Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina. This is a powerful process. It is the process in which you go from simply reading something to focusing on it in an in-depth way, engaging you mind, your heart, your soul, and your time. This practice called Lectio Divina is not about how MUCH you read, but it is more about the WAY in which you read it. When reading scripture, it is easy to get caught up in how much we read. However, what is the use in reading a lot of scripture, if you are not able to recall anything that you have read. This “large” amount of reading that you have read quickly becomes insignificant, because it is not being evoked in your every day life. This is why I think that Lectio Divina is a great practice to use. After practicing Lectio Divina, it is merely impossible to leave the text without challenging yourself with something more.

While reading the text today, during class, and practicing Lectio Divina as a group, the quote “Sonney’s fingers filled the air with life, his life” caught my eye. As I wrote down the line, as one to remember and think upon, I began asking myself some very important questions. I began asking myself what I am filling the air with? Am I bringing life or death to other people? Am I bringing encouragement or destruction to the lives of those that I come in contact with? This is an important question to ask. Christ, He came to bring life, and life He brought! Not only life in the way that we see life, but life as in eternal life! Something that was unheard of before Jesus came. If I am truly supposed to be like Christ, then won’t my life bring life to others, just like Christ brings life to us?

This in class assignment was a great practice, and I believe that it is something that we should practice in our personal lives very often.

The picture that I painted during class today was on a topic that I happen to already happen to be very passionate about. In Joel 2 it says, “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and our sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.” This is the verse which inspired me to paint my picture today. I am very passionate about dreaming big dreams. I believe that God has called us to dream big, and I believe that God has put specific dreams in each of His children’s heart. I believe that these dreams were not meant to be set aside and left for later in life, but I believe that God wants us to grab hold of those dreams and make them reality. For my painting, I first painted many clouds. Then in the middle I wrote dream. The clouds simply remind me of dreaming. Then around the clouds I wrote the word vision several times. This in-class activity was wonderful for me and very enjoyable. I was able to express what stood out to me in the text, in a different way. The Word of God is so powerful, but I believe it is easy to skip over important parts if we do not consciously tell ourselves to zoom into different things. This is why I enjoyed this project so much. I was able to zoom into a certain part of the scripture and meditate on it in a different way than I have ever done before. This allows me to not only understand the scripture in a different way, but also allows me to carry something with me, away from the experience in order to remember what I learned from reading the scripture. This activity was an amazing thing for me, and quite Spiritual.

The essence of literature

While reading Joel during class today, I was able to enjoy nature while reading the Word of the Lord out loud. I believe that reading aloud allowed me to feel the emotion in a different way than when I simply read the scriptures to myself. Reading aloud seems to help me to realize different tones and allows me to tap into the emotion that can be portrayed through literature. Emotion. Tone. Emotion and tone are vital, not only in reading literature, but also in understanding the place in which the literature is coming from. I can simply say something with no excitement and absolutely no enthusiasm and it would allow you to think of me different than if I said it with excitement, and joy within my voice. Tone, and emotion allow you to see different into a person. This tone and emotion is a lot easier to recognize when you read the passage aloud. Although this tone and emotion can differ from one person to another, this is what makes reading literature so different from watching a play, or a movie, or listening to music. When you read literature, you are able to somewhat create what the literature is trying to say. This can differ from person to person and allows literature to be quite complex. The idea that a piece of literature can carry a complete different tone or emotion from one person to the other is an amazing thing. This is what makes literature so unique from any other entertainment outlet. Literature allows you to put your own personality, and your own imagination within what you are reading. Literature also allows you to, in a way, write a portion of the story yourself. You are able to imagine the scenery, the area in which the literature is happening, and the feelings in which the characters are experiencing. Literature is, indeed, a special thing, a thing in which ten people can read one piece, and get ten separate interpretations out of it.

Death

Where will you go and what will they say

When you take your last breathe, on your last day.

Who will send flowers, and who will cry?

Will many not care? Will only some ask why?

Will the treasures you stored up, be left here, on earth?

And was your time spent with others, heavenly birthed?

What was most important? Your status, your prize?

Was the time that you spent foolish, or wise?

Some never comprehend that the impressions they leave,

Have the power to bring life, or to simply deceive.

But what are they thinking? Now that your dead, do you care?

Do you look back on your life and simply say, “Life, it’s not fair”?

