Reflections on the Teche

A Resurrection Shaped Life by Jake Owensby

January 7, 2019 by margaretsmn

Published by Abingdon Press

When I first met Jake Owensby, he was being consecrated as the fourth Bishop of the Western Louisiana Diocese of the Episcopal Church in 2012. My first impression of him was presence. It was a brief exchange, but I felt he was fully present and aware of me.

In his new book A Resurrection Shaped Life, Bishop Jake is fully present. He reveals himself in true reality while showing us how to live with the realities through a relationship with Jesus.

When we repent, we admit that the sorrows, the losses, the wounds, the betrayals, and the regrets of our past have made us into someone we don’t want to be anymore. We die to that self and entrust ourselves to Jesus. From those shattered places in our lives, Christ brings new life; repentance is the beginning of our resurrection.

Reading Bishop Jake’s book was like being present with him, not in the way listening to a sermon would, but like sitting next to him listening and learning how to be a Christian in today’s world. He accentuates Jesus’s plan for the world, a world of resurrection, in which love displaces fear, “where generosity eliminates deprivation and respect guards the dignity of all.”

Bishop Jake reminds us of who Jesus really is: committed to healing in the world. Jesus suffered. We suffer. God does not take away the pain or the suffering; however, through Jesus, we know that suffering is endured out of love and eventually leads to healing. When we lead a resurrection-shaped life, we live in compassion with imagination and hope.

Jesus changes our mind about God. In Jesus, we see who we truly are as humans. We are the beloved, not the blameworthy…we slowly begin to exchange our habit of blaming others for the habit of compassion.

Barbara Brown Taylor reminds un that new life starts in the dark. We must go through Good Friday to get to Easter. A Resurrection Shaped Life guides you through the darkness, by wading next to you and showing you the star.

I suggest following Bishop Jake’s blog: Looking for God in the Messy Places.

Posted in Books, Spiritual Growth | Tagged A Resurrection Shaped Life, Bishop Jake Owensby | Leave a Comment »

Let’s Write 2019

January 5, 2019 by margaretsmn

Click to follow Let’s Write 2019.

Leigh Anne Eck is inviting bloggers to join a new community of writers. The purpose is for us writers to share and celebrate our writing goals. Click the image above to read more about Leigh Anne’s invitation.

Somehow writing down a plan for writing makes it more real. WordPress sent me a notification that I have made 1,337 posts. I’m not sure why that number is significant to WordPress, but it made me realize that I write an average of about 200 posts per year. I don’t plan to make that a goal, but I do plan to continue to participate in these writing challenges and blogging round ups:

March Slice of Life Challenge (and weekly during the other months)
April Poem-a-Day
December Haiku-a-Day
Poetry Friday
Laura Shovan’s poem-a-day in February (her birthday month)

I work with two writing groups. These monthly and bi-monthly meetings keep me writing and working toward publishing goals. In 2018, I celebrated the publishing of my first poetry book for children, Bayou Song. I am currently working on Swamp Song. I hope to finish this manuscript in 2019.

Hitting the Send button on submissions takes courage and vulnerability. I’m trying to get better at it and take rejections in stride. After all, don’t we read over and over about famous writers getting multiple rejections. It’s all part of the process. I hope to be more brave in 2019 and submit more often.

The third goal for my writing life is to write a poem a day. I do this as part of challenges like the December #haikuforhope and in April as part of National Poetry Month. Why not do this every day? Using my scrap paper art journal, I am invited to just write without judgement.

I have found a writing home in poetry. Poetry fits me and is comfortable. Maybe too comfortable? One of my writing goals for 2019 is to try a different genre. I’ve written fiction, but I’ve shied away from memoir. Two of my writing group partners are writing memoir, so I’m intrigued and inspired.

Writing in a community of writers both strengthens my writing and urges me on to write more, submit more, and to be more. Would you like to be a part of Let’s Write 2019? There’s always room for one more at the table.

