A Poem, Followed by Thoughts on Wonder and Family

This was published on my own web site on January 23, 2008, but I am just now posting it here on HomeSchoolBlogger.

In this issue, you will find my poem "Over Utah in January", memories of my grandmother Margaret Driggs, practical and inspirational thoughts about instilling a sense of wonder and building family memories, and finally a poem called "Parting" by my step-grandfather, Dr. Howard R. Driggs.  Enjoy!

I am giving you the poem first without photographs, so you can focus on the words.  Then I will give it to you again with the photos... And now, with pictures...

Over Utah in January

by Virginia Knowles

I am in the sky looking down on

Vast speechless stretches of frozen white

Curved round and round by

Slicing crevices and streams

And human roads abandoned though they be

Foothills then soaring mountains beyond

Majestic tall yet distant small

From the sky where I look down

Clustering pines (wilderness steeples)

Defer to barren ground below

Shedding to it cumbering, nurturing snow

Upright spires green

Evergreen over branches, trunks, rough and woody brown

Rooted deeply into ascending slope

Yet as living arrows aiming high

To the sky where I look down

Up and over mountain towers, fly

Peering through mottled fog outstretched 

Amid earthy upturned layers, variegated ripples

Shadow clouds now upwisping sharply angled peaks

Oh!  These are of no human construct or design

Not even marked by footprints in pristine snow

Just fingerprints, signatures divine

Where winter earth meets winter sky

Yet in the valley I see manly habitation

In patterned rows, casual curves beneath the mist

Nestled in yet beckoned to a deep and high communion

Only bold ones venture beyond certain fringes

Strive upward, breathe hard, ascending steep, behold

Some faithful cannot climb but still lift souls to see

To know and long to know

Others seem content merely to stroll in evenness beneath, below

Oblivious to wonder

I am in the sky looking down

Then gazing up in awe at Him

Who gazes down in grace on me below

On me, who sees and longs to know

Over Utah in January

by Virginia Knowles

I am in the sky looking down on

Vast speechless stretches of frozen white

Curved round and round by

Slicing crevices and streams

And human roads abandoned though they be

Foothills then soaring mountains beyond

Majestic tall yet distant small

From the sky where I look down

Clustering pines (wilderness steeples)

Defer to barren ground below

Shedding to it cumbering, nurturing snow

Upright spires green

Evergreen over branches, trunks, rough and woody brown

Rooted deeply into ascending slope

Yet as living arrows aiming high

To the sky where I look down

Up and over mountain towers, fly

Peering through mottled fog outstretched 

Amid earthy upturned layers, variegated ripples

Shadow clouds now upwisping sharply angled peaks

Oh!  These are of no human construct or design

Not even marked by footprints in pristine snow

Just fingerprints, signatures divine

Where winter earth meets winter sky

Yet in the valley I see manly habitation

In patterned rows, casual curves beneath the mist

Nestled in yet beckoned to a deep and high communion

Only bold ones venture beyond certain fringes

Strive upward, breathe hard, ascending steep, behold

 Some faithful cannot climb but still lift souls to see

To know and long to know

Others seem content merely to stroll

In evenness beneath, below

Oblivious to wonder    

 I am in the sky looking down

Then gazing up in awe at Him

Who gazes down in grace on me below

On me, who sees and longs to know

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”   Psalm 90:2

“In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.” Psalm 95:4

“For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!” Amos 4:13

 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”  Romans 1:20 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I wrote the first draft of "Over Utah in January" on the airplane on my way to Salt Lake City for my grandmother's funeral.  I hadn’t realized just how mountainous Utah is in areas!  I tend to think of it only as the Great Salt Lake and endless miles of salt flats.  I was so taken by the snowy mountains that we spent the better part of one day just driving around taking pictures.  But even from our hotel and from the cemetery, and really wherever we went, we only had to lift our eyes to see the towering mountains surrounding us – and I think I gasped in amazement every single time.  (Can you tell I am from Florida, where we have neither mountains nor snow?)

Corpus Christi

(Body of Christ)

by Virginia Knowles

Advent 2007

He, eternal and radiant Creator

Became a human mother’s son, a humble babe

Promised and anointed one

Ambassador from Heaven to Earth

Not in resplendent majesty befitting Celestial Royalty

But in an earthly body like ours

A body like ours?  Yes, a body!

A body with eyes to seek out scattered and wounded ones

Eyes that weep, eyes that sleep but do not sleep,

Ever searching, ever watching

Eyes that pierce our straying sinner-souls with gracious gaze

Eyes that shepherd us safely home again

So angels can rejoice with our Father in Heaven

A body with ears to hear quiet sighs

And frantic cries of desperation (Lord, have mercy!)