Cause now is your chance, don’t miss it again.

You’ve been given life, be careful, let me explain.

Life is a gift, don’t ever forget.

Don’t stop living early, or you’re sure to regret

So remember today, you aren’t promised tomorrow

Or even the next day, or the day after to follow.

So live in every moment, take in every breath

Because there is nothing to fear, no, not even death.

-Mikelle Liette

September 17, 2009

When we were walking around the cemetery I found several little children’s tombstone. This was a sobering feeling and made me realize that we are not promised another day. Each day is a gift, so why do we take each day for granted so often? Cemetery’s, they are so dark, yet they are full of people whom once were filled with so much life. This is proof that life can be taken from us so quickly, in just a blink of an eye.

So today, what am I doing to live life to the fullest? Am I living in every moment, or am I simply trying to get through the day and make it to the weekend. The fact of the matter is, I may not make it to the weekend, so what am I going to do today, to live with energizing life?

EACH DAY IS A GIFT…UNTIE THE RIBBON.

"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Boom'd"

a. A. Some of my favorite lines in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” is “…All over bouquets of roses, O death, I cover you over with roses and early lilies, But mostly and now the lilac that blooms the first, Copious I break, I break the sprigs from the bushes, With loaded arms I come, pouring for you, For you and the coffins all of you, O death.)” These lines are confusing to me, but I am trying to pull something out of them. What I am seeing is that she is coming with full hands towards this deathbed, towards this coffin. Yet once she gets there, there is nothing to give back to her. She is giving her emotion, her flowers, bringing arms full towards this person who has died, yet she receives nothing back in return.

b. B. A way that I can personally relate to this text is actually something that I have been thinking about this week and talking to my roommate about. When I think about losing anyone who I am close with, it scares me, and I don’t know how I will survive. However, this poem is very straight-forward with death. This poem illustrates the emptiness that happens when death happens. I have realized in my life the importance of not relying on other human beings to support me. I need to rely on the Lord, because He will never fail me. Humans will always disappoint, but God is a faithful and steady source of strength.

c. C. Through researching this poem I found that it was a series of poems written after President Lincoln’s assassination. Through this poem, I believe he is trying to find a proper way to mourn a public figures death. Because he is referring to the Civil War times, I believe that he is also referring to mourning President Lincoln’s death.

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/whitman/section7.rhtml

"Where is God when the world is falling to pieces?"

When I thought about what to blog about after today’s class, I looked back at the poetry and the discussion that took place in class and I realize that there is so much pain going on in our world today. In Professor Corrigan’s piece that he wrote he states, “…Where is God when the world is falling to pieces”. Though this is an important question for all of us to sit on, the more important question that I have to ask myself is, how am I going to change the fact that the world is falling to pieces? The fact that children are dying in other countries of starvation and disease breaks my heart. But what are WE DOING TO CHANGE THIS?

4 years ago my family embarked on a journey that changed our lives forever, the adoption of my baby sister from China. After many years of waiting, Sasha was finally brought home and I finally got to take this precious gem that I carried in my heart for almost 3 years into my arms and love her. Last Thanksgiving, our second Thanksgiving celebration with our precious Sasha, I wrote this poem about her:

I always wanted a sister

To play with and have fun

I never knew in 18 years

My dream would finally come

I knew that she would look like me

Blonde hair and blue eyes too

But the little one God sent to us

Was not what I thought I knew

This little ones eyes were not like mine

They weren't big, blue and round

But small, dark, and almond shaped

Are the little eyes I found

This little one that is my sister

She came from afar

She didn't come unhurt and clean

But rather with many scars

I did not wait only 9 short months

And shed just a few tears.

For I cried many days and nights

And waited almost 3 long years.

But once that baby was in my arms

I knew she was finally safe

She not only got a warm place to sleep

But more than that, a family we gave.

So as I sit here and think

Holding this angel of mine

I realize that 4 years ago

This was just a small dream, in the back of my mind.

And I realize more each and every day

These dreams are meant to be

Lived out in our everyday lives

For us and others to see

So the next time you lose a dream

And shove it to the back of your mind

Dig for that dream, look for it again

For it is something you must find

Maybe these dreams are not to be left

Forgotten, and set aside

Perhaps God gave us these dreams

As a very special guide

For my dream may have seemed small

Or impossible to meet

But because this little dream in my heart

Our family is finally complete.

