I write, speak, invest, network, and question to stimulate fruitful conversation. Let's talk about human flourishing! It begins with freedom. Holy leisure is the key to human being, freedom and generativity. Please join me in the adventure of realizing Christ!
My Shawl
I started knitting in cold Alaska, in my mom-at-home years. During those years, by God’s grace, I learned to be content, to be small, to be hidden within my home, where my soul was being healed. The love I was learning to give my children was re-mothering me, too.
As I wished for a mother who could mother me, for a mentor who might affirm the greatness of my little calling, I realized that God was turning me into such a woman. If I could accept that I would be asked to give what I had not received, He could make me the positive image of the empty space inside.
My longing, the painful absence of such a woman, my prayers for the qualities she might have modeled for me, and the wise advice she might have given – all were fulfilled as I became her. The years of my own on-the-job training as a Christian mother were healing also for my own real mother and for our relationship. Truly, the calling to motherhood is to a deep magic and a wondrous, healing power!
I love the way a knitting project both occupies and frees my attention. Knitting helped me just be still, to stop and just be present here, now, in quietness and trust. Since the days of my little ones, I’ve included this poem with several knitted shawls as gifts for young moms I admire. I hope it will bring them the motherly hug and the womanly courage I so needed.
My Shawl
I sit and knit a shawl to warm my soul
When winds begin to howl and darkness falls,
To weave, to tie, to join and be made whole –
My life’s work bundled here within these walls.
As back and forth my fingers ply their trade
And prayers are woven into cloth with dreams
My soul is not confined, nor thoughts constrained
But freed to fly by hands content with seams.
This seeming smallness of my daily world,
The tiny stitches of a humble life,
Will add up to my glory by God’s grace
When at time’s end my knitting is unfurled
And all my works as woman, mother, wife
Have made a home for me before His face.
All the poems are now in one volume, and I’d love for you to have a copy! Click on the cover to buy it, and click here for the recordings of all the poems.
You must be logged in to post a comment.