Kaye Hollings's Blog, page 2

out of the storm – NEW BOOK!

*** Watch this space***

Shafts of Light, my poetry written over many years, is being published as a coffee table book and will be available for Christmas. I’m so excited to have all my poems in one place with illustrations and photos to enhance the words. A few were included in Shaped, my last book, and the positive comments received prompted me to compile Shafts of Life, a mix of rhyming patterns and free verse, dealing with joy, sadness, nature, and many reflections and observations of life.

LET WORDS

LIKE SUNBEAMS

WARM YOUR HEART

This is my hope for all those who

read it.

More details to come when available.

Perhaps this would this be the perfect gift for someone you know for Christmas.

 

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out of the storm – Poetry: like it or hate it?

Are you a lover of poetry? I don’t like limericks or rhymed verse where often words are changed or mangled to fit the rhyme.  Poetry also isn’t a story written in short lines vertically down the page. Even if it doesn’t rhyme, it has to have poetic rhythm and speak into our lives. This poem by Helen Keller brings tears to my eyes and touches my soul every time I revisit it –

They took away what should have been my eyes                     

but I remembered Milton’s Paradise.

They took away what should have been my ears.

Beethoven came and wiped away my tears.

They took away what should have been my tongue

but I had talked with God when I was young.

He would not let them take away my soul –

possessing that I still possess the whole.

Then there are two brilliant lines from Frederick Langridge written in 1896 that challenge us to choose wisely.  Our attitude is a choice no-one can take from us, even in difficult circumstances-

Two men look out through the same bars.

One sees the mud, the other the stars.

I am thinking of compiling a short book of my poetry, all reflecting joys, hopes, pain and struggles of many I’ve befriended over the years who have shared their experiences with me. They reveal real people facing real situations and, despite the bruises and wounds along the way, point to the One who has the answers and gives hope for the future.

Would you buy this book for yourself at approx $20? Would you consider giving it as a Christmas gift to your friends?

This is an unofficial survey to gauge interest. I’d love to hear from as many of you as possible.

 

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out of the storm – A challenge for all of us

What Joni Eareckson Tada has learned

from nearly 53 years in a wheelchair

Joni Eareckson Tada went swimming at the age of seventeen with her sister in the Chesapeake Bay. She dove into shallow water and severed her spinal cord. As a result, she has spent more than fifty years in a wheelchair, unable to move her lower body or hands.

Joni has become a bestselling author, renowned speaker and painter (she moves the brush with her mouth), and beloved figure in the Christian world. She was asked to explain a statement she made recently: “In the worst of times, Christians can and should be at their best.”

She replied, “I think we are at our best when we remain hopeful, confident in God and his hold on the future, and also prayerful and expectant.” Then she made this powerful statement: “I’m a big believer that God permits what he hates to accomplish things that he loves, and that’s been my mantra for almost fifty-three years in this wheelchair. “

God permits what he hates, this difficult, paralyzing injury, to accomplish something that he loves, and that is, of course, in me, a changed heart and a closer walk with my God. So, that’s it in a nutshell.

God permits what he hates                   

to accomplish things that he loves

This is an incredible picture of faithfulness, acceptance

and a life used mightily for God and by God. In His eyes there are no disabled people, just people enabled to add to life in a different and unique way. Makes you think doesn’t it?

 

out of the storm – ‘He who finds me finds life’

From winter to spring; from cocoon to butterfly; from darkness to light; from death to life.

In the midst of these cycles stands Jesus, emerging from the tomb on Easter Sunday with out-stretched hands, still loving, still giving, still longing for us to trust him with our lives, our present world and our future. When he defeated death he proved that he is the giver of life and has risen above all hatred, politics and disease. Even our best world leaders can’t fix the mess we are in. We need to look higher for meaning and purpose.

One day Jesus will answer all our questions and take away our pain. Until then he says that those who turn to him will find life. What are we waiting for? In this difficult season let’s grab onto these encouraging words:

My soul finds rest in God alone.

My salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation.

He is my fortress. I will never be shaken.

(Psalm 62)

Although stripped bare, spring will come.

 

out of the storm – January 1, 2020

The year 2020 is as yet an empty canvas – no mistakes. no clashes, nothing disproportionate. We have all been given a new, clean start with the shadows of yesterday removed when the sun came up this morning. We are walking into twelve untouched months and if we ask God to journey with us, the challenges will be easier and our life’s painting will be meaningful.

WITHOUT HIM

Without knowing I will trust

Without understanding I will wait

Without God there is no meaning

Without Him my soul is bare.

 

Without fear I’ll face each day

Without regret I’ll obey His plan

Without God no future waits

Without Him my heart won’t care.

 

Without His love life’s incomplete

Without forgiveness I’m in chains

Without God I’m fractured still

Without Him my peace can’t dare.

                                                              KH

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out of the storm – If you look for me at Christmas

I’d like to wish all my friends a happy and meaningful Christmas.  The anonymous words below say it all and remind us of why we celebrate 25 December.  Let’s make sure we stop and listen to this life-changing message.

 

If you look for me at Christmas

you won’t need a special star.

