space

while attending a women's retreat a while back, we read and reflected on a series of poems. these poems really spoke to me and stayed with me, so i thought i would share them here. with the start of a new year, i think this poem [below], titled 'fire', could not be more perfect. i so often busy myself, taking up each and every space in my day with a task. the most difficult thing for me is to just be. i feel guilty or lazy if i'm not "productive." but the reality is, sometimes opening up some space in your day, removing items from your agenda, and just relaxing is productive. especially as an introvert, i need this time to be a better wife, a better friend, a harder worker, and to take better care of myself.

so, my word for 2014 is space. for me, this space looks like sitting down with my bible and my journal, reading, reflecting, and writing. this is the space where my fire comes from - my very source of life.

fire

what makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.

so building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.

when we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.

we only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
a fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.

-judy brown