The Season for Gathering Memories by Brenda Leyland

Everything has seasons, and we have to

be able to recognize when something's time has

passed and be able to move into the next season.

Henry Cloud

found on BrainyQuote.com

Little did I realize that I had been waiting for the season when I'd turn 60. Having reached this stage (successfully finishing 60 trips around the sun), I had some inner sense of having 'made it'. I'd come safely and reasonably happy through my childhood, young adulthood, and now middle age—and all that went with these various stages of life. It had been—and still is—a good life.

At the outset of this new decade, there were lots of things I didn't have to do anymore. By this time, I'd now lived the major portion of my life. I was no longer setting down roots for my future or laying foundational blocks, learning how to live the life God had given me or trying to carve out a lifestyle based on my situation, passions, and needs. But as a bit of a late bloomer—not having married until I was forty-one and never having dreamed of being a writer until I was older—I was well into my forties when I attended my first InScribe event around 2002. As the desire to write grew, I knew I wanted to write about life from my corner of the world, using my own life experiences as fodder. Somehow I came to recognize that I had had to live my longish life before I could write about it. I needed time and distance to see how God’s faithfulness, loving guidance, and grace had umbrella-ed everything that had ever happened to me. When I approached 60, it signaled something on the inside that this was the time the writer in me had been waiting for, and the season would start with a lot of rearview mirror gazing and gathering in the memories. 

I began curating my personal history, organizing the motley collection of photo albums, journals, yearbooks, scrapbooks, and multitudinous touchstone keepsakes. It was the season of gathering the fruit—stories, experiences, lessons—of my life. And putting some order to it. Based on the advice from Natalie Goldberg, or was it Julia Cameron, I created ten-year increments of 'Just the Facts' timelines, of my life from birth to present day. From there, I took the barebone facts and began creating a more detailed narrative timeline. A lifetime in a timeline. I felt so organized and orderly (smile). 

It was a such a satisfying season. Some things got wrapped up, some got sorted. Other situations remained shrouded in mystery and no answers to the whys of life but it was okay to let it be. Some things were dusted off as I paid close attention to which memories shimmered and begged to be told. Quite often bits and pieces of this material worked its way into essays for blog posts and anthologies. I self-published a magazine through Blurb that housed my simple but cherished childhood Christmas memories. Which made lovely Christmas presents one year and I was amazed at how much interest it garnered in sales from strangers.

From the start, I wanted to write about my lost dream to marry and become a mom early in life. My twenties disappeared as did my thirties; I was still single and earning my own way in an unchosen but good career for years. It wasn't the plan at all. It would be years before I'd meet my partner. I even thought about a working title for this memoir "Between a Prayer and a Proposal: Twenty Years of Waiting... and Living". I never realized until I started looking back that I'd been composing possible chapters in my head for years, ever rehearsing those touchstone experiences till they were etched in my heart of how I had learned to let go of my expectations and invite God to show me how to create his beautiful life for me. I had lived the story for years; the time had come to get it down on paper. I took a memoir writing course with Lisa Dale Norton and loved her book Shimmering Images on the topic. The first draft got done, but I never quite got up the courage, and energy, to push through and finish it. It's still a work in progress.

Turning another corner

That was several years ago now. The gathering season ended. The pressing need to collect those memories and record them was over. I just came across a line I'd jotted in my journal back in 2023 which summed up my feelings: "I don't want to keep living my old memories - I want to make new ones." I realized my soul was longing to once again start looking forward and make some new memories. Some people use their retirement years to travel. I have traveled some, and I enjoy going away on holidays. Truth is, I'm really a homebody, where I'm happy in the heart of my home, near my writing desk, computer, and windows overlooking the garden. Where I can read books stacked up on shelves. And spend time with family and friends. Stay in wonderment and curiosity as I wander, wait, listen, pray.

I still want to share my life through writing... whether it's on my blog (my favourite place to write for these past 17 years), curating some of my favourite essays into small book collections, or finishing a memoir or two. I have known God's faithfulness and great grace through every stage of my life, including my writing life. Now as I edge toward my 'elder' years, a line from a song* Sandi Somers mentioned in her latest post seems such a lovely reminder: "In ev'ry change He faithful will remain". Amen.

_______________________________

Top Photo credit: Image by CongerDesign from Pixabay
*Be Still My Soul

Brenda is living her beautiful life in slower mode, having time to watch the world go by, sit in her comfy spot by the bay window, read, walk, watch the birds and clouds and flowers grow. And she enjoys writing on her blog It's A Beautiful Life and here on InScribe. She can also be found on Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky.

 

 

Reduction by Susan Barclay

 

Image by CongerDesign@Pixabay

                                                        

 

REDUCTION

 

In this season of caregiving

I am being reduced

Cooked, simmered, evaporated

A concentrated version of myself

 

Who am I now?

I am daughter

I am mother

I am wife

 

Who am I?

What is this new flavour?

This new texture?

This new consistency?

