Goals Within My Soul by Alan Anderson

 

Writing Prompt

When I think of setting goals, whether long-term or short-term, I clothe them in a blanket of hope. As I pondered the prompt for this month, it moved me deep inside. I cannot fully explain why, but perhaps my response here will give at least some idea of what is going on inside my soul.

My Inner Landscape

A personal goal for this writer is to nurture my inner landscape to concentrate on peace, hope, beauty, and whatever things are lovely. This might sound lofty, but please allow me to explain in the rest of this post.

One of my favourite writers, the late John O’Donohue said,

“When we awaken to the call of beauty, we become aware of new ways of being in the world. We were created to be creators. At its deepest heart, creativity is meant to serve and evoke beauty. When this desire and capacity come alive, new wells spring up in parched ground; difficulty becomes invitation and rather than striving against the grain of our nature, we fall into rhythm with its deepest urgency and passion. The time is now ripe for beauty to surprise and liberate us…” ¹

I appreciate John O’Donohue’s statement, so included it as part of one of my goals. I pray, dear readers, you will accept my reasoning for highlighting O’Donohue’s words.

I am disheartened at the direction our culture in the West has taken. Especially in the last ten years or so, there has been such a division among people. For instance, people have invented the term “hate speech” to use when they disagree with each other. I just don’t understand such flawed reasoning. People act “offended” if something opposes their sensitive feelings. Lord have mercy on us.

Beauty, loveliness, and peace appear overshadowed by misguided views on life. A society where everyone does that which is right in their own eyes curtails even hope.

I pray to God I will no longer follow the foolishness of the world, but in my small way, will be an agent for change. May groups like InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship allow beauty to surprise and liberate us, to the glory of God.

With the previous statements in mind, I come to another goal of like mind.

Social Media

I plan to reduce my involvement with so-called “social” media platforms. To me, scrolling on Facebook and the like has no value or edification. I can stay in contact with people I care about through email, or even better, personal contact. I hope that I can stay in contact, for instance, with InScribe members through email. I don’t know of InScribe members close to where I live, but perhaps in time more will be up and coming.

My Website and Substack

For the sake and purpose of much of my writing, I will develop more of a presence on my website and Substack. Lord willing, Substack will remain useful to serious writers.

Self-advocacy

Self-advocate for myself regarding chronic health conditions I now live with. I need to maintain good health to move my writing forward. A reason for this self-advocacy is that I conclude through experience not everything health professionals tell me is helpful.

Grandparent grief

I also intend to devote more of my writing projects to being a voice for grandparent grief. For instance, I hope to publish my book, Forgotten Voices: Poetic Utterances of Grandparent Grief and Hope, in 2027.

A Need for personal interaction

A goal for the year 2027 is to make regular connections with InScribe writers and other writers locally. I will also ask my local church community if anyone would like to be part of a church-based writing group.

Orthodox Christian Church

Write an essay on the conversion of my wife and I to the Orthodox Christian Church and post it on Substack. After forty years as Baptists, being embraced by the Orthodox Church has come with no regrets. The depth of this ancient Church is a balm to our souls, and we rejoice now even more in the faithfulness and grace of God. Glory to God in all things!

InScribe

I thank God for being part of InScribe for the past eleven years. I look forward to continuing with you all as we write and offer ministry to each other and our readers.



Citations
¹O’Donohue, John (Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2004), 7.

 

In Deroche, a small farming village area of British Columbia, Alan shares his home with his wife, Terry, and their poodle, Charlie. Alan and Terry are grandparents of six grandchildren plus five grandbabies in heaven. Alan enjoys walking on the dike near his home, with trees all around and where he finds inspiration to write. In summer, however, he loves to hide in the shade from the warm summer sun. Alan is more of a friend of fall. He has occasionally written articles for FellowScript Magazine and is a regular contributor to the InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship blog. Alan’s website and blog are https://scarredjoy.ca. He also writes on Substack.

