Saturday March 19 2016  I LEARNED SOMETHING TODAY!

WOW!  I learned some valuable information today.  Dave and I attended a class on editing and publishing for writers.  After listening to some of the readings that were read for critiquing I had my eyes opened to two distinct truths.  If writing is any indication as to how a person thinks then the first truth is the fact that I do not think like the younger generation.  The second, more obvious truth being that that my writing skills need honing.  There were also several other insights I received about my own writing endeavors.

Fiction is not my genre.  Today was primarily about writing fiction, planning the story, characterization, timelines, and that sort of thing.  The kind of writing I do is written from the heart.  It is about true life, past, present, and looking toward the future.  It is about what has happened to me and those I know.  It is simply about how I think and feel and respond to life.  There is more vulnerability involved because I am blatantly exposing my feelings, my thoughts, my hopes and dreams.  I share my shortcomings and my triumphs.  And each day I become one day older, one step farther away from the younger generation, and the gap of the way we think becomes wider and wider.  Actually that should not have caught me by surprise because of the children’s books I read.  I shake my head in astonishment sometimes when I discover what literature (if you can call it that) is being fed to our youth.  So maybe I need to acquire more than just “modern clothes” as my grandson suggested.  Perhaps I need to get a new modern mind.  Oh Lord, I hope not!

Valuable information was taught to me today.  For that I am very appreciative.  I met some wonderful women to network with who also have a love for writing and telling their story.  I met some wonderful young women whose minds are so creative and filled with fantasy that they fill pages with characters who live in an alternate world.  Would I go back again, yes!  The information was extremely helpful.  Would I change the way I write?  I would answer “Yes” and “No”.  There are certainly lessons from today that I will take with me.  I will hopefully be more concise in what I write.  I will be more focused on why I am writing it.  I will write to and for the audience I hope to attract.  But the one aspect I will continue to do? I will continue to write from my heart.

On the way home from the editing class Dave and I stopped at Olbrich Botanical Gardens for their pre-spring flower show.  We almost missed the show as tomorrow is the final day.  Olbrich’s displays are always unique, colorful, and artistically presented.  This year was no exception.  Having left my phone at home, I borrowed Dave’s cell phone and took several pictures (about 45).  Dave, being about a foot taller than me had a totally different perspective from my closer to the ground view.  He pointed out several different arrangements for me to photograph because he thought I might miss some of the things he could see that I could not.  And he was right.  One such perception was a group of white tulips that had bloomed wide open and exposed their centers.  I could not see them without a bit of effort.  But I managed a few peeks when he pointed out their exquisiteness which was revealed due to the fading petals.  They were past their prime.  Their hours were numbered.  Even in this end state there was still so much beauty being exposed from deep within.

I turned to Dave at that moment and shared my thoughts.  It reminded me of the generation that is passing away.  Even as people age, and sometimes due to aging, the most beautiful inner self is finally exposed.  The world sometimes fails to recognize the attractiveness because the packaging is no longer youthful, vibrant or strong.  Or perhaps they can’t see its prettiness because they fail to realize, that in order to do so, their own perspective might need changing.  When one focuses on those who are beyond their blooming season, one might grasp that deep in the core of the aged, is a loveliness and splendor that can only be exposed when someone is willing to stretch a little higher in order to see what they are missing.  When they do so they may recognize the legacy of strength and wisdom which still lives within the older soul.  Out of all the flowers I saw today, somehow the inside of the tulip was the most exquisite memory I walked away with. 

 

BUT IT MAKES A LOVELY SOUL

By Kathleen Martens

March 19, 2016

 

To bare one’s heart

Not for the faint.

Our dream façade

Is what we paint.

 

Who we are

Do we show?

Does anyone else

Really know?

 

There comes a time

When petals fall,

The heart beckons

Truth to call.

 

The aged fade,

No longer blooms,

Society’s demands

No longer a tomb.

 

Now able to be

Who you are.

Finally free

To reach the stars.

 

Confines are gone,

The heart can smile.

What’s deep inside

No longer guiles.

 

Deep within

Our heart again flowers,

Energy to bloom

With new power.

 

A gentle elegance

Softens edges

As life breaks down

All the hedges.

 

And satisfaction

Found at last,

Never again

To wear a mask.

 

To be old

Never a goal,

But it makes

A lovely soul.

 

Lord, thank You for the exquisite beauty of the inside of a flower.

Lord, thank You for the truths you have shown me this day.

Lord, thank You for every year You have granted me.

 

7 Daily Steps to Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

www.biblestudytools.com

2. Cry out to God

Surrendering to God begins with our lips and our thoughts. We need more than a commitment to depend on Him; we need to cry out to Him to show that dependence.

“in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6)

When we pray, we admit that His ways are higher than ours. We show that we’re leaving our troubles and burdens and dreams in His capable hands. In fact, the Bible promises that when we reach out to Him in prayer, He hears us:

“Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. ” (Psalm 55:17)

We handed the keys of our lives to Him, and we know that He’s able to lead us. But in order for that to work, we have to…

(part three tomorrow)

 

Good night and God bless you!