Poetry in Five-On Seemingly Dormant Periods of Life and Emerging!

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”  ~Anais Nin

It’s time for some poetry in Five!  I am posting this a little late because I was celebrating my birthday this weekend :D.  This weeks word was CHOOSE.

Today’s Inspiration comes from periods of dormancy in one’s life…

Are you in a spot in your life today where you are feeling like you don’t know what your purpose in life is?  Have you ever felt lost, confused, hopeless, alone or just plain old stuck in mediocrity?  Maybe you are even in a mess that you can’t see your way out of at present.  

If you can relate to this, I would like to encourage you and tell you you are not alone.  I have been there before.  Big time.  But I can’t possibly share all of that story here, as that would be a LONG book!  Admittedly there a couple areas I am still working on.  However, I also have seen many things through to the other side of it all.  The BRIGHT side!  It may be cliche, but there IS a silver lining.

During the process of writing today’s 5 minute poem, I got inspired by these seemingly STUCK periods of dormancy that life can have.  It can all be SO discouraging, because in the natural, we can’t see a way out.  We feel as though it might just be this way forever.  We can’t see what God is preparing us for…what is going on UNDERNEATH the surface.  That is the stuff that He sees, that we often don’t see.  However, this seemingly dormant growth process all has a purpose and THAT is what we must remember during these times.

A friend I met in my WINS writing group (named Cathryn) gave me a beautiful metaphor about fallow fields recently when I hadn’t felt like writing.  Not being a farmer myself, I had no idea what the purpose of a fallow field was.  Of course I had to research it!  In the healthier old way of farming (sans all the pesticides and over production today), farmers often let sections of their fields go”fallow”-meaning they let the soil rest.  It’s a time where no seeds are planted and no crops are being produced.

So what good is an empty field lying there unused and doing seemingly nothing?  This time of rest is allowing the fields to regenerate. It gives the soil a chance to rebuild its nutrients to be naturally ready for a good growing season to produce good “fruit”.

We see this repeated so much in nature as well.  We see it in the change of seasons, as each plant dies off and the landscapes look barren.  We see it in the processes of a caterpillar withdrawing in to a cocoon.  Isn’t it inspiring to know that while all of these things may appear stagnant or even dead on the outside, that inside real growth and life energy activity is going on?!  Truly there is a purpose to dormant periods.  All of this stuff going on behind the scenes is merely prep work of what glorious things are to come!  Next time you are feeling stuck, I hope you will remember this.

Now on to today’s poem then!

When my burdens became too much to bear

And my running shoes had too much wear,

I chose the way that seemed the least

likely to disturb my peace.

Staying safe within my shell,

Only doing things that I knew well.

And for awhile this comfort zone,

Did make me less anxiety prone.

But oh it was so lonely there,

Oft a bore with too much time to spare.

It served its purpose for that Time-

The need to rest my weary mind.

To process all of what had been,

So I could grow and then BEGIN!

Now SEE-ing it was not for naught,

Tho’ motionless I seemed to be-

Like caterpillars in cocoons

Or fallow fields in slumber deep.

The naked eye is often blind

and cannot see what’s really there,

So subtle the Activity

That often we are unaware.

But bit by bit I start to change

As Life’s cycles ever turn,

Becoming what I’m meant to be-

I must push forth and come full term.

Shyly I at first emerge

My beauty now on full display,

And see the fruits of His grand plan-

His Way much better than my Way.

©Rebekah Stephenson 2014

 

For those of you who would like an extra bit of inspiration to go with today’s poem:  

When it came time for me to write the last line of this poem, I was led a phrase from Isaiah 55:8.  As I went on to read the passages that followed I was amazed at how they fit with the direction my poem ended up going!  I truly did not plan it out and didn’t even know what Isaiah 55 had to say until I Googled it.  I love it when the Spirit does that :).

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  (NLT)

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, (NIV)

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.  You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!  (NLT)

 

And so my inspired friends, whether we are talking about flower buds, caterpillars, our ourselves, to every thing there is a season and a Time for every purpose!  What season are you currently in?  Are you in a “fallow” period of life, on the cusp of emerging, or in full bloom?  Feel free to share you thoughts or struggles here, as I would love to hear them!  

With Love,

Rebekah

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