The poetry of faith: let the desert bloom

Fr Philip Carter offers a ministry of spirituality, with a series of meditations on some questions that we may ponder as we consider our life in God.

You will find here his reflections and questions for meditation, images, music and poetry to enrich your life’s journey.

To “be in the desert and let it bloom”.

Kathleen Norris

“This is a difficult land. Here things miscarry.

Whether we care, or do not care enough…

this is a difficult country, and our home”.

Edwin Muir

Image: Riki Yarborough, Morning Reveal

“Life is difficult”. Things happen. There are no guarantees. None of us is exempt.

But at our peril we place a greater value on never being hurt than on life itself.

Difficult – Yes! But this is our home,

calling us “not only to know where [we] are but to learn to love what [we] find there”.

To “be in the desert and let it bloom”. Kathleen Norris

Image: Riki yarborough, Wilderness of Spring

All this is difficult, not only to live with, but to talk about. Poetry, according to the poet Roy Fuller, is “the communication/of that which cannot be told”. Which is pretty much what we experience when we pray. And why silence, while not an escape, becomes the place where we confront mystery.

“What we have received

Is the ordinary mail of the other world, wholly common,

not post-marked divine”.

Les Murray

“To do ordinary things with a perception of their enormous value.

This, I think, is the mysticism that is to come”.

Teilhard de Chardin

Image: Riki Yarborough, High Desert Tide

The 17^th century poet-priest George Herbert knew it: “Heaven in Ordinarie”.

And Jacob woke up to it: “Surely the lord is in this place and I never knew it”.

This is the sacramental way of life, where…

“Visible veils the invisible

Reveal, conceal”

Kathleen Raine

Image: Riki Yarborough, Braided Waters

The images in this post are of paintings by Riki Yarborough. The painting at the top of the post depicts hummingbirds and is titled Day to Day. The artist has written this reflection on the day-to-day life of the hummingbird, describing the beauty of its life amidst its struggle to live.

Every day, 1440 minutes of humming. Going and coming, crossing paths. Dodging them too. Too much to do to just mingle. A home to defend, finding foe, finding friend, finding nectar that may be dry at day’s end. Dangers and heat beat on this thin heart where love once pumped wildly, then mildly, then it was taught to resent. I’m spent. Flying here and there until the wings are a blur, speech is a slur. But if I stop, I just might fall. A chirp on the way down, losing my self-made crown until one responds to the sound and stirs me up. Rest here and watch. Be taught, again. Drink it in, that which is sweet and satisfies. Then fly my friend. Stir up another falling down, while it is still called “Today.” Day to day, your heart will fail in the midst of the grind, but may you find yourself caught up in the tail wind of another. A sister, a brother who sees your heart twisting. And stop resisting their rescue. Then look up at a few in view who are falling too and lift them — encourage, comfort, teach — until they are strong enough to reach the blooms, staying fixed in the air, humming. Don’t lose heart, a new day is coming.

“Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today.” Hebrews 3:13

Source: Riki Yarborough