-Mikelle Liette

November 29, 2008

You see, it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the darkness in our world. We have the desire to make a difference, but often, because the darkness seems so impossible to fix, we merely sit back, and watch destruction happen before our very eyes, just like Allen Ginsberg demonstrated in his poem “Howl”.

So my question to you, is what does your heart break for, and what how are YOU going to begin to heal that pain in someone else’s life?

As I read and tried to work through what was happening in The Colonel during class today, I found myself confused. I wrestled through questioning whether they were at war, or whether the people of this country were living under a dictatorship. I was excited when Professor Corrigan announced this piece of literature and said that he thought it took place in Nicaragua. This allowed me to feel more connected to what I was reading because I have done missions work in Nicaragua on two separate occasions. At the beginning of the piece the description of the atmosphere resonate deep within my soul. When I left Nicaragua and came back and spoke in front of several groups at church and school, I kept saying, “I left part of my heart in Nicaragua.” In the piece of literature it says, “Broken bottles were embedded in the walls around the house to scoop the kneecaps from a mans legs or cut his hands to lace.” This is the exact picture that I got when I was in Nicaragua. For protection in their houses, the people literally embed broken bottles on the top of the cement walls surrounding their houses in order to keep people from climbing over the walls and breaking into their house. This just shows me the poverty that people in other countries are living in every day. We take so much for granted living in the United States. We truly do no know how much we are blessed until we go and see how other people are living, or have our blessings taken away. Although this piece of literature was not centered on the culture in which it took place. I think it is important to understand the culture in which our literature is taking place. Every culture is so extremely different, that it is vital that we learn, explore, experience, within the literature, where the people and situations are coming from. I think that it will make the literature come alive within us.

In the story, “The Things They Carried”, he discusses many random things, yet they all somehow fit together. He talks about the things that he and other soldiers are carrying. He begins, giving us a slight opening into his heart and is life. He talks about the letters that Martha had sent him. He talks about how they were simple words about her life at the college she was attending, “Mount Sebastian”. However, these letters never even began to hint at the fact that she was interested in him, as much as he was interested in her. He then goes on describing the other things that were necessities for soldiers to carry. He discusses the importance of lighters, matches, sewing kits, and other random things such as those. He also discusses the different things that different soldiers have to carry, such as doctors, as opposed to lieutenants. To me the story actually seemed very random until the very end when it all seems to come together. He has realized all along that Martha does not love him and that Martha was living in another world and thinking about other things. He goes on to talk about how many of the soldiers carry different things inside. Though they carried many things, knifes and matches, on the outside of their bodies, the inside, their hearts, looked completely different. He states, “The things men carried inside.” This in not only true of the men in the story but is true of all men, of all mankind, actually. We all have junk on the inside that we are carrying with us, and the more we let it build up, the more angry and upset we get with ourselves and with the world. I’m not sure if this is the point that he was trying to make with the story, but I think that it is definitely something that I pulled from the story and was able to apply to my own life and experiences.

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"

The short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love comes to a close with these words. “I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone’s heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.” Although throughout the story, the two couples discuss love, it is not until the last few lines that meaning comes to the story. Mel and Terry are married to each other and they both have had previous spouses. Nick (the narrator) and Laura, however, have been married for only eight-teen months and are still accused of being in the honeymoon stage of their marriage. As they discuss this topic of love, they are drinking gin, and gradually getting drunk. They discuss their different opinions in what love is. Terry believes that her ex-husband loved her. Mel, however, disagrees that he was in love with Terry because he actually threatened to shoot them both! There discussion goes back and forth for quite a while as they continue to drink gin. It is obvious by how swiftly the conversation changes topics that they have drank a little too much gin. There are a few times that they even repeat what they are saying and no one even recognizes it in the story. While reading it I became confused because although the narrator is always present, it is not clear whether he is a boy or a girl. Because Mel and Terry are both names that could qualify for both genders, it caused me to question whom was married to who. As the short story comes to an end, the words that are said bring meaning and purpose to the story. Darkness and stillness come over the room because they realize that their lives are the way that they have always been and they still are yet to experience true love. Their lives will always be empty and dark, and their Gin was gone, therefore, they will not have anything to cover up the pain any longer.