Beauty Draws Us to God by Mary Folkerts

 

We all know just how cracked and broken this world and we ourselves are, yet when I read Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts, she challenges me to search for beauty like a woman on a mission.

The One who created us created beauty all around us—
in cloud formations,
in the giggle of the little one,
the tender embrace of a friend,
in quiet words of comfort received,
in the chatter of the early morning birds,
the sweep of the prairie grasses,
in the steam off of your first morning cup of coffee,
in the expanse of the ripening yellow canola fields,
the cluster of cows grazing.
The more we look for beautiful,
the more our eyes
will be trained to see it,
our ears tuned to listen for it.

If the One who formed us in His image is responsible for all the extravagant beauty we see, surely He mandates us also to create beauty. He gives the ability and passion to create, be it with our hands or words, but sometimes struggles in life cripple us, and we are unable to create beauty, let alone see the beauty God places before us.

Could we find our way back to beauty by intentionally seeking the many ways God has gifted us with it through creation? Could beauty itself be part of our healing? And what if, in the process, we begin to find ways to create our own beauty again?

Creating has a two-fold purpose: in it, we find delight and restoration for our souls, but it is also the fruit of delight for others to partake in, drawing them into the secret of God’s extravagant beauty. It is God’s creative handiwork that ignites our creativity, allowing us to be co-creators with Him in His grand design!

Could your words be the beauty someone needs to hear?

There is a yearning
inside—
My spirit calls for
something
just out of reach.
I can’t quite place it,
it’s like an ache
or an emptiness
that needs filling.

Sometimes I feel it
in the melody.
The music
washes over my soul
like rain
soaking a parched ground,
and I begin to feel it.
My tears with the haunting
refrain—
maybe it’s in the
music.

Maybe it’s a need for
beauty.
The morning sky splashed
in color,
the evening glow as
day is done,
chasing the sun in its
perpetual glory.
Yes! Beauty of the
natural!

The tiny green shoot
forcing its way through
warming earth,
the ocean vast and endless
captures me, mesmerizes
and touches a small part
of the yearning
inside—
I need more of nature
then.
I will surround myself with
mountains, rivers, oceans
beaches, flowers.
I will adventure and
bask.
I will breathe deeply and
let beauty fill the
cracks inside.
But I sense it’s more—
not quite enough.
It’s the beginning, it’s like
a taste, still searching,
I can almost grasp it.

What?
What am I
missing?

Is the beauty of nature
pointing me
to more?
Is it the hand of God
I see?
Is it the sweet echo of a
song once heard?
Is it God that fills
the empty?
Was I made for more
than the material world
I can see and grasp?
My spirit longs
for what only
can be filled
by God
Himself.

 

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a member of Proverbs 31 Ministries' COMPEL Writers Training, involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the Small Things https://maryfolkerts.com/ or connect on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/maryfolkerts/

Reflections on Beauty by Susan Barclay

  

She walks in beauty. [Pic from Pixabay]

Reflections on Beauty

Helen Keller

Blind, deaf, mute

Intelligent and inspiring

Reminds us that

The best and most beautiful things in the world

cannot be seen or even touched—

they must be felt with the heart.

Vincent Van Gogh

Depressed, intense, tormented

Masterful and expressive

Reminds us that

Great things are done

by a series of small things

brought together—

each one quiet, but necessary.

Lord Byron

Clubfooted, moody, and pale

Sensual and enduring

Reminds us that

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is rapture on the lonely shore…

and meaning in wandering without certainty.

There is beauty in words, images, ideas

shaped by our minds

into something whole—

a body of work

made from fragments of thought.

There is beauty in living, laughter, and love,

in creativity, nature, and God,

beauty in sacrifice

and in healing,

even when neither is easy.

And so beauty is not distant,

not rare or reserved—

it is present

in everything we become

when we choose to notice it.

c. Susan Barclay, June 2026

_______________________

 

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

Beauty and Writing by Carol Harrison

What brings pleasure to my senses? As I pondered the prompt for this month's blog post, I scrolled through photos from the years gone by. Beauty in everyday moments filled the screen and brought wonderful memories to mind. It filled my senses as I could remember the scent of a flower, the chill of the air, the noise of rapids, and see the majesty of the rugged peaks. 