As well as words profane and cruel, uttered by fools

His ears hear not only what we hear

But the very echoes of our silent thoughts and intentions

He hears this evidence that we are all fools:

We need not only wisdom but redemption

A body with a mind that senses, muses, keenly understands

All beauty he had designed

Ruined by Adam’s Eden fall: Paradise Lost

All that was, he remembers still

And all that will be, he already foresees

Untangles twisted circumstances and chaotic confusions

Even when we know not ourselves,

He  knows and cares and plans: Paradise Regained

Is anything too difficult for him

Whose thoughts are high above the heavens?

A body with a mouth to teach the way of life

Sermons to the simple and to the sophisticated, parables and pearls

Soul seeds to blossom in hearts of those who have ears to hear

A mouth to proclaim truth and justice

Yet speak forth mercy to those who do not deserve it

To answer with probing questions

Warning those Pharisees who use their mouths to snare

A mouth to bless children and all who are old yet childlike still

And this man-child’s mouth thanks his Father

Prays: “Not my will, but Yours be done”

A body with hands: gentle yet tough are those hands

Which created this world we call home

Hands to work hard, stuff of daily life

Built with carpenter’s nails and beams of wood

Hands to heal, stretched forth in victory over pain and decay

Hands to break the meager bread and fish

Multiply in abundance to feed the hungry multitude

Busy hands, yet not too busy to embrace a wee child

To ruffle matted hair, to wash dirty feet

Or to scribble words of pardon in the sand

For a damsel in distress: no stone thrown

And a body with feet, walking from village to village,

House to house, soul to soul

In dusty sandals we mortals are unworthy to untie

Walking on waves amidst the stormy sea

(His feet are not for soil alone)

He traverses the land, announcing the Kingdom of God-With-Us

Among those who do not yet recognize his benevolent dominion

He goes to those who will not come on their own, in mercy

Chases those who run headlong toward the brink of destruction:

Hound of Heaven

Yes, a body!

Yet he did not just live in this body merely as an example

So we could know how to be good

But offered it as a sacrifice because

We could not, would not, attain to any goodness in ourselves

A body crucified, stretched out to die

Pierced with carpenter’s nails on beams of wood

Pierced with spear until blood and water flow

Willingly punished for our iniquities, not his own

(Only a perfect sacrifice can obtain atonement for sins of others)

Then taken down and laid in borrowed tomb, but not for long

Mortal once, yet immortal always, resurrected in power and glory

Walking and talking again among men and women

So their eyes could see, hearts believe

What had been foretold from ages past by prophets of old:

God in a body like ours, yet not like ours, victorious over death!

(O Death, where is your sting?  We are raised with him!)

Yes, a body!

But where is this body now?

The Son ascended again to his Father’s side

Intercedes on our behalf, pleads for his Bride, his Church

Whom he purified with his own blood once for all

Prepares glorious mansions for us, a wedding feast for us

Who deserved his cross and grave and wrath instead

Yet he has not left us bereft as we wait

He has poured out his Holy Spirit: fill us, empower us, guide us

Why? Because we, we who believe and follow

Are now the Body of Christ on earth:

Our eyes shall seek out the lost and guide them home

See, really notice, then meet earthy needs meanwhile

Our ears shall listen to their cries, questions, doubts, confusions,

Confessions, prayers, testimonies at last

Our minds navigate mazes and minefields of life

Solve riddles to serve mankind, strategize, plan

Our mouths proclaim good news, call sinners to repent and believe

Teach the Jesus way, always pray

Our hands serve and heal, wash and feed, build and embrace

(Gentle always, please)

Our feet go out for the King and his Kingdom

Around the globe or down the street

Our body, his body, working together to do as he has done

Laboring with all his strength under his sovereign command

Ambassadors of Heaven to Earth

Corpus Christi

~*~*~

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:24-25

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…” Colossians 1:15-24

“And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.” Hebrews 10:10-13

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.  Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.  Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” Romans 12:3-13

~*~*

The poem “Corpus Christi” is based on the book The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life.  I thought you might enjoy these related web links:

• Gary Thomas, The Center for Evangelical Spirituality web site

• The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life at CBD 

• My best picks for spiritual life and counseling books at CBD 
• My review of The Beautiful Fight in the November Hope Chest
• “Corpus Christi” poem on my web site
• Reader comments (including my poem) on Gary’s web site
• Gary's Beautiful Fight video clip
• Sample chapter of The Beautiful Fight  

Gary will be presenting his Sacred Marriage seminar in the Orlando area on Saturday, January 26 at the Maitland Civic Center (sponsored by Orlando Grace Church ) and will speak at Metro Life Church in Casselberry at 10 AM the following day.