavoidable fruit. Curious, then, how some fret over prayer minutes yet balk at mercy.

#christian #devotions #grace #sin #blessed #sanctification #calvinist

Richard Younge, a Calvinistic pamphleteer, makes the unsettling point that while grace is free, the presence—or glaring absence—of mercy toward the poor rather suggests something about the state of one’s soul. Not grace plus works, you understand—rather works as the unavoidable fruit. Curious, then, how some fret over prayer minutes yet balk at mercy.

#christian #devotions #grace #sin #blessed #sanctification #calvinist

Richard Younge, a Calvinistic pamphleteer, makes the unsettling point that while grace is free, the presence—or glaring absence—of mercy toward the poor rather suggests something about the state of one’s soul. Not grace plus works, you understand—rather works as the unavoidable fruit. Curious, then, how some fret over prayer minutes yet balk at mercy.

#christian #devotions #grace #sin #blessed #sanctification #calvinist

Richard Younge, a Calvinistic pamphleteer, makes the unsettling point that while grace is free, the presence—or glaring absence—of mercy toward the poor rather suggests something about the state of one’s soul. Not grace plus works, you understand—rather works as the unavoidable fruit. Curious, then, how some fret over prayer minutes yet balk at mercy.

#christian #devotions #grace #sin #blessed #sanctification #calvinist

Matthew Mead ministered in Presbyterian churches during the Plague. He confronted a people in crisis and demanded honesty. You claim to love God—very well. Where is that love in your treatment of others? Some bury themselves in devotional rites while neglecting family and neighbor. Mead’s rebuke is clear: love for God that never reaches another human being is not love at all.
#christian #devotions #presbyterian

Thomas Taylor, Anglican priest, says the rich man (Dives) from Luke 16 suffered because of neglect of the poor, which is to be expected next to fine dining. He immediately jumps to pastors needing to be able to endure hunger.

Why the connection?

And what of Taylor’s claim that concentratations of luxurious eating correlate to neglect of the poor. Is this true of our vacation spots today?

How can you take to heart the want of the poor?

#christian #sonship #devotions #dailymanna #worthycause

John Truair, Congregationalist, worked with the American Seamen's Friend Society. Sailors have a hard life, often robbed of their pay. Truair advocates for a ministry which is a bank.

A minster of the gospel is talking about arm-twisting adult men in how to run their finances? But this is gospel ministry. Caring for the whole person.

How can you help those who face difficult social pressure about how to spend their money?

#christian #weareallhuman #christianitylife #devotions #worthycause

I enjoy introducing new rhythms to my #BibleReading. My latest experiment is to try a #JournalingBible for the whole year, as a record, an archive of my personal #devotions. I've gotten a new #Bible to use for that year before, but not one designed specifically for journaling. As a #pastor, I do a lot of reading for #preaching and #BibleStudy. But it's also important to set aside time for #enrichment, #solitude, #prayer, and #contemplation beyond my "job."

https://youtu.be/ItKxd7bis8A?feature=shared

I enjoy introducing new rhythms to my #BibleReading. My latest experiment is to try a #JournalingBible for the whole year, as a record, an archive of my personal #devotions. I've gotten a new #Bible to use for that year before, but not one designed specifically for journaling. As a #pastor, I do a lot of reading for #preaching and #BibleStudy. But it's also important to set aside time for #enrichment, #solitude, #prayer, and #contemplation beyond my "job."

https://youtu.be/ItKxd7bis8A?feature=shared

I enjoy introducing new rhythms to my #BibleReading. My latest experiment is to try a #JournalingBible for the whole year, as a record, an archive of my personal #devotions. I've gotten a new #Bible to use for that year before, but not one designed specifically for journaling. As a #pastor, I do a lot of reading for #preaching and #BibleStudy. But it's also important to set aside time for #enrichment, #solitude, #prayer, and #contemplation beyond my "job."