Posted in #TeachWrite, Writing | Tagged Let's Write 2019, writing goals | 3 Comments »

Poetry Friday: 100% Chance of Rain

January 4, 2019 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Sylvia at Poetry for Children.

It was one of those all day rains. One of my last days of our holiday break, and I was bored. I cleaned out cabinets, watched shows on Netflix, made a fire in the fireplace, and played around with magazine collage. During the hectic days of teaching, I crave this kind of time. Funny how our minds work. On this day, I was restless and wishing for the rain to stop.

100 % Chance of Rain

(with a borrowed line from Robert Frost “Revelation”)

Wind blown ripples
the water,
whipped like frothed cappuccino,

Rain slants, shower bending,
branches leave the trees.
Saturated earth bleeds
muddy moisture.

Oh, the agitated heart.
The lemons hang, ripe and wet.

But I am still today,
quieted by the storm.
Listening, longing
for the sun.

(c) Margaret Simon

Art Journal collage for my 2019 One Little Word, Grace.

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday | Tagged art journal, free verse poetry, One Little Word | 11 Comments »

Spiritual Journey: One Little Word 2019

January 3, 2019 by margaretsmn

Spiritual Journey is gathering today at Ruth’s blog. We are writing about our chosen words for 2019.

Choosing a one little word is something I start thinking about weeks before the year’s end. For me it becomes a process of listening to the universe. This year my thoughts started around Thanksgiving. The first word I considered was Compassion.

A compassionate life is something to aspire to. I recently read Bishop Jake Owensby’s latest book A Resurrection Shaped Life.

“By God’s grace, a new life–what I’m calling a resurrection-shaped life–emerges from suffering and sorrow. One way in which that new life emerges is in our unguarded engagement with the suffering of others.” (21)

Caring so deeply that we stand beside and hold hands with suffering is what Jesus calls us to; however, the more I thought about this word, the more unworthy I felt. I don’t want to choose a word that leads me to despair, that feeling of not meeting up with my own expectations.

Another word I considered was Mindfulness. I love practicing yoga and bringing meditation into my day. I’ve not made time for this since school started, so perhaps if I gave myself the word mindfulness, I would get back to these spirit-filled activities. And being in touch with my spiritual center would also lead me to compassion.

These words are still an integral part of my thinking. I meditated the other day and heard another word, Blessed. Ah, yes. That’s it. I am blessed and when I feel blessed, I can bless others. But the dictionary definition of blessed is “made holy; consecrated.” This definition makes me feel I am proclaiming something rather than working toward a better me.

In searching for synonyms of compassion, I found a perfect word, one I can wrap my head around, one that is not a claim or full of unlimited expectation. Simple and sincere…

Posted in Gratitude, Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged Bishop Jake Owensby, One Little Word | 7 Comments »

Slice of Life: Happy New Year!

January 1, 2019 by margaretsmn

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

Happy New Year! On Friday, I posted about my art journal that I am using for scrap paper poems. Often I am inspired to write while out and about. This weekend I was driving to my parents’ home in Mississippi listening to On Being and watching for birds on the highway. The muse hit, and I scratched out this poem in a tiny notebook I keep in my console.

We are all dizzy
tilting this way and that
speeding through our days
at 75 miles per hour.

We distract ourselves with distractions.
We cover noise with sound.

So look
at the egret, still and patient.
He flies on white wings
dragging his long stick-like legs
behind him.

(c) Margaret Simon

My wish for you in 2019:

Slow down.

Watch the birds.

Savor the sunset.

Speak to the moon.

Hold your loved ones close.

Know when to let go.

Live each day.

Laugh more.

Be more.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Happy New Year, scrap paper poetry | 10 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Scrap Paper Poetry

December 28, 2018 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Donna at Mainely Write.

