My daughter Aimee is off to the UK on Monday. One whole month- yikes, that is such a long time for such a long way away. I was thinking about the first time I went to London to visit my best childhood friend Kate. That was back in 2003. It was the furtherest I'd ever been- such an adventure. Malcolm was excited about the whole flight and travelling buzz. At the time, I was quite nervous about the whole long haul flight. I was also pretty wound up with life stress. I'd had several years watching friends go through cancer, trying to run a school that had undergone a number of large scale changes, and trying to make sense of my life as a wife, mother, lead educator, and my walk with God. The week before I left to go to London, I visited a Mountain View School in Mangere. They'd won the Goodman Fielder School of the Year Award for their environment and their school philosophy/ practices. Walking around the school that afternoon and taking in all the colours, gardens, trees and just the whole environment was actually soothing to my soul. That day, I left and it was like someone had lifted the lids of my eyes, wiped the lenses- it was like I was looking at the world with fresh eyes. Every tree, cloud, every natural thing in sight just seemed so much more brighter in colour. It was the beginning of coming out of a time of great stress, kind of like that Bette Midler song: The Rose..."Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow. Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring, becomes the rose".
I wrote this poem in London. It's kind of a play on the whole 'not being able to see the wood for the trees'- when you are so in the thick of it, that you just don't always get perspective on things.
I saw the wood
I saw the would
I stepped back and stopped for a bit
And there it was
Senses
They had been turned off to it
Desensitised
They say it happens
Becoming clinical
Safety zone
Emergency shut off
Keep back from the barrier
Only it took
Taking down the barrier
And keeping back
To reveal
The would
I saw the wood
I saw the would
I stepped back and stopped for a bit
And there it was
Stop
Rest
Where do you go from what you said
You would?
Foresting around for answers
Undergrowth
Patient quiet earth
Reveals all in time
Sky is blue
Ground is soft
All is well with the world
Stop, step back for a bit
And there it is.
My prayer is that Aimee has a great time, and that God will continue to reveal to her His plans for her life in the next little while. It's a great blessing to be able to leave the world you know behind, and to look back, to reflect on what that world looks like, how you look like in it, and how it [and you] might look differently/ better in the future. Lord look after my little girl. Amen
Amen.
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