Beauty found in moments of sunrise through the trees or across a snow covered field, colouring the sky with vibrant colours as a new day began. I paused at photos of fast flowing, white water rapids tumbling through the Niagara Gorge and remembered their roar and the splash of water onto the observation deck. Other photos showed a storm laden sky with dark ominous clouds hiding the brilliance of the sun as the earth waited for drops of moisture. 

There is a delicate beauty of a blossom no matter where it blooms. I've snapped a photo of a lone, stunted sunflower brightening up the shoulder of a highway on a dreary, cloudy day. Another photo reminds me of the beauty a bouquet of flowers brightened a hospital room or on my dining table.  

The list continues as I scroll through photos and bring memories to mind. Yet I also find beauty in my favourite paintings or prints hanging on my walls, some made more special because I know the artist. There are pretty knick knacks, many with stories to go with them sitting on shelves throughout my home. They range from delicate, fragile china ornaments to the sparkling insides of a geode or the round smoothness of an old marble. 

There have been so many times I wish I could capture the beauty of everyday things with more than word pictures like a fantastic photo or accurate sketch. Yet that is not the gift God has given me. I must use words to capture the imagination, fill the senses, and evoke memories for the readers so they feel like they are transported to that time and place.  Everyday moments offer such a diverse subject matter for our writing and the opportunity to create wonderful word pictures. Each time I sit to write I need to remember to engage all the senses in order to offer the readers the most enjoyable, engaging experience they can have with the words on my pages. 

God created the beauty in the world around us for us to enjoy. Psalm 24:1 says "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein." My words are a gift God has given to be used for His glory and the enjoyment of the readers. I need to continue to trust Him and learn more about the craft of writing and then practice it. 

 

Carol Harrison lives and writes from Saskatoon, SK. She loves to find the beauty in everyday things around her and then try and capture them with a photo and word pictures. 
 

Longing for Beauty by Lorrie Orr

 

June 2026: Writing as beauty. In his book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, John O'Donahue writes "to participate in beauty is to come into the presence of the Holy." What does creating beauty mean to you and your writing? How have you sensed God's Holy Spirit filling you as he did Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus 35:30-35?

Beauty is God's invitation to delight in him.

Wonder and awe whisper to us that there is

something beyond, something more.

Steve DeWitt, (Eyes Wide Open)

It's Sunday evening, May 31. Sunlight streams through the window onto the vase of peonies on the dining room table. How beautiful it is. I fill my eyes with the extravagantly ruffled pink and white blossoms while my mind ponders the question of beauty, and the fast-approaching deadline for this post. I had thought this would be an easy post to write, but instead, I've found the topic so vast that it's hard to pull something coherent together.

I have always been appreciative of beautiful things in the world, but it is only in the past few years that I've come to realize that embracing beauty is a personal core value - something that is important to me and that acts as a guiding principle in my life.

When I attended a concert in La Sainte Chapelle in Paris years ago, I marveled at the exquisite beauty of the chapel expressed through architecture, glass, stone, and paint. The music that soared upwards to the curving arches and filled every nook and cranny of the space was equally beautiful. Creative expression is a reminder to me of one way that humans are created in the image of God.

 

The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located

will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came

through them, and what came through them was longing...

For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower

we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard,

news from a country we have not yet visited.

C. S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)

This ache of beauty, this longing I feel, reminds me that I am a spiritual being with a desire for something beyond myself, for that which is greater, for God himself. The Psalmist longs to "gaze upon the beauty of the Lord" throughout his life. The beauty of this world is a reflection of ultimate beauty, of God himself. More than an aesthetic quality, beauty has the most impact on me when I recognize God's presence in the things I experience.

In L. M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle, Barney says "There are so many kinds of loveliness." Beauty comes in myriad forms and I am glad that the Apostle Paul encourages us to think about lovely things. Beauty is multi-sensory, not just the things we see or hear. Human interactions such as watching a mother with her young baby, or cars pulling to the side of the road to let an ambulance by, or a conversation with a grandchild - all of these things, and so much more, are experiences of beauty.