I’m no longer just in Bethlehem

I’m right there where you are.

You may not be aware of me

amid the celebrations.

You’ll have to look beyond the stores

and all the decorations.

But if you take a moment

from your list of things to do

and listen to your heart you’ll find

I’m waiting there for you.

You’re the one I want to be with,               

you’re the reason that I came

and you’ll find me in the stillness

as I’m whispering your name.

Love Jesus

 

 

 

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out of the storm – Grief is the price we pay for love

Having just facilitated another Grief and Loss Program, I am humbled at the trust that is placed in us while participants share their deepest pain with many tears. I’d like to share three quotes that I’ve found really helpful:

Remain open to your hurt. You may think it easier to suppress the pain or avoid it with distractions and busyness. But eventually your emotions will surface. Grief will demand your attention.

(K. Katafiasz – Grief Therapist)

 

‘Grief I’ve learned is really just love.

It’s all the love you want to give but cannot.

All of that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes,

the lump in your throat and in that hollow part of your chest.

Grief is just love with no place to go.   (Anonymous)

 

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.

(Norman Cousins)

The third quote is so challenging, isn’t it?  Even after a tragic loss, we can still choose life.

We’ll never the same and our lives and families will be reshaped but meaning and purpose can be rediscovered.

 

 

 

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out of the storm – Joys of Journaling

I love writing because words are my thing!

I have a diary for appointments that ensures I arrive on the right day at the right time to the right place. But I also have a journal (actually a drawer full going back many years) in which I recall, scrawl, agonise, analyze my feelings surrounding both the good and bad events of my life. Perhaps you’re thinking ‘Why bother?’

The following account is from a woman after losing her husband:  Writing in my journal felt good. I could say things I didn’t want to share with my sisters, friends or therapist. My thoughts and feelings were private, embarrassing and confusing, important only to me. My journal listened. It didn’t judge or tell me what to do. At night I would read it like a bedtime story, then tuck it under my pillow. It became my companion as I journeyed through the forest of my grief.

It is very therapeutic to grab the scrambled thoughts and feelings from our frazzled mind and throw them onto a page to settle into some sort of order that slowly begins to make sense. Just like tipping the myriad pieces of a jigsaw puzzle onto a table, it takes time for the picture to form and we may need to revisit it a few times before the last piece can be put in place.

Even if you’re not a word person, give journaling a go. You will be surprised at the result. A friend shared with me recently that she sat down to write two short sentences, thinking that was all she could manage, but the words kept pouring from her and she was stunned to realise she had written four pages. She was amazed at the release she experienced. You have nothing to lose and lots to gain.

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out of the storm – Echo of Love – Easter 2019

Easter – a relaxing holiday time, usually with warm sunny weather and lots of Easter eggs. In our increasingly secular society many have no idea what Good Friday signifies or that it is more relevant than ever for all who are hurt by life.  Jesus, who died over 2000 years ago, lives on in the hearts of all those who believe in Him. Our God is alive and well  and waiting for you. He’s only a prayer away.

       ECHO OF LOVE

I stood in my garden and listened.

All was still. Dew glistened.

 

An echo wafting down through time

caressed my spirit.

Another garden – Gethsemane –

peaceful now with only

ignominy of injustice

remaining in the tomb.

‘You will see me’ Jesus told the

broken-hearted women

and I remembered

that in the midst of pain and suffering             

He still comes to us with love.

 

Echo became crescendo

exploding through my soul.

I saw His out-stretched arms

offering hope and peace

to a broken world.

I saw His smile

promising His presence

through fear and confusion.

I saw God’s plan for sinful man

and my heart danced.

 

I stood in my garden and clearly heard

‘I am risen. You can trust my word.’

 

 

 

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out of the storm – Turn walking into worship

While visiting Montville on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast recently, I discovered the Poet’s Cafe that drew me in to gaze out the rear wall of windows across the beautiful valley below. How many have sat here and been creative? Then I wandered into the picturesque Uniting Church tucked amongst shady trees with open door inviting all to enter and rest in the cool interior. My eye fell onto a brochure called Turn walking into worship by Ron Potter.  Here are a few excerpts:

Walking can be both exercise for the body and exercise for the soul and nature can bring us close to spiritual realities. This guide is for those who would move with wonder into reverence and worship as they come into close contact with their natural environment.

This is a time for contemplation…We are in a cathedral. A holy place. Take time to let the form and colour, light and shade, make its impact…We are surrounded by life. Revel in it and give thanks… Away from the roar and shriek of a noisy civilisation, enjoy the silence. Here we can be quiet within ourselves. We can still the noises of our busy lives…There is a mysterious presence here. We are not alone. Who can explain it? Some call it God…

Feel the wind blowing on the skin, hear the breeze rustling the leaves high above…The Spirit of creation is the Spirit that inspired Jesus, the Spirit that moves in people’s lives today moving them to kindness, compassion, generosity and faith.

A prayer – In the presence of divinity what can I do but bow in awe and wonder? You are beyond my understanding but not beyond my awareness. I worship you in humility and faith.

Sometimes we forget to say thank you, don’t we?

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