 

I seek more of Him and less of me

Holy Spirit, come

I am jellied and trembling

When I am weak, I am strong

 

Give me this day love, joy, peace

Patience, kindness, goodness

Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Teach me Your ways

 

Make me lie down in green pastures

Lead me beside quiet waters

Restore my soul

Fill me with Your sacred rest

 

In this pressure cooker, sautéed

I become saltier for Christ

Taste and see that the Lord is good

His mercies are new every morning

 

This is my desire

To spend time in God’s stock pot

Take up less volume in the world

And enhance its flavour

 

Father, You are the Master Chef

The 3-star Michelin

Make of me what You will

I am Your creation

_______________________________

c. Susan Barclay, 2025. For more about Susan and her writing, please visit www.susan-barclay.blogspot.com 

 

 

Navigating Change by Sandi Somers

 

During the summer and fall after I retired I felt at loose ends. As a teacher I had always lived with autumn bringing new students, new curricula, new projects, new dreams and goals. But not this year. My old lifestyle and daily routine of going to work was behind me. Yes, I was thankful for what God had given me in the life I left behind. But now I felt adrift. 

Life gave me an ending—two endings. Mom had passed away a few months earlier, and I was still adjusting to living without her. I found great comfort in the hymn, “Be Still My Soul”, especially the part, “In every change He faithful will remain.”  

What lay ahead was an uncomfortable unknown.  Yet what could I do except carry on with my summer activities, fall gardening, other family and friend contacts, and daily responsibilities. 

There had to be something more, but what? 

In my feeling of lostness, God graciously led me to a devotional booklet, Minute Motivators for Women, and there on page 37 was a short reading. "Life is like a river,” I read. "The current will start pulling you downstream to new adventures...Ask God to get into the boat and take compete control of your life.”[i] 

With this metaphor, the Lord brought a perspective I desperately needed. I imagined myself pushing my canoe off the shore to begin paddling into the unknown. But I was not alone. While I was up front J-stroking, Jesus was my companion, the skillful boatman, steering me into the unknown waters ahead. The Lord had new plans and a special purpose for me and would faithfully point me in that direction. 

As I visualized plunging into the river, embarking on the next phase of the river of my life, I needed to trust God’s purpose and presence in every curve of the river, every eddy and swirl, every rock-infested spot, every rushing waterfall, and every storm. At other times as I followed the bends and turns, the river would open up with wide vistas and long views, where the Lord would give me a fresh vision of what lay ahead. There I would receive a renewed revelation and vigor of His purposes for me. 

In the months after retirement, the Lord resurrected my dream of writing. Now that my time was free from the daily demands of teaching, I began to write more intentionally—developing my skills and publishing more than I had in the past. Knowing I needed a  community of writers, I joined InScribe and later began a local InScribe writers’ group. Life became replete with the Lord's faithfulness in leading me into some of the most productive experiences of my life. 

I had landed on a bedrock of writing—my life now found its orientation. 

Since then, the Lord has given me other changes of seasons, other tributaries of the river of life, each accompanied by His presence and purpose.

~ ~ ~

In a change of seasons, the rhythms of life have been broken, with endings and beginnings. Acknowledge the moments of in-betweenness—the todays of unknowing. Acknowledge that our seasons of life will carry us forward like the river of time: flowing, flowing, flowing. Acknowledge that as we paddle with Jesus, one stroke at a time, we can hear God’s promise: “Behold I am doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:13 ESV). 

Be unafraid to step into your canoe and embrace moving forward as you paddle into the unknown. The hymn, “Be Still My Soul,” will remind you that “In every change He faithful will remain.” When the Lord changes seasons, wait and watch as to how the Lord will open up His plans for you.

“Live now as well as in the days ahead in the power of Christ.”[ii]

 

Sandi Somers is an outdoor enthusiast--and is very grateful for the gift of loving nature. The description of this canoe trip came from personal experience. Her writing encourages others to pay attention to what the Lord can do in their lives and to become devoted followers of Jesus. She writes from her home in Calgary. 

Image by Black Feather

---

[i] Stan and Linda Toler, Minute Motivators for Women, (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 2010, 2014), 37

[ii] Stan and Linda Toler, Minute Motivators for Women, 37.

Where Am I? by Brenda J Wood

The question is 'Where am I?' and the answer is 'I do not know.'

My writing skills have all deserted me. Nary a word gets from my heart to my mind to my page. I am in the dark soul of the night (how St. John of the Cross used to describe a period of spiritual purification and intense inner turmoil that individuals experience on their journey toward God). Is that my dark soul? No idea. The phrase just popped into my mind and thus it's worth examining.

My morning pages are kaput. My journaling is even more so.
I say to myself, I might never write again.
Is this true? I certainly hope not.

BUT WHAT IF IT IS????

Writing is who I am, what I am. It is my definition of self for many years.

I take comfort from Jeremiah 36. Jeremiah dictated God's message to Baruch who read it to the King who promptly burned the scroll. Did Jeremiah say, "What a mess?" or did he say, "What a grand opportunity to do a better job this time?"

In desperation I joined FAB CHOW Summer Writers' Challenge.
Available to writers all around the world, several of us took up the challenge to write.

WRITE SOMETHING! ANYTHING! JUST WRITE!

Bobbi Cole, who currently lives and studies in Israel, called writers together to face the empty void of the empty page.

And we do. From Canada, Australia, Britain, Israel, and places galore, we agreed on a mutual time. For me, that means seven a.m. every Friday for four weeks. Our only goal is to write something. We are used to letting ourselves down, but we care not to let our fellow writers down and so we write. We show up on those Fridays with something on page or in mind ready for page.

Am I still in the dark soul period of my writing life? That remains to be seen. Stay tuned!

Top Photo credit: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Brenda J Wood has authored more than fifty books. She is a seasoned motivational speaker, who declares the Word of God with wisdom, humour, and common sense.