Beauty does not erase the brokenness of this world, but something in me was created to absorb beauty and to recognize its divine source. As a writer, I long for my words to point to the beautiful grace and goodness of God. The goal of beautiful writing is to make the reader feel some emotion. Even when my writing is not explicitly spiritual, when someone reads my words and discovers a longing they cannot perhaps explain, that is beauty.

Lorrie Orr writes from Vancouver Island.

Her first book, Life is Short but Wide, a memoir of 21 years

in Ecuador, was recently published.

More of her writing can be found at 

Substack

her slice of life blog

K is for Knit by Lorilee Guenter

 To knit is to weave and knot together in a pleasing way. Those who knit take simple yarn and follow a pattern to produce something beautiful. The pattern may be a written set of instruction, or they may be creating their own design. Either way, the person creating understands how the material responds and how the different types of stitches look. Psalm 139: 13 tells us God knit us together in our mother's womb. He created us to His specifications. He knew, He knows every detail of how His creation works and creates wonderfully complex individuals. To some He gave the ability to knit together yarn, to others He did not. I have tried crochet, which is similar but different, and I can make a long string but nothing else.

As writers, we take words and we knit them together into wonderfully complex compositions. Our words are our yarn that we choose to place according to a design. The results can be encouraging, challenging, instructive, and beautiful. Depending on the pattern we follow, we may end up with poetry or prose, essay or story. Just as the knitter makes a pattern their own through colour choices and stitch size, our word choices and placement change the outcome of our writing. One word may result in something humorous, a similar word might change the tone to provocative. In either case, we are using simple building blocks and knitting them together in interesting ways.

As we sit down to work on our craft, to knit the pieces of our projects together may we follow the instructions of the one who chose to knit us together. May we speak truth in love. May we use humour well. May we represent facts accurately and explain things beautifully. Most importantly, no matter what form our writing takes, may we seek to honour God with the words He has given us.

Interior Richness by Lorrie Orr

 

"A good person brings good things out of the good 

stored up in her/his heart." 

Luke 6:45

Writers think a lot. We imagine, we ponder, we observe, we untangle thoughts and emotions. We must pull these stories out of ourselves, sometimes at great effort, in order to transpose them into words on paper. Developing a rich inner life is crucial to writing. 

This "rich inner life" phrase is a bit trendy these days. A simple definition is a personal life where one is attuned to one's dreams, talents, emotions, and so on. For a writer of faith, it also includes being in harmony with God's spirit within us. It's a delicate balance between being self-aware and self-absorbed. Having richness of heart and soul is allows a writer to understand herself as well as understanding others and their stories. 

Developing heart of richness takes time and intention. It's so important to spend time with God and his word. Sipping at Scripture slowly allows time for thoughtful deliberation.  Alternatively, gulping whole books of the Bible at a time allows for an overarching story to emerge. The Holy Spirit can use both to build richness into the soul. 

Other practices such as reading widely, knowing your own needs for society and solitude, understanding why you might be feeling a certain way (threatened, angry, sentimental, etc), and taking time to think and pray also contribute to the treasure chest of your inner life. 

One practice I find especially valuable is appreciating beauty. While we live in a world scarred by sin, there is still so much beauty all around us. My husband and I have spent the last two months travelling across Canada (we're currently in Quebec, heading home to BC within a couple of weeks). Everywhere, from the tip of Newfoundland to the red shores of Prince Edward Island to the immense prairies, I've found beauty. Not only in the landscape, but also in people. As the old song goes, "everyone is beautiful in their own way." Beautiful because each is created in God's image. 

Beauty sinks deep into my soul, enriching me via all of my senses. When I take time to observe a caterpillar inch its furry way across my path, or catch snippets of a conversation between two friends at the table next to me, or watch a young couple with their baby, the glorious beauty of it all fills me with an ache that is not of this world. I store these things in my mind and know that they contribute to what I have to offer to others through my life and my writing. 