My husband gave me a new-old art journal for Christmas. My artist friend Marcie Melancon made it from an old book. Inside are all sorts of paper from other books, maps, a small bag, etc. Once I opened it, I was inspired to write. The first page is a sketch of a woman. I started writing a poem in my car in a little notebook. Aha! I could fill the journal with scrap paper poetry! I’ve already taped in 5 poems. I don’t think I’ll continue at this pace, but I’m enjoying the process.

Art journal by Marcie Melancon.

I wrote the above poem, Emily Saw More, as a #haikuforhope in response to amazing beach pictures my friend Grace Krauss posted on Facebook.

Tell me how the sun rose
Ribbons rising above the tide
Emily saw more…

Margaret Simon
#haikuforhope

Last week, Amy VanDerwater posted a suggested line for a poem, “Today you will find me…” As most of you know, I am a new grandmother. I’m spending time with the sweetest, most amazing baby boy. So that is where you will find me.

Today you will find me
smelling new skin,
soft fuzz of a newborn’s head,
holding a swaddled bundle,
memorizing his small ear,
round nose, and mouth
of many expressions.

Today I will stay a while,
feel present to Wonder,
hold Love
like it will never
let me go.

(c) Margaret Simon, 2018

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday | Tagged #haikuforhope, art journal, Emily Dickinson, Marcie Melancon | 20 Comments »

#HaikuforHope: Raw. Art.

December 27, 2018 by margaretsmn

Laura Purdie Salas hosts a 15 Words or Less poetry drafting exercise every Thursday. This image is on her blog today. Join in here.

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing | Tagged #haikuforhope, 15 Words or Less, Laura Purdie Salas | 2 Comments »

#haikuforhope: Christmas Day

December 25, 2018 by margaretsmn

Today Earth rises
to laughter, carols, dancing
Christmas Day is here!

According to The Writer’s Almanac for December 25, 2018, “On this day in 1968, the crew of the Apollo 8 spacecraft returned to a course for Earth after orbiting the moon 10 times over 20 hours. They were the first humans to ever leave our planet’s orbit, and the first to ever see the Earth as an entire planet. On Christmas Eve, the crew had taken the iconic “Earth rise” picture and read the first 10 verses from the book of Genesis over a live television broadcast.”

Posted in Poetry | Tagged #haikuforhope, Christmas | 3 Comments »

Sunday Stillness: #HaikuforHope

December 23, 2018 by margaretsmn

Posted in Poetry | Tagged #haikuforhope | 5 Comments »

Poetry Friday: A Lemur on the Shelf

December 21, 2018 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Buffy at Buffy’s Blog.

I have grown-up children and am very grateful for it, especially in light of the new elf-on-the-shelf craze. I think I would fail miserably at being in charge of creative ways to position an elf each night. However, when December was coming, the elf-on-the-shelf became a topic in my students’ writing. One afternoon I left the room for a bit and when I returned, my students had positioned Jack the lemur hanging from a chair. Chloe said, “I think Jack has an elf inside him!”

Since then, Jack has found many creative ways to make mischief in our classroom. This phenomenon led me to respond with a poetic letter to Jack.

Dear Jack-on-the-shelf,

Your personality is showing through
the things you like to do.
Play Bananagrams.
Spell “I Love You.”
Hang with Santa.
Curl up in tissue.
Each day, Chloe looks for you
to see where you’ll be found.
You make our class time
full of joy.
I hope you’ll stick around.

Love,
Mrs. Simon

I’ve been participating in Mary Lee Hahn’s #haikuforhope this month. On Twitter, we are all using this hashtag to share our small poems of hope. I’ve posted mine on this blog daily.

In class every day, we choose a quote to write from. On Monday, I wrote a haiku from this quote by E. S. Bouton, “True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it goes by.” I was talking to a friend about the birth of my grandson, and she told me about a book called Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Even within the happiest of moments, catastrophe lies. We need to use the art of mindfulness to be aware and live fully through these moments.