Danseuses (Dancers) - 1878

Oscillation

I went for a long walk this morning to clear my head, and discovered a park in an inner suburb near to where I live. How did I not know before now that this park exists? It is absolutely gorgeous, filled with frangipani trees, massive gum trees, palms, and flame trees with their glorious red flowers strewn all over the grass. I could hear the birds talking to one other and watched them gliding back and forth between trees. There was a great big ibis picking away at the grass near a little bridge. Then I saw it...

A swing.

I couldn't resist. And it began... back and forth, back and forth. I closed my eyes and let the pendulation hypnotize me. I escaped. For about ten minutes, I escaped my thoughts and stresses. It struck me how different the sensation of going forwards is to the sensation of going backwards. Have you been on a swing lately? No, I can imagine probably not. But you must do so, and soon. Going forward, up towards the sky, sends your body into some kind of whirling feeling and it's exhilerating. Going backwards on the other hand, is not unpleasant but doesn't feel like much at all. I pondered the very obvious fact that going backwards is the necessary means to go forward. I also considered the fact that there was no need for me to turn around in order to go backwards to go forwards again; on the swing I was still able to face straight ahead. Back and forth, forwards and backwards, again and again.


The very implement I used to escape the inside of my head—that glorious park swing, is the perfect representation of what was going on up there in my little brain. How similar the motion of a swing can be to the inner workings and processings of the mind.
The way thoughts can be like a pendulum swinging back and forth between past and present, uncertainty and objectivity, need and desire...those mutually inclusive concepts that must go hand in hand in order to propel cognitive resolutions.


Hmmm...suddenly my head hurts.

Do you know Isaac Abrams?

"Visiting Friends" Oil on canvas by Isaac Abrams (2007)

Incredibly amusing piece of Japanese artwork (by Kitagawa Utamaro)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

"He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast."

(The full poem: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html)


I was reminded of my favourite work of poetry today.

While reading up on current events on a news website, an RSPCA awareness advert flashed on the right-hand side of my computer screen. It was a picture of an ill-looking bear, and there was a description of the kind of cruelty bears suffer at the hands of bile-farmers and baiters. Those of you who know me well, know that cruelty to animals is the one thought that I cannot even begin to entertain without weeping. This RSPCA advertisement was heart-wrenching to say the least, and it took me some moments to compose myself and keep from choking on my own tears.

Few people would equate the Rime of the Ancient Mariner with an RSPCA campaign, as I have done. Nevertheless, it is for this very principle that the Rime is so important to me, and today I felt moved to read through it again. Always a wonderful literary experience.

The story of the Ancient Mariner truly possesses my will each and every time I study it, and I cannot help but come away "sadder and wiser" at the truth found within. The way the Mariner sought to "teach, by his own example, love and reverence to all things that God made and loveth", steered my heart further to a very well-known, very comforting verse:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father knowing..."

This was written by the Greatest Poet of all time.

Still meditating and mulling over the first chapter of Hebrews

"Yes, the prophets were necessary and important; but there is One Who is more infinitely superior to the prophets…"


Hebrews chapter 1:2

…The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In these first two verses of Hebrews, the writer sets the tone for the entire book: the Superiority and Pre-Eminence of Jesus. The author of Hebrews backs up his claims about Jesus with some OT quotes a little further down in the chapter.
Christ dominates the book of Hebrews from start to finish. God has now spoken to us through His very own Son, and He continues to speak to us through His Word, with the understanding that only the Holy Spirit of Christ can give. The New Covenant is so much better than the Old one!
(Parallel verses: “…by Him were all things created that are in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…He is before all things, and by Him all things consist…in all things He has pre-eminence…for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell…”, see Colossians 1:15-19.)

Pearls of wisdom for Lee-Laii

One of the young people who I work with has been like a ray of warm sunshine across my path through the dark world of working with kids under a Child Protection Order.
Whenever we're together she has me in fits of laughter to the point where I'm gasping for breath and wiping tears from my eyes. True to her Islander roots, she has even bestowed upon me a new nickname: "Lee-Laii".
One of the many things that impresses me about her is that she is always coming out with clever little sayings and quotes that she has memorized. During my Saturday shift I told her this and asked her if she would be able to write them all down for me?
She was very happy to do so, and busily set about this task as I was making her a toasted sandwich for lunch.
A short time later I was handed a piece of paper torn from her exercise book...

"For you Lee-Laii!" It was headed. And then followed all the little pearls of wisdom she had collected and treasured over the years...

• "Wanted by many. Taken by none. Looking at some. Waiting for ONE."
• "Every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that's made you SMILE. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here make it one hell of a dance!"
• "Whenever you feel like giving up, just remember why you held on for so long to begin..."
• "Don't tell me the sky's the limit, when there's footprints on the MOON!"
• "WORK like you don't need the money, LOVE like you've never been hurt, and DANCE like no one's watching!"
• "What happens when the one person who could stop you from crying, was the one who made you cry...?"

And then to my amazement the last entry was a verse of Scripture, and she even quoted where it was from:

• "But those who HOPE in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles." Isaiah 40:31

Sometimes the source of much-needed, long-forgotten hope and encouragement is found in the most unlikely of places.

This girl has completely graced my existence not only as a Youth Worker, but also as a living soul.