How do you develop your inner life? I'd love to know. 

Currently writing from her camping trailer in Quebec, Lorrie is looking forward to being home on Vancouver Island soon. She writes a blog at Fabricpaperthread.blogspot.com, and loves beauty in many forms. 

The Beauty of Words by Lorrie Orr

 

Words are marvelous things. Little bits of sounds and letters combined in infinite ways to convey emotions, intentions, actions, and thoughts about myriads of topics. Like most writers, I am a gatherer of words. Words of other writers make their way into journals and scraps of paper that I someday intend to collate into "Lorrie's Favourite Quotations", including chapters on prayers, the four seasons, food, and so on. It will be eclectic. 

Eclectic. Now there's a fine word. All those hard c sounds make it fun to say. The L adds a bit of tongue twisting. And its meaning: "deriving ideas, style or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources" just adds to the fun. 

In addition to collecting groups of words, I like making lists of single words in my journal or my head, just because. For example: how many colour words can I write down at one sitting? Then there are words that I find beautiful - beautiful to say, beautiful to look at, or beautiful in meaning or memory. Here's a short list of five of my most best-loved words. 

1. Exquisite: extremely beautiful, and typically, delicate

I've loved this word ever since I first read it as a child, in a book describing the young Marie Antoinette. It appealed to me then and has never been replaced. Then I discovered its equivalents in French and Spanish and they just reinforced my liking for this word that combines so many lovely sounds. 

2. Apricity: the warmth of the sun in winter

Now this is an old word that is not found in many dictionaries. Blogger underlines it in red as if to say in a loud voice, "There's a mistake here. Fix it." Well, Mr. Blogger, apricity is a grand word and anyone who lives in Canada and has felt that faint warmth on a still chilly day can appreciate it. 

3. Lichen: a simple, slow-growing plant that typically forms a low crusty, leaflike, or branching growth on rocks, walls, and trees

Who could fail to like the word lichen with its homonym liken? And lichen themselves are determined and friendly things, the result of a partnership...well, we won't get into science here, but I love seeing them grow on bare rocks.

4. Cusp: a point of transition between two different states

Short and to the point, the crispness of cusp conveys change and anticipation - something new is about to happen. Cusp teeters between now and then, before and after, a thin sliver of time.

5. Hissy fit: an outburst of anger, often in a childlike manner

Okay, so this is two words. I'm taking poetic license. I first heard this word from friends from the southern USA and adopted it immediately. "Don't throw a hissy fit," I would say to my children when they were about to erupt. There's a bit of humour in saying the word that defused the situation surprisingly often. 

Oh, I can't stop. Here's one more - the bonus word.

6. Limpid: marked by transparency, clear and simple in style, absolutely serene and untroubled

I first ran across this word in a piece of piano music "From the Limpid Stream" by Frederich Burgmuller. I liked the way the notes trickled throughout the piece like a brook babbling over stones, but I had to look up the word limpid and then I didn't really think it looked and sounded like its meaning. I still don't, but I like it. 

Do you collect words? What are some of your favourites?

Lorrie Orr writes from Vancouver Island where she enjoys boating and hiking with her husband. Gardening, sewing, reading, and spending time with her five grandchildren fill her days with happiness and contentment. She is newly retired from teaching high school Spanish. 

Beauty by Alan Anderson

In preparation for this month’s post I concentrated on one theme. As a creative person I try to capture beauty through my writing and my attempts at photography. I love and need beauty.


See Beauty
Almost every day hummingbirds eat from the feeder by our living room window. Their feathers refract light and produce the vibrant colours hummers are famous for. They are a beauty and pleasing to the eyes.


Feel Beauty
I am a hugger. One of the tough experiences during these pandemic times is an absence of those I hug. For the most part my hugger partner is my wife. We enjoy our hugs even after forty-two years of marriage.


To hug is to feel the beauty of another person on an emotional level. To hug helps lower our stress from the cares of life. Hugs give us a sense of belonging, empathy, and love. Hugs remind us we are not alone.


