Friday, November 2, 2012

Five-Minute Friday: Roots

It's ten minutes past a new Friday, and I'm still awake.  I know I won't have time to write this later, so I'll do it now.  I'm joining Lisa Jo and the Five-Minute Friday crew for another free-write post.  The prompt today is "Roots." 

GO.

I'm listening, now, to this songPlease, listen.  And I peeked, a few minutes ahead, to let the prompt brew within my soul.  Roots.  And this song, it haunts my heart, echoes ballads of hope from wall to wall, until it settles in the floor lining.  These, friends, are my roots.  

Beautiful things out of dust.

I've always thought of roots as stretching deep and thick and wiry, down into the soil, latching to earth and refusing to let go.

But these roots, these mysterious roots, they grow upside down.  

From dust they push up, out of earth to heaven,
from particles to wholeness,
from chaos to cosmos,
latching onto something more than soil,
aching for the light,
parched with hope,
desperate for beauty.

These roots spread up.

And I can't see it yet, friends.  But with eyes of faith I beg to see my Creator shape beautiful things out of dust.  Out of ashes.

Out of you.  Out of me.  Out of us.

Oh, I breathe out a yes.  He's making all things new.

STOP.




13 comments:

  1. Yay! So glad to have found you. This is stunning. Your words and the images that spin from them, beauty and truth. My favorite post so far. Thank you!

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    1. Wow, I'm really honored by this. And humbled. Thank you.

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  2. so beautiful. we lived at a house once where a botanist conducted an experiment. he unplanted then replanted a tree, upside down - he wanted to see if the roots would produce leaves. it did... it was a most amazing plant - beautiful, unique and the green of those leaves during the summer time was amazing.

    i kept picturing that tree while i read your words this morning.

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    1. Man, that sounds amazing. What an incredible, physical image to witness and bear in mind. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Amazing words. I love your unique perspective! As I was reading this I was totally picturing the roots of all mankind..going back to creation where we were formed out of dust. Typically when one thinks of roots, you think of growing downward, like you said. So interesting to think of it in a creation way of forming upward-ever expanding instead of being stuck so deeply planted in one spot. Love, Love this. By the way- did you paint your background? It looks like watercolor on paper to me. The background of my website is a chalk drawing on paper, so I was wondering if you were a fellow artsy gal? I also read your post on "Coming out" and loved that as well. I feel the same way often. I feel a kindred soul a bit in looking at your blog. :)

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    1. I love that image, too - "forming upward-ever expanding". God is so outside the box of our imagination and understanding, and isn't that incredibly refreshing and exciting to think about? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and pictures :-) And no, I didn't paint the background (I'm not so artsy in that way, perhaps in others!), but I'm going to visit your site now to read your words and see this chalk drawing background...

      By the way, I do love finding kindred souls in other writers. It's a joy and a gift.

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  4. I forgot to mention I was stopping by from 5 min. Friday. You are the person before me. So glad you were!

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  5. Oh, my dear Amber friend. Right when I read your words, I knew what song, even though I hadn't yet pulled it up. Yes! Beautiful Things -- the last song I listened to this morning, as I pressed publish on my post and praised God for the beauty he's making and has made from rubbish. I love this upside down glory. That's the way he does it, isn't it? Grateful for these connections through our experiences and words. Bless you, sweetheart!

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    1. Oh, don't you love the power and connection that flows through music like that? I praise God, too, for this beauty he alone is capable of - and I marvel, too, that he put within us artists this capacity for joining in "creating". I'm reading this incredible book "Walking on water," by Madeleine L'Engle (author of "A wrinkle in time"), and she talks about how true ("Christian") art is creating chaos out of cosmos. How we have this in us, too, and any art that achieves this is reflective of our Creator God, whether or not we acknowledge that! I don't know if you've read any of her stuff, but she strikes me as someone you would love. I'm so with you: I love this upside down glory. Blows me away.

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    2. Wow, Amber. This is getting crazy. Reading this book right now. One of my absolute favorites ever! So grateful for you in all kinds of ways. Kindred spirit.

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    3. You're right, this IS getting crazy! Oh, I love it, though :-) Kindred spirits, indeed. And Madeleine L'Engle is fast becoming one of my all-time faves...

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  6. And this line:

    "parched with hope,
    desperate for beauty.
    These roots spread up."

    Such beauty in such an unexpected way...wow.

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  7. Thank you, Denise. This one kind of carried me away, so I hope that was God :-)

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