Five Minute Friday :: Void

"rewilding." tomatoes tangle in community garden

• Five Minute Friday :: Void Linkup

We think of a void as an empty space, or something that lacks. An empty set. "Devoid of mystery." "Devoid of feeling." Scream or gaze into a void, into somewhere that contains nothing or no one. You might void an invoice or a debt so zero is left to pay—whether they've paid in full or the obligation has been forgiven, that particular void is very good news for the debtor, so some voids are welcome and positive ones.

But I feel as if I exist in a void. None of my output (writing, art, what else is there at this time?) is connected to anything or anyone else. It has no sources of inspiration. It's antiseptic and uncontaminated. Much too clean. Making my own thesaurus: fallow; empty; deserted; sterile; siloed.

Lately many of us have been concerned about rewilding places that have become too civilized, too tame. They've been emptied of their essential biodiversity, which has caused the remaining organisms to be less than they were meant to be, to function less than optimally. In some cases to die! They've become "de-natured!" I even have a t-shirt that reads "Keep It Wild!" Old Navy produced those shirts with the environment in mind, but I bought one with my own situation in mind.

For whatever reason, my days have lost the diversity they once naturally had. I lost people who knew me, who knew my dreams, were acquainted with my history. Music, ideas, and colors that surrounded and inspired me went away, causing me to be less than I was meant to be, to operate far less than my best. Hey, I even lost my own dreams! I lost track of my own history.

So…I'm in the process (talk about a clean concept!) of rewilding my life. Getting tangled up in almost whatever comes my way, and sorting through it as I go. Letting people and ideas get in my way so I need to consider them before I dismiss them. So I'm leaving the void behind, letting life creep and flow into the emptiness, and starting to make everything wild again.

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Sargas

Procyon

Dabih

Canopus

Baham

Ascella

Sleep :: Sandburg

And the forgetfulness of our own sleep
is strange and beautiful by itself.
And what would you rather have than sleep?

Carl Sandburg, Honey and Salt

Country Delights 13

Sunflower Stripes

Pearly Everlasting

Anaphalis margaritacea • Pearly Everlasting
There's also a similar Sweet Everlasting flower.

Five Minute Friday :: Toward…

• Five Minute Friday :: Toward

…the light.

In the global north, days are getting shorter (the corollary? Longer nights). Every year I anticipate summer warmth, summer light, summer activities. I never can get enough of those very good things. Yet just as astronomical seasons are essential for the well-being of this planet's flora and fauna (we can include humanity in that "fauna" category), seasons of work, play, rest, and repose are essential to the allover health of human individuals and human communities.

I've long aligned my own annual journey with the seasonal rhythms of the liturgical year. Each new year of grace opens wide during Advent, a time of approximately one month that starts on the Sunday closest to Saint Andrew's Day (November 30th). Advent is the favorite season for many who observe the Christian year. It's a time of hope, of waiting, of expectation. We mark our wait toward the winter solstice when days begin to lengthen by lighting candles. One candle on the first Sunday of Advent, two on the second, three candles on Advent 3, then four, and finally on the festival of the nativity, a Christ child candle surrounds the other four.

From Advent to Christmas, darkness becomes the matrix for wanting light, for appreciating light, for going toward the light. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday dawn we also wait in darkness. At the Easter Vigil we kindle the new fire, we light the Paschal (Easter) candle from the new fire. The celebrants enter the church building as they proclaim "the light of Christ;" then everyone lights their own candle from the flame of the Paschal candle. From the light of Christ.

We have a choice to walk toward the light of Christ or keep hiding in the dark. Do you know "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light" by Kathleen Thomerson? The tune is lovely, lyrical, and easy to sing; the lyrics grounded in scripture:

I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.

Refrain:
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

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Tulips

Purple Lilies