Hear Beauty
There are times where music seems the only medium to calm souls and help drown out the noise of life. I enjoy music in the background when I write. There are three pieces of classical music I never become tired of hearing.

1. Agnus Dei, by Samuel Barber, is from John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” A sense of calmness permeates my soul and the words to write come flow on to the page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiuC_CaObbI

2. Miserere mei Deus, by Gregorio Allegri. The inspiration for this piece is taken from Psalm 51, where the psalmist pleads,

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin!”

What makes, Miserere mei Deus, beautiful is there are no musical instruments throughout the song other than voices. Readers if you listen to Miserere mei Deus, allow yourself the gift of non-activity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s45XOnYOIw


3. The musical masterpiece, “Hymn of the Cherubim,” by, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is another magnificent way to calm one’s spirit as work progresses on a writing project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPlK5HwFxcw

Beauty in silence. 
The silence mentioned here is what we may term good silence. Good silence allows us to be still to enjoy or reap benefits from a moment. Like anything else worthwhile silence takes time and energy. The result can be memorable for a lifetime.


In my last year as a chaplain I had a memorable time with a particular patient. She suffered a stroke and could no longer speak. I sat by her bed and smiled at her. She smiled back and reached out her hand. I held her hand, and she squeezed mine. She squeezed my hand again and tears dropped from her eyes. This visit together did not need words. I will never forget this moment of silence with this lady as she nurtured my soul.


Words of Beauty
I pray my words will strive for beauty whether spoken or written. I pray my words will be truthful and edify those who read them.


My beloved InScribe family, considering the sorrow of our world today let us continue to write words of faith and life. Whatsoever is lovely can be our message and beauty will find its way into troubled hearts.

https://scarredjoy.ca/

A Spring Isolation Walk by Joylene M Bailey

~~~~~

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

~~~~~

I step out my front door and marvel at the matted brown grass on my lawn. Just a few days ago, there was two feet of snow here. It’s a puzzle. But it’s not a puzzle I need to figure out. I’m just glad spring has truly and definitely arrived in my neighbourhood.

The back alleys around here have been paved since last spring and, while I do love the natural look of two tracks through the grass and gravel, it’s a joy to travel this path without slogging through mud and dirty puddles. 

The breeze is just enough to lift my isolation-length hair off my collar, but not enough to hug my sweater around me. And the air is refreshing. Wait, is that eau de fresh-baked bread wafting by?

~~~~~

The joyful heart sees and reads the world 

with a sense of freedom 

and graciousness.

Despite all the difficult turns on the road, 

it never loses sight 

of the world 

as a gift.

John O'Donohue

~~~~~ 

There’s no traffic down these back alleys and, most surprising of all, it’s a great place to meet neighbours I’ve never met before. One man is out puttering near his garage. We exchange information on the state of our families. Everyone is healthy in my house. How about yours? Yes, yes, we are all well.

Farther on, a woman stands on her back step calling to her neighbour across the fence, “Hey Ward! How you doing? Ward! Hey, Ward!” Ward doesn’t hear her, he’s too busy hosing down his driveway. 

When she spies me, she says, “Isn’t it amazing? I can’t hear the traffic on the Henday. I don’t remember it being this quiet in the neighbourhood since we moved in.” 

I guess there are pleasant points to a pandemic. 

~~~~~

Add Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

~~~~~

There are at least five dog-walkers out on the main streets that cross the maze of back alleys I’m taking. They wave or nod or say a short hello. But they don’t stop to chat. I find myself wondering if that’s because of the current self-isolation in effect, or if it’s because I’m not walking a dog.

A couple of children whiz by on their bikes, single file. They give me a furtive glance. Obviously, they’ve been warned about the six-foot rule. I hear other children behind a fence, bantering back and forth in the high-pitched voices I usually hear drifting from the school playground. Two doors down, on a raised deck, an almost-grown girl giggles into her cell phone. 

~~~~~

Image by Lori Clouse from Pixabay

~~~~~

On the home stretch I stop behind our house. I soak up the sun-warmed surface of the fence as I peer over it into our sunroom, where hubby has set up his self-isolation home office. I wave wildly, trying to get his attention, but he is absorbed in a web-ex meeting with other grocery company executives, collectively finding their way through a corona-made obstacle course.

Not all the heroes are on the front line. 

Our windchimes bing-dong as though to say see you soon and I head towards the end of the alley. At the corner, a wren high in a towering poplar sings its tuneful song in reply to a similar song nearby. I try to find him in the tangle of limbs and branches, but I can’t. 

~~~~~

Look at the birds of the air;

 they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:26 NIV

~~~~~

Half a block later I’m back at my front door. My home welcomes me like an old friend. We have been very close these last several weeks. She has sheltered me and provided me with all kinds of things to do, places to sit and work and be. Being is what we are still doing, despite isolation and six-foot rules. Being neighbourly, being active, being reflective. Carrying on. Life is different right now, but the world is still beautiful. God is still there. Still here.

~~~~~

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay 

~~~~~

Joy enjoys her back-alley walks in Edmonton, Alberta, where she is self-isolating with The Cowboy and Babe. Most of her writing projects have been put on hold during this season as she creates community in isolation with her Tea-Time blog posts at Scraps of Joy.

My 2020 Key Word Chose Me by Wendy L. Macdonald

In my December newsletter, I wrote about how I chose my key word for 2020. Actually, it chose me. And now that I’ve already begun focusing on it in both my journal writing, and in my poetry, I’ve realized it’s a healing word too.

You see, 2018 & 2019 brought me face to face with the ugly in others and me. I was forced to recognize that although I had forgiven stuff I suffered in childhood, I was withholding forgiveness for present pains inflicted upon my family and me.

Forgiveness is beautiful. It’s the opposite of hate—which is ugly.

My key word for 2020 is beauty.

Beauty brings me closer to God when I focus on it. No matter what’s happening to and around us, beauty may be found if we intentionally seek it.

When Jesus hung on the cross—blood dripping, flesh ripping—he was the most beautiful person who ever lived and died in the moment He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Oh, my goodness. We have been forgiven too much not to turn the other cheek too. How can we not choose to forgive our enemies when we’re only here for a short few years compared to an eternity with Jesus in heaven? No matter what wounds we’ve suffered in this life, the Lord has promised us that our in-the-moment-sufferings aren’t worthy to be compared with the beauty that’s coming.

Yes, beauty means focusing on what’s to come and thereby allowing the beauty of the Lord to break through the ugly stuff happening around us. No, it doesn’t mean standing still while someone tosses shovelfuls of manure in our face. It means we don’t toss it back. We forgive instead of retaliate; so, perhaps then, the coals of conviction may burn away the ugliness of hate to reveal Christ’s redeeming beauty: Love. 

And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
Isaiah 6:3 NIV

I’m nosy-to-know if you’ve recently noticed God’s beauty in the middle of the not-so-lovely?

Blessings of His beauty ~ Wendy Mac
     

God Makes Everything Beautiful - Marnie Pohlmann

In the beginning God created. God spoke words and created what pleased Him.  I feel closest to God when I am creating with words. 

But am I creating beauty?

Writing for me has always been a cleansing process. The ink I pour onto the pages is black with pain and yes, with sin. So how can it be that my smudged black words could be anything but ugly, not offering words of beauty?

This mystery is one of those God miracles, like stifling pressure makes diamonds or sculptures change from wet clay to art in the heart of a fire. The very things that seem like they must destroy, like pressure, fire, and pain are actually used to create unique, special, beauty.

Changing pain to beauty does not always happen, and never happens easily, but this transformation is possible. God transforms my struggles to provide a new me and send me on new adventures. Like a frog stretches out legs until he can venture onto dry land, or a caterpillar sheds her creepy-crawly past to grow delicate wings for flight. So, too, God transforms my dark moments, my mistakes and failures, my defiant rebellion, into beauty. It is not something I can do. That kind of transformation is a miracle. A miracle of God. 

Do my words matter? 

In an age when definitions of words are changed by political agenda and words are not trusted to be true, what difference can be made by sharing my words? 

Writing words to sort through my sinfulness and circumstances provides clarity to me, and hopefully, when shared, encouragement to others as they read of the transformation in me.

As I settled in to write about this month’s theme of what creating beauty means to me and to my writing, I am grateful for the time we recently had travelling and camping, seeing God's words of beauty in nature. Exodus 35 says God gifted two people with many talents and they taught others to use make beauty for God's glory.  I am grateful to the Bezalels and Oholiabs in my life, most of whom are Inscribe writers, who are teaching me the art of creating beauty with words. 

I am not multi-talented like Bezalel or Oholiab. I am one of the others. I may always be one of the nameless artisans who create beautiful words, yet my few words can make a difference in God’s Temple. And if not to people who read them, the words make a difference in my own life.

God who is pleased by my act creating with words.

God is pleased that I am willing to learn to create for His glory.

I may not create beauty, but God makes all things beautiful. 

 Marnie Pohlmann works, writes, and ministers in northern British Columbia. She is learning to write words and see God make them beautiful as they are shared.

Altogether Beautiful by Alan Anderson

“You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.”—Song of Solomon 4:7

To know we can create beauty is altogether beautiful. In my writing, I often portray beauty in a poignant way. Stories people have shared with me over the years show this. Beauty is watching an elderly lady invaded by Alzheimer’s disease smiling while holding a doll close to her chest like a baby. Beauty can be captured in the final moments a couple shares with each other. Beauty is seen in the face of a woman kissing the forehead of her husband a few seconds after he died.

At times beauty can be marred and disfigured. For instance, I find social media can be a wasteland of negativity, mindless clamouring, and scarce beauty. I often restrain myself from being sucked in to its sullied vortex. A couple of years ago I became sickened of the ugliness. I tried to encourage people to perhaps change things. I suggested people begin to highlight “the beautiful.” The beautiful includes anything that might lend a hand to social media to become more civilized. I am still disciplining myself to share beauty in this context.

One the other hand, beauty can indeed be seen on social media in our daily InScribe blog posts. We feel beauty when we engage with the writing of others. They are those who love contributing words of life for readers to enjoy.

Our posts are never wasted in sending them out into the world. Social media cannot censor the hearts called by God to speak into the encroaching madness. Our posts are light shining into the darkness of sin-enslaved lives. Our words are beauty causing ugliness to flee screaming into the night.

There are particular times in life where I need to see beauty. At times life seems a bit dark to me. The mountains around me on a clear and cloudless day; the beauty of the smiles of my grandchildren; Beauty in the hugs of my wife; the tail wags of our poodle Charlie; these are all experiences with beauty keeping me grounded and in love with life.

In the area of British Columbia where I live beauty is seen all around. No matter what season it may be beautiful scenes are abundant. Many times throughout the year I walk around with my camera to capture beauty. When I’m satisfied with a photo I will often use it in my writing such as on a blog post. I love creating such beauty. I only use photos I’ve taken or my daughter has taken for my blog posts. She and I see beauty in similar contexts so we share photos with each other.

Beauty is best defined when contrasted to ugliness or suffering in life. To me, the purpose of suffering, grief, or pain, is to enable us to appreciate the great glory there is in beauty. I think of Christ’s suffering for us on the Cross. In this tremendous sacrifice, the absolute beauty of our salvation shines through.

When challenges or struggles in life threaten to overtake us we can rest in beauty. The beauty God sees in us. The beauty originating in Him, the great Creator. God looks at us and says, “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” Oh, that we can grasp God’s depth of love for us.

This writing prompt evoked deep feelings within me. I believe this is because I am thankful God gave us the gift of beauty. Our feelings, our emotions, our tears, our laughter, all capture the beauty God placed within us. Oh my soul, bless and praise God for beauty!

https://scarredjoy.ca/