https://youtu.be/ItKxd7bis8A?feature=shared

I enjoy introducing new rhythms to my #BibleReading. My latest experiment is to try a #JournalingBible for the whole year, as a record, an archive of my personal #devotions. I've gotten a new #Bible to use for that year before, but not one designed specifically for journaling. As a #pastor, I do a lot of reading for #preaching and #BibleStudy. But it's also important to set aside time for #enrichment, #solitude, #prayer, and #contemplation beyond my "job."

https://youtu.be/ItKxd7bis8A?feature=shared

So, we praise God's holy name with David, with our bodies and emotions, with our minds and our wills, with every part of who we are.

Read more 👉 https://apcreationshub.com/i-praise-you-lord-god/?utm_campaign=i-praise-you-lord-god&utm_medium=social_link&utm_source=missinglettr-twitter

#God #Christian #Devotions https://twitter.com/theannakpayne/status/1633666575562678272/photo/1

DEVOTIONS ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK... FINISHED!

What started as family devotions and taught once through became one of the first writing projects that soon spurred on the project: An Expository Commentary on the Entire Bible.

Four down. 62 books to go!

(Next to finished; Romans!)

Praise be to God!

https://github.com/joelouthan/theologic.us/tree/master/content/posts/home-devos-mark

#expository #theology #devotions #doctrine

DEVOTIONS ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK... FINISHED!

What started as family devotions and taught once through became one of the first writing projects that soon spurred on the project: An Expository Commentary on the Entire Bible.

Four down. 62 books to go!

(Next to finished; Romans!)

Praise be to God!

https://github.com/joelouthan/theologic.us/tree/master/content/posts/home-devos-mark

#expository #theology #devotions #doctrine

DEVOTIONS ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK... FINISHED!

What started as family devotions and taught once through became one of the first writing projects that soon spurred on the project: An Expository Commentary on the Entire Bible.

Four down. 62 books to go!

(Next to finished; Romans!)

Praise be to God!

https://github.com/joelouthan/theologic.us/tree/master/content/posts/home-devos-mark

#expository #theology #devotions #doctrine

DEVOTIONS ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK... FINISHED!

What started as family devotions and taught once through became one of the first writing projects that soon spurred on the project: An Expository Commentary on the Entire Bible.

Four down. 62 books to go!

(Next to finished; Romans!)

Praise be to God!

https://github.com/joelouthan/theologic.us/tree/master/content/posts/home-devos-mark

#expository #theology #devotions #doctrine

#Morning #MaryOliver

I GO DOWN TO THE #SHORE

I go down to the shore in the morning and depending on the hour the #waves are rolling in or moving out, and I say, oh, I am #miserable, what shall— what should I do? And the #sea says in its lovely voice: Excuse me, I have #work to do.

from: #Devotions

Photo: near #Sunrise at #Mercy Center in Madison, #Connecticut

#Morning #MaryOliver:

PERCY (ONE)

Our new #dog, named for the beloved #poet, ate a #book which unfortunately we had left unguarded. Fortunately it was the #BhagavadGita, of which many copies are available. Every day now, as Percy grows into the #beauty of his #life, we touch his #wild, curly head and say, “Oh, wisest of little dogs.”

-from #Devotions

We do one thing or another;
we stay the same, or we
change.

Congratulations, if
you have changed.

#Sunday #meditation #mindfulness #MaryOliver #devotions #poetry #writing #amwriting #books #bookclub #mentalhealth #wellness #wellbeing #growth #acceptance #change

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

-- Mary Oliver

#poetry #writing #writer #books #devotions #Sunday #meditation #mindfulness #reflection #insight #love #quiet #mentalhealth #health #wellness #wellbeing #selfcare #SelfcareSunday #weekend #psychology #therapy #advocacy #newhere

Every day
I see or I hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It is what I was born for-
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world-
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.

- Mary Oliver

#poetry #writing #books #